Get Your English Teaching Certificate Near Chicago

In Illinois, secondary schools in districts with enrollments between 3,000 and 5,999 students, the salary range for beginning teachers with bachelor's degrees is $46,093 to $61,990, as of 2023. Source: Salary.com. For instance, the Chicago School District offers one of the highest starting salaries at $61,990 for a beginning teacher with a bachelor's degree. Source: Teacher Catalina.

At Governors State University, the English Education certificate program enables you to turn your undergraduate degree in English into a rewarding career as a teacher on the secondary level. English teachers guide their students through the world of writers who use the power and scope of words to explore the joys and struggles of life and humanity. Our 21st-century world is filled with new options for sharing information - Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are changing the way we communicate - but it is still necessary to learn writing skills so that the words on the computer screen have meaning.

Outstanding Preparation

The sequence of coursework is approved by the Illinois State Board of Education and leads to an initial high school licensure in English Language Arts. You can also obtain an endorsement for teaching in middle school. To be recommended for an Illinois State Board of Education teaching license, you must present evidence of having passed the Test of Academic Proficiency (formerly Basic Skills), Subject Matter Knowledge, and Assessment of Professional Teaching examinations of the Illinois Certification Testing System. You must complete a student teaching requirement in English and meet other requirements for certification through approved programs in the teacher education and certification section of the GSU catalog.

Program Fact Sheet

Degree Requirements
Advisor Information
Faculty

Degree Requirements

Students must meet all university requirements for a license, and, in addition, students must complete the general education requirement for teacher licensure Initial High School License listed in the teacher education section of this catalog.

In addition, students must:

have a cumulative G.P.A. of 2.5 or higher;
earn a grade of “C” or better in all general education courses;
have a G.P.A. of 2.75 or higher for all general education courses, if applicable;
have a G.P.A. of 3.0 or higher in English courses with a grade of “C” or better in each course;
have a G.P.A. of 3.0 or higher for EDUC 3440, EDCP 6101 and SPED 6101 with a grade of “C” or better in each course;
earn a grade of “B” or better in EDUC 2310, EDUC 4465, ENGL 6580, ENGL 6575, and ENGL 6080.
earn a grade of “B” or better in EDUC 4999 Student Teaching: Senior Capstone (12);
complete a minimum of 100 clock hours of supervised pre-student teaching experiences;
provide evidence of successful completion of Illinois and U.S. Constitution examinations;
complete at least one three-hour course in Non-Western or Third World Cultures;
show evidence of having passed the Assessment of Professional Teaching;
meet any additional requirements listed in the Teacher Licensure section of this catalog;
and receive a positive recommendation from the Secondary Education Student Progress Committee.

Professional Education (minimum of 24 Hours)

The following courses can be taken at either the lower-division or upper-division level:

EDUC 2310 Foundations of Education (3)
SPED 2100 Survey of Students with Exceptionalities (3)
SPED 6101 Survey of Students with Exceptionalities (3)
EDCP 2101 Introduction to Educational Technology (3)
EDCP 6101 Introduction to Educational Technology (3)

The following courses must be taken at the upper-division level:

EDUC 3440 Educational Psychology II: Learning, Assessment and Classroom Management (3)
EDUC 6465 Methods of Teaching English (3)
EDUC 6301 Secondary Microteaching 1 (1)
EDUC 6302 Secondary Microteaching 2 (1)
ENGL 6080 Foundations of Education (3)
EDUC 4999 Student Teaching: Senior Capstone (12)

Additional Requirements

Students may need to complete additional general education or English courses if their degree requirements do not meet the requirements of the approved Governors State University program for the endorsement in English Education.