Every Illinois license type,
with the ISBE PDH hours behind it.
A curated reference for K-12 educators working in Illinois. Each row shows the required ISBE Professional Development Hours (PDH), accepted college semester credit hours, renewal cycle, and the public ISBE / 23 Ill. Adm. Code citation that backs the numbers — so a recertification window never opens with a guessing game.
Seeded from public ISBE guidance — owner-maintained
The rows below are seeded from publicly available Illinois State Board of Education guidance. The full dataset lives in one editable TypeScript module — src/lib/business/il-license-types.ts — so anyone maintaining the CredenSync educator experience can refresh the numbers, add a new pathway, or update a citation without touching the page itself.
When a number is uncertain, this page shows — rather than guessing. Treat the rows as a starting point: the citation in each row links to the underlying public source, and the linked Illinois State Board of Education licensure landing page is the authoritative reference for any individual case.
Each row tells the same five-part story
The library groups Illinois educator license types by pathway so the renewal rules for a CTE teacher read next to the renewal rules for a school principal — instead of getting lost inside a single undifferentiated list.
Illinois license types, grouped by pathway
Each table covers one pathway. Rows are ordered the way ISBE lists them in its educator-licensure guidance.
Initial
1 license type| License | Hours | Classes | Cycle | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Initial Educator License (PEL)Entry-level Illinois Professional Educator License (PEL) issued after completion of an ISBE-approved educator preparation program and the required Illinois Licensure Testing System (ILTS) content exam. Valid 4 years; the holder must complete an ISBE-approved induction year to advance to a standard (Professional) license in their endorsement area. | — | — | 4-year cycle | ISBE Initial Educator License |
Standard
2 license types| License | Hours | Classes | Cycle | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Professional Educator License (PEL)Illinois’s standard renewable teaching license. Renewal every 5 years requires 120 PDH (Professional Development Hours, ISBE’s contact-hour unit) OR 12 college semester credit hours (1 credit ≈ 10 PDH), logged in the educator’s ELIS account. PDH must be earned via an ISBE-approved provider. | — | — | 5-year cycle | ISBE PEL Renewal (23 Ill. Adm. Code 25) |
Professional Educator License — School Support PersonnelIssued to Illinois school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, and school nurses completing an ISBE-approved program. Same 120-PDH / 12-credit renewal cadence as the standard Professional Educator License, with content aligned to the school-support endorsement area. | — | — | 5-year cycle | ISBE School Support Personnel |
Administrator
1 license type| License | Hours | Classes | Cycle | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Professional Educator License — PrincipalRequired for Illinois building-level administrators (principal, assistant principal). Issued after an ISBE-approved principal preparation program and a passing score on the ILTS Principal as Instructional Leader assessment. Renewal: 120 PDH per 5-year cycle, with content tied to the Illinois Performance Standards for School Leaders. | — | — | 5-year cycle | ISBE Principal Endorsement |
Career & Technical
1 license type| License | Hours | Classes | Cycle | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Career & Technical Educator License (CTE PEL)Issued to Illinois CTE teachers in ISBE-approved CTE program areas; industry-tested candidates with 2,000+ hours of occupational experience plus an industry credential may qualify via the CTE occupational-experience pathway. Renewal: 120 PDH per 5-year cycle, with industry credentials maintained separately from PDH. | — | — | 5-year cycle | ISBE CTE Educator License |
Bring this reference into a living recertification record
The CredenSync educator plan keeps your Illinois ISBE PDH hours, college semester credit conversions, and renewal cycle visible in one place — and warns you before a window opens. Start free while you evaluate.