Milestone 3: Initiate Licensure

All students pursuing an Educator Preparation Program must meet all Milestone 1 and 2 requirements specific to their program in order to advance to Milestone 3.

Specifically, before applying for a license or endorsement, all students must be admitted to Candidacy and one of the following: 1) completed Student Teaching or 2) hold an active PEL. Milestone 3 requirements are only accepted at specific times during the semester.

Completion of all Milestone 3 requirements allows CTE to review students' entitlement eligibility, which ultimately allows students to apply for a license and/or endorsement through the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). To be entitled to the Professional Educator License (PEL), all professional education and content-area coursework must be passed with a grade of “C” or higher, and student teaching coursework must be passed with a grade of "B" or higher. All coursework completed for subsequent endorsements must be passed with a grade of “C” or higher. If a student attempts to apply for a license through ELIS prior to receiving approval from UIC, the student may experience significant delays in the licensure process.

For questions about completing any milestone 3 requirements, please contact Sierra Ryan at sryan27@uic.edu.

Milestone 3: Deadlines Heading link

During the Student Teaching semester, below are a list of required deliverables.
During Student Teaching Semester
  • Attend Licensure Seminar
  • Complete Student Teaching Evaluation
During Licensure Seminar
  • Submit completed Entitlement Application to CTE.
Near End of Student Teaching Semester
  • Submit Exit/Tech Survey
    • Submit Student Teaching Evaluation

Milestone 3: Requirements Heading link

  1. Attend Program-Specific or CTE Student Teaching Orientation
  2. During the Seminar, submit completed Entitlement Application to the Council on Teacher Education*
  3. Submit Student Teaching Evaluation
  4. Submit Exit Survey and Technology Survey through Qualtrics*

* For students who already hold an active Professional Education License (PEL) through the Illinois State Board of Education, these are the only requirements to apply for entitlement.

Mandatory Student Teaching Orientation Heading link

All Secondary & Foreign Language Education student teachers must attend the CTE Student Teaching Orientation scheduled for their student teaching semester. Orientation will take place on the first day of the fall and spring UIC semesters via Blackboard. The orientation will provide information on issues pertinent to the student teaching experience. Attendance is mandatory.

Please contact CTE with any questions about orientation.

Register for edTPA Heading link

Not required through August 31, 2025

edTPA™ was designed by teachers and teacher educators to support candidate learning and provide data to support preparation program growth and renewal. edTPA is a capstone assessment used to evaluate readiness of student teachers to teach. It also serves as evidence for program review, teacher license and/or state and national accreditation.

At the beginning of student teaching, student teachers must distribute edTPA consent forms to all students in the classroom. Before student teachers record their classroom instruction for the edTPA, they must ensure that they have the appropriate permission from the parents/guardians of the students who appear in the video recording. Below are the English and Spanish consent forms for CPS and NonCPS.

For CPS teachers, save the completed forms as new PDF files. Another new option that has been rolled out is to consent through Google Forms. Be sure to be logged into your CPS email address, access the Consent Form Template and make a copy before editing.

Student teachers are required to register for the edTPA through Pearson. Click here to download instructions on how to register for the edTPA.

Entitlement Application Heading link

Students are required to complete an Entitlement Application in order to be eligible for licensure through the Illinois State Board of Education.

  • Special Education students (earning LBSI or LBSII endorsements) complete a separate Special Education LBS Entitlement Application.
  • If you are a previously licensed teacher completing bilingual, ESL, and/or middle grades subsequent endorsements outside of a degree program at UIC, please complete the Subsequent Endorsement Entitlement Application. This application should be completed while you are enrolled in the final course necessary to earn the subsequent endorsement.

The CTE Licensure Officer will review a student’s eligibility for entitlement after receiving an Entitlement Application. Entitlement can only occur after a student’s degree and grades have been posted. Contact the Office of the Registrar for questions on timeline of degree posting.

Entitlement is the official recommendation from a university for a teacher candidate to apply for a license and/or endorsement through the Illinois State Board of Education. The CTE Licensure Officer entitles a teacher candidate after verifying all assessments, field experiences, academic and non-academic requirements of the program have been successfully completed and documented.

CTE highly recommends applying through the university entitlement process. Submitting an application through ISBE can significantly delay the licensure process.

Once a student is entitled, the CTE Licensure Officer will contact the student via UIC email. Then, the student must apply for a Professional Educator License (PEL) through an ELIS account. Instructions for applying for an entitled license and registering a PEL are available on the ISBE website at: https://www.isbe.net/Documents/How-apply-for-Ent-Register.pdf.

Student Teaching Evaluations Heading link

Each UIC student participating in a student teaching semester is evaluated using the Student Teaching Evaluation Form. The form is required to be filled out as a midterm or final assessment by a cooperating teacher, field instructor and student teacher, as a self assessment tool. Students are advised to consult with their field instructor to learn more. Please note, the Student Teaching Evaluation form has a short time-out period. Therefore, we recommend evaluators copy the the Student Teaching Evaluation form questions into a word document, compile responses, and then paste responses into the online form.

Please access the appropriate Student Teaching Evaluation Form, based on the content area, below:

 

 

For questions about completing any milestone 3 requirements, please contact Sierra Ryan at sryan27@uic.edu.