2023 Illinois Compiled Statutes › Chapter 105 - SCHOOLS › 105 ILCS 302/ - College and Career Success for All Students Act.

(105 ILCS 302/1)
Sec. 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the College and Career Success for All Students Act.
(Source: P.A. 94-534, eff. 1-1-06.)
(105 ILCS 302/5)
Sec. 5. Purpose. The purpose of this Act is to ensure that each Illinois student has a sufficient education for success after high school and that all students have equal access to a substantive and rigorous curriculum that is designed to challenge their minds, enhance their knowledge and skills, and prepare them for success in college and work.
(Source: P.A. 94-534, eff. 1-1-06.)
(105 ILCS 302/10)
Sec. 10. Definitions. In this Act:
"Advanced Placement course" means a course sponsored by the College Board and offered for college credit at the high school level.
"Advanced Placement teacher" means a teacher of an Advanced Placement course.
"Pre-Advanced Placement" means set professional development resources and services that equip all middle and high school teachers with the strategies and tools they need to engage their students in active, high-level learning, thereby ensuring that every middle and high school student develops the skills, habits of mind, and concepts they need to succeed in Advanced Placement courses.
"Vertical Team" means a group of teachers and educators from different grade levels in a given discipline who work cooperatively to develop and implement a vertically aligned program aimed at helping students from diverse backgrounds acquire the academic skills necessary for success in Advanced Placement courses and other challenging courses.
(Source: P.A. 94-534, eff. 1-1-06.)
(105 ILCS 302/15)
Sec. 15. Teacher training.
(a)  Subject to appropriation, a teacher of an Advanced Placement course must obtain appropriate training.  Subject to appropriation, the State Board of Education shall establish clear, specific, and challenging training guidelines that require teachers of Advanced Placement courses to obtain recognized Advanced Placement training endorsed by the College Board.
(b)  Advanced Placement and Pre-Advanced Placement training to teachers in Illinois high schools must do all of the following:
(1)  Provide teachers of Advanced Placement and     teachers in courses that lead to Advanced Placement with the necessary content knowledge and instructional skills to prepare students for success in Advanced Placement courses and examinations and other advanced course examinations and mastery of postsecondary course content.
(2)  Provide administrators, including principals and     counselors, with professional development that will enable them to create strong and effective Advanced Placement programs in their schools.
(3)  Provide middle grade, junior high, and high     school teachers with Advanced Placement Vertical Team training and other Pre-Advanced Placement professional development that prepares students for success in Advanced Placement courses.
(4)  Support the implementation of an instructional     program for students in grades 6 through 12 that provides an integrated set of instructional materials, diagnostic assessments, and teacher professional development in reading, writing, and mathematics that prepares all students for enrollment and success in Advanced Placement courses and in college.
(Source: P.A. 94-534, eff. 1-1-06.)
(105 ILCS 302/20)
Sec. 20. Duties of the State Board.
(a)  In order to fulfill the purposes of this Act, the State Board of Education shall encourage school districts to offer rigorous courses in grades 6 through 11 that prepare students for the demands of Advanced Placement course work.  The State Board of Education shall also encourage school districts to make it a goal that all 10th graders take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholars Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) so that test results will provide each high school with a database of student assessment data that school counselors and teachers will be able to use to identify students who are prepared or who need additional work to be prepared to enroll and be successful in Advanced Placement courses, using a research-based Advanced Placement identification program provided by the College Board.
(b)  The State Board of Education shall do all of the following:
(1)  Seek federal funding through the Advanced     Placement Incentive Program and the Math-Science Partnership Program and use it to support Advanced Placement and Pre-Advanced Placement teacher professional development and to support the implementation of an integrated instructional program for students in grades 6 through 12 in reading, writing, and mathematics that prepares all students for enrollment and success in Advanced Placement courses and in college.
(2)  Focus State and federal funding with the intent     to carry out activities that target school districts serving high concentrations of low-income students.
(3)  Subject to appropriation, provide a plan of     communication that includes without limitation disseminating to parents materials that emphasize the importance of Advanced Placement or other advanced courses to a student's ability to gain access to and to succeed in postsecondary education and materials that emphasize the importance of the PSAT/NMSQT, which provides diagnostic feedback on skills and relates student scores to the probability of success in Advanced Placement courses and examinations, and disseminating this information to students, teachers, counselors, administrators, school districts, public community colleges, and State universities.
(4)  Subject to appropriation, annually evaluate the     impact of this Act on rates of student enrollment and success in Advanced Placement courses, on high school graduation rates, and on college enrollment rates.
(Source: P.A. 102-197, eff. 7-30-21.)
(105 ILCS 302/25)
Sec. 25. AP exam fee reduction program.  Subject to appropriation, the State Board of Education shall create, under the College and Career Success for All Students program set forth in this Act, a program in public schools where any student who qualifies for free or reduced-price lunches will have fees charged by the College Board for Advanced Placement exams reduced, via State subsidy, to the greatest extent possible based on the appropriation.
(Source: P.A. 102-16, eff. 6-17-21; 102-894, eff. 5-20-22.)
(105 ILCS 302/30)
Sec. 30. Postsecondary-level course credit.
(a)  In this Section:
"Institution of higher education" means a public university or public  community college located in this State.
"International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme subject" means an International Baccalaureate course taken by either International Baccalaureate diploma candidates or by International Baccalaureate course candidates.
"Subject score" means the total points awarded to a candidate for an International Baccalaureate course based on fulfillment of all subject requirements, including the end-of-course examination.
(b) Beginning with the 2016-2017 academic year, scores of 3, 4, and 5 on the College Board Advanced Placement examinations and, beginning with the 2017-2018 academic year, subject scores of 4 or higher for International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme subjects shall be accepted for credit to satisfy degree requirements by all institutions of higher education. Each institution of higher education shall determine for each Advanced Placement test and International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme subject whether credit will be granted for electives, general education requirements, or major requirements and the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme subject scores required to grant credit for those purposes.
Beginning with the 2024-2025 academic year, each institution of higher education may award course credit to a student who has received State Global Scholar Certification. Each institution of higher education may determine whether credit will be granted for electives, general education requirements, or major requirements for students who received State Global Scholar Certification.
(c) By the conclusion of the 2020-2021 academic year, the Board of Higher Education, in cooperation with the Illinois Community College Board, shall analyze the Advanced Placement examination and International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme subject score course granting policy of each institution of higher education and the research used by each institution in determining the level of credit and the number of credits provided for the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme subject scores in accordance with the requirements of this Section and file a report that includes findings and recommendations to the General Assembly and the Governor. Each institution of higher education shall provide the Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board with all necessary data, in accordance with the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, to conduct the analysis.
(d) Each institution of higher education shall publish its updated Advanced Placement examination and International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme subject score course granting policy in accordance with the requirements of this Section on its Internet website before the beginning of the 2017-2018 academic year.
(Source: P.A. 103-352, eff. 7-28-23.)