Can A Non-Licensed Teacher Teach The K-12 Curriculum?

With 69% of US schools reporting that ‘too few teachers were applying for vacancies,’ it begs the question: can non-licensed teachers legally fill these roles in primary and secondary schools? The answer mainly rests on the official requirements posed by each state. Still, the US is making great strides in incorporating those attracted to the profession into schools, even without an education degree.

Non-licensed teachers can teach the K-12 curriculum full-time at a private institution but not in a public school. However, some states grant temporary licenses (for military veterans and degree-holders) or may employ unlicensed teachers full-time if they enroll in a certification program.

As a non-licensed teacher, you have various options if you want to be a teacher in the US school system. It all depends on your current qualifications, work experience, and in which state you plan to live and work. With 50 states in the US, each with its unique conditions and requirements for non-licensed teachers, it isn’t easy to provide much detail, but this article will give you the essential information.

Table of Contents

Can A Non-Licensed Teacher Teach K-12 Curriculum Full-Time?

The short answer to whether a non-licensed teacher can teach full-time is yes.

Private, charter, and non-profit educational institutions in the US are legally allowed to employ a teacher (full-time) to teach the K-12 curricula without a teaching license. Many private institutions, instead, appreciate a degree in a relevant field, work experience, and the required teaching skills. They will also conduct thorough background checks to ensure you are suitable for the role.

Even a private institution with a policy or longstanding tradition of only hiring certified teachers may make an exception. Such an exception will be based on the urgency to fill a particular vacancy and the school believing that the candidate can meet the eligibility requirements for a state teaching certification. In such cases, there would typically be a deadline by which the non-licensed teacher must obtain their certification.

Other teaching roles within the education sector for non-licensed teachers are:

Substitute Teacher/Part-time Teacher
Teaching Assistant

Preschool Teacher

Again, the above roles are not guaranteed, as even private institutions have specific requirements for teaching staff. Therefore, you must conduct thorough research into the school system in your area to determine whether you will need to proceed with getting certified.

Can A Non-Licensed Teacher Teach In A Public School?

A non-licensed teacher may not teach the K-12 curriculum in the public school system, yet there are ways around this.

Enrollment In A Teacher Certification Program

Many states will allow you to teach if you have a bachelor’s degree in a subject with a shortage of qualified teachers. The condition is proof of enrollment in an alternative teacher certification program. These training programs allow degree holders to fast-track their teacher training and complete it within 1-2 years, during which they may take up employment to teach full-time in a public school.

For example, in a state like Colorado, non-licensed teachers may be employed in a public school if they:

Hold a relevant bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.

Are enrolled in a state-approved alternative teacher certification program.
Have submitted an ‘Alternative Teacher’ application to the Colorado Alternative Teacher License or the Interim Authorization.

In Arizona, you may start training to be a teacher even if you do not have a bachelor’s degree. A school may thus employ you under the conditions that you are registered at a college, proving that you are in the process of obtaining your teaching license, and you will only be able to teach students under the supervision of a licensed educator.

If you live in Texas, for example, you would need to follow these steps for alternative certification:

Select one of the state’s approved Texas Alternative Certification Programs (ACP)
Meet the screening criteria for the specific program

Create a certification plan
Find employment as a teacher
Apply for a one-year probationary certificate

Meet all the requirements and apply for the standard teaching certificate

Temporary License Grants

Some states may offer a candidate a temporary teaching license, also called an ‘emergency license,’ if they have a degree in a subject requiring teachers. This allowance is no surprise, as more than half of US schools reported understaffing at the start of the 2022-2023 school year.

The areas needing the most teachers include special education, foreign languages, and STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths). The need for STEM teachers is especially prevalent in high schools.

The states that allow this emergency teaching status to non-licensed teachers include:

Texas
Missouri

Kentucky
Wisconsin
Mississippi

California
Arizona

These temporary teaching licenses have an expiry date, by which time the teacher must complete the state licensing exam to become an officially certified teacher.

Florida has recently passed legislation allowing those who served in the military and their spouses a temporary (5-year) teaching license if they wish to teach the K-12 curriculum in US public schools, even without a bachelor’s degree.

Additional conditions, besides military status, are that you must provide evidence of having completed at least 60 credits at the college level with a 2.5 GPA. You must also be able to pass a state examination to prove that you have the required subject area knowledge to teach its components.

Each state has its certification requirements, so it is worth researching to confirm whether you qualify to teach in a public school.

How Can A Non-Licensed Teacher Become Certified?

There are two avenues to becoming a licensed teacher, which will allow you to teach full-time in any school in the US: take the traditional route of earning an education degree or get certified through an alternative certification program.

Traditional Pathway

The traditional route to becoming a licensed teacher is to get an education degree at a university/college. A degree in education will qualify you for a state teaching certificate, giving you more flexibility to teach anywhere you want, whether in a public, private, charter, international, or home school setting.

