The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is clarifying the status of HOUSSE, an option that veteran teachers (teachers who have at least 1 full year of experience) can use to demonstrate that they are highly qualified.
A new ISBE memo clarifies a memorandum distributed by ISBE on September 15. In the new memorandum, ISBE urges
but does not require teachers to submit HOUSSE data via the Educator’s Certification System (ECS) by October 31, 2006. The main reason is that staff will be using this data to report the information to the United States Department of Education (USDE) by December 1, 2006. We urge you to comply if at all possible.
If teachers do not meet the October 31 timeline, however, they will still be able to use HOUSSE, at least for the foreseeable future, to show highly qualified status.
When reporting the HOUSSE information on ECS, use this process to avoid confusion:
If you are have already passed the content area exam, or have passed the Elementary/Middle Grades exam, you are automatically highly qualified in Self-Contained as well as the middle grades subject areas and you do not have to go through HOUSSE. Teachers who teach in a core subject area or those who may teach the core subjects in the future should go through HOUSSE to show that you are highly qualified.
Please read the following memo from the ISBE: