endorsement rejection

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Illinois Teachers Chatboard

endorsement rejection

by Jai

Sep 24, 2010

I completed my hrs that ISBE said I was deficient in for a high school endorsement. They only counted 5 credit hours and I had 15 hrs. The letter they sent does not tell you what classes they counted or did not count. I am quite sure that these classes would count. Any suggestions to get them to count those classes??

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Michael I've gone round after round after round with ISBE. It's a losing battle 9 out of 10 times. Maybe even 99 out of 100. Did you send the course description for each class? I had to retake 9 hours of Elem Ed hours when moving to IL from CA. I was furious, but they refused to accept the courses I took in the ESL department as Elem. In the end, it was go...See More

Sep 24, 2010

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sped On 9/24/10, Jai wrote: > I completed my hrs that ISBE said I was deficient in for a > high school endorsement. They only counted 5 credit hours > and I had 15 hrs. The letter they sent does not tell you > what classes they counted or did not count. I am quite sure > that these classes would count. Any suggestions to get them > to ...See MoreOn 9/24/10, Jai wrote: > I completed my hrs that ISBE said I was deficient in for a > high school endorsement. They only counted 5 credit hours > and I had 15 hrs. The letter they sent does not tell you > what classes they counted or did not count. I am quite sure > that these classes would count. Any suggestions to get them > to count those classes??

It's hard to say exactly what happened with the information provided. They should have sent you another deficiency statement which would show you what you still need to complete, which by default, should tell you which credits they accepted.

I will mention that ISBE works in semester credit hours, not quarter hours, so that may have been a factor. You also may try sending in the university's course description, along with the transcript, and if necessary, a letter of your own describing what you're looking to have the courses recognized as.

When I was adding an English endorsement, I had some classes on my transcript which had a course number identified with LIT for Literature. Even though the names of the classes were something like English Literature 1700-1850, Authors of the South, etc. the courses didn't count initially. The ISBE bureaucrat who evaluated the transcript only looked for ENG courses. No ENG in the course number, then it doesn't count for English. So, I wrote a letter, include the course description, spelled everything out plainly for them, and it worked out after walking them through things. Being a special ed teacher, I'm used to having to break things down very simply for my students, and at ISBE..., let's just say that's about the level of "professional" you're dealing with.

I also knew someone who came from out-of-state and went to a university with a very odd course numbering/lettering system. We actually hired her, but her transcripts gave her trouble at ISBE and even confused us on the hiring committee. Her ed classes were identified with an odd identifier like ZY or something. English courses were Qb or something very odd. None of it made sense to anyone outside of the university's bureaucracy and it must've driven ISBE mad. A special ed methodology course was identified as ZY2-4a or something similar, so she had to speak with ISBE several times before her certificate was issued.

So, don't give up, but understand that ISBE, like any Illinois state departments is not customer-friendly. You may find someone there who is personable, but the bureaucracies are not friendly... to anyone. You can call, but you're probably better off writing letters, spelling everything out, and accepting it's going to take time. Calling, in my experience, has not been useful. Basically, I speak English, and they speak Bureaucrat. They don't really understand what I'm saying, and then they say "our policy is...," and they spit out something from the computer screen they're looking at (and odds are, they don't fully understand the language of the policy they're quoting). Remember, these aren't educators, they're clerks in Springfield.

Good Luck!

Sep 25, 2010

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Jai Thank you for the advice. Writing a letter to ISBE and providing the course descriptions actually worked.(thought it would be an endless battle) You saved me from spending more money on classes that I did not need. :

Oct 21, 2010

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