A degree majoring in education will take four years to complete. In such a course, you will study the theories, including child development and the philosophies of education, and practices of teaching your preferred age group and subject. Age group options are as follows:

Early childhood education (0-8 years)
Elementary education (grades K-6)
Secondary education (grades 6-12)

If you are interested in teaching high school, you will mainly focus on one subject area, whereas primary school educators study a combination of subject areas.

Universities/colleges that offer education degrees will also require you to conduct a teaching practice period, where you go into a school and gain hands-on experience. This teaching practice is an excellent opportunity to familiarize yourself with teaching a class full of students while developing resources and curricula and completing assessments.

Some of the best-ranked universities to study for an education degree include:

University of Pennsylvania
Harvard University
University of California

New York University (Steinhardt)
University of Wisconsin

After earning your degree and passing your state’s teacher qualification exam, you will receive your official certification.

Alternative Pathways

Alternative teacher certification pathways are offered by all the states in the US, except Alaska, and allow bachelor’s degree holders in subjects other than education to become licensed teachers. Some states, like Arizona, Massachusetts, and Ohio, even have certification options for non-degree holders in vocational teaching roles.

Like the traditional route, the alternative pathway will require passing some theoretical exams and a more practical teacher preparation component. The nature of these assessment elements depends on your state.

One thing to note is that most states will not issue teaching licenses to alternative route candidates in early childhood- and special education. These educational areas require a more tailored and specialized training program equivalent to a four-year education degree program.

You might have already received an offer at a school, or you are still job hunting, or at the beginning stages of considering a career in teaching. Regardless of your situation, the first step is to research the specific alternative teacher certification options and requirements for your home state (or the state where you plan to reside).

For instance, the state of New York has four different alternative teaching licenses that you can obtain under certain conditions:

Transitional A Certificate: For non-degree holders to teach vocational subjects in grades 7-12

Transitional B Certificate: For undergraduate degree holders, including a major in a relevant K-12 subject
Transitional C Certificate: For graduate degree holders in a subject area relevant to the K-12 curriculum
Transitional G Certificate: College professors who hold a graduate degree and want to teach within the K-12 curriculum

Pennsylvania also has four different types of alternative teaching licenses, each with its conditions and requirements:

Temporary Teaching Permit/ABCTE Passport to Teaching
Teacher Intern Certification Program

Vocational Instructional Certificate
Teacher Emergency Permit

If you want the flexibility of completing your alternative teacher certification program from the comfort of your home (i.e., online), then it is worth exploring Teachers of Tomorrow. They are a training provider fully accredited by the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP) in the US. They currently offer training to those residing in the following states:

Alabama
Arizona
Florida

Indiana
Michigan
Nevada

North Carolina
South Carolina
Texas

Not only does Teachers for Tomorrow guide you on every step to becoming a certified teacher, but they also have an additional service that will help you prepare for the teacher’s examination. The Praxis tests are the most common teachers’ exams, which most states adopted. However, some states, like California and Texas, have developed teacher qualification tests.

Can A Licensed Teacher Teach K-12 In Another State?

Even if you are a certified teacher, you might end up in another state where, by law, the system regards you as ‘unlicensed’ because you have not completed the local teaching certification pathway.

Out of 50 states, only eight states currently offer full teacher license reciprocity. That means licensed teachers from out of state, regardless of experience, may apply to automatically get a standard teaching license in their new district without any additional requirements. You can thus transfer your teaching certificate to a new state location.

The states that offer license reciprocity include:

Arizona
Florida

Hawaii
Illinois
Mississippi

Missouri
Nevada
Oklahoma

Even though these eight states might require you to complete the necessary documentation to transfer a teacher license from another state, the process is relatively quick, easy, and cheap. They need very few or no additional assessments.

The remaining states, even if they accept out-of-state teacher licenses, will need you to complete some actions on your part. These requirements include participating in training classes or demonstrating that you have accumulated the necessary experience to qualify for a standard license.

If you received your teaching license in a country other than the US, your state will not accept your certification. However, you might qualify for a temporary teaching certificate, like American non-licensed teachers. This certificate will allow you to teach the K to 12 curricula full-time in a school, provided that you enroll in an alternative teaching certification program.

Once you have completed all the standard teacher certification requirements, you will be able to receive your teaching license. This process can take 1-2 semesters (full-time) or around two years (part-time).

As with other teacher certification pathways, each state has specific requirements for foreigners transferring their teaching licenses. Still, some general requirements for K-12 curriculum foreign teachers are as follows:

You must have obtained a bachelor’s degree (or foreign equivalent).

You must have completed an accredited teacher preparation program.
You must have designated credentials in a subject area (for those wanting to teach in secondary schools).
In most states, you must pass a local teacher certification exam to show your reading, writing, and mathematics proficiency.

Conclusion

Non-licensed teachers might not be able to teach the K-12 curriculum full-time at a public school but are employable for private institutions.

To be able to teach in the US public school systems without a teacher license will require your enrolment in an alternative certification program approved by the local state authorities and, in most cases, a bachelor’s degree in a relevant subject.

Sources

Alternative Teacher Certification Guide