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Lauby Teacher Education Center

National Criminal Background Check (NCBC) Requirements

Illinois State University (ISU) requires all ISU teacher candidates to complete a one-time online National Criminal Background Check (NCBC) prior to beginning any clinical experience. The purpose of the NCBC is to ensure the protection of our pre-K-12 students by verifying the teacher candidate has not been convicted of illegal activity nationally. Once completed, the NCBC will be valid for 10 years, but students are required to self-report any changes to their criminal record to the Lauby Teacher Education Center (TEC), and an additional NCBC may be required. Failure to do so may result in removal from Teacher Education at ISU.

  • The NCBC will cost $36.
  • The NCBC is 100% online through Bushue Background Screening; follow the NCBC process below.
  • See the clinical experiences checklist for additional information about clinical experiences
  • The NCBC meets the internal ISU milestone requirement for the Criminal Background Check. Students will be responsible for meeting all clinical site (school) CBC requirements, which are separate from the ISU internal NCBC requirement. Students should contact clinical sites and follow their CBC expectations before beginning clinical experiences.

When to Complete

A current CBC must be on file in the TEC prior to the beginning of any clinical experience.

CBC's must remain current as of the last day of the clinical experience.

Results in 2 weeks

You will be notified by ISU email when your NCBC is cleared. If you are not notified within 2 weeks contact Bushue Background Screening or teacheredcenter@IllinoisState.edu to check on the status.

NCBC Process

If unsure if you have previously completed the NCBC process, valid for 10 years, please review your milestone records. You can review your milestone records and CBC expiration date using the following tutorial. It is the student's responsibility to confirm expiration date to avoid paying for additional unneeded NCBC.

  • Open ISU Student NCBC Instructions and review the document steps.
  • Once ready to proceed, open the Bushue companies, ISU Education Background Check Link below and complete all pages, forms and processing fee ($36) to initiate your NCBC check. Please use your ISU e-mail address and student ID when completing the form.
  • Once you initiate your NCBC, your records will be reviewed at the county, state, and federal levels. Once completed, your results will be returned to ISU for final processing by the Lauby Teacher Education Center (TEC).
  • Once final processing occurs, you will receive an email notification of your NCBC status from the TEC. If cleared, your CBC milestone will also be updated.
  • If you need a copy of your criminal background check, please email info@bushuebackgroundscreening.com. This process could take 2 to 3 days.
  • Your professor may want to see your completed CBC milestone. For how to access this information to print for your professor, please view our tracking your milestones document.

For those without a social security number please use 11111111 in the SS# field when completing your NCBC.

If you have questions, please e-mail teacheredcenter@IllinoisState.edu and we will work to assist you.