Educator Certification

Illinois Certification Testing System (ICTS) Retake Policy

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has implemented a new policy regarding the Illinois Certification Testing System (ICTS).

Beginning January 12, 2010, no individual may attempt to pass the same ICTS test more than five times. Any previous test attempts for the same test made prior to January 12, 2010, do not count toward the five-time limit.

The five-time testing limit has linkage to Goal 2 of the State Board’s Strategic Plan:

To ensure that every student will be supported by highly prepared and effective teachers and school leaders, policies and processes have been implemented that support preparation programs with a focus on instruction and student learning.  These standards-based programs will prepare educators with expertise in discipline-specific content areas and ensure that teachers and administrators demonstrate best practices to help all students learn.

To help achieve the goal of having highly prepared and effective educators in our schools, the Board has implemented this policy of a five-time limit on educator certification tests.  The Board believes that Illinois examinees should prepare for the certification tests to ensure that they have the necessary knowledge of content and pedagogy. The Board also believes that if an examinee fails a certification test, the individual should seek remediation and spend time preparing and studying for the test before retaking it. 

For more information regarding the test attempts policy, please visit the Web site at http://www.icts.nesinc.com.