Nebraska Department of Education Homepage

Professional Teaching Certificate

General Information

First Time Applicant

Who applies?

  • A Professional Teaching Certificate is available to applicants who have completed a master’s degree in Curriculum & Instruction, Educational Technology, or their content area within the past 10 years. However, if the master’s degree was used to qualify for the applicant’s first Initial Teaching Certificate, it cannot also be used to advance to a Professional Teaching Certificate.

Where is it valid? 

  • A Professional Teaching Certificate is valid for teaching in all Nebraska school systems.

When does it expire?

  • A Professional Teaching Certificate is a 10-year certificate and expires September 30th in the tenth year following the year of issuance.

What are the requirements for this certificate?

  1. An application and fee in the TEACH system  (Please note that registration for TEACH is required first; then an application can be submitted.)
  2. Qualify for or hold a Standard Teaching Certificate
  3. Fingerprints (required only if someone has lived outside of Nebraska in the past five years)
  4. Official Transcript(s) showing a qualifying advanced degree
  5. Institutional Verification – This form is used to show that a program was completed and is needed only if adding an endorsement. The form is sent electronically to Nebraska colleges and universities.
  6. Educator Certificate – A certificate is required only for those who have not been certified in Nebraska.
  7. Employment Verification – This form is required for those who have employment experience in a school district/system outside of Nebraska. Teaching experience from Nebraska is submitted by the district or system each year through Adviser and does not need to be submitted again.

More information on how to send supporting documents can be found in the FAQ section of this website.

Renewal Information

Renewals

If you have 0.5 FTE years of experience in the last 5 years, you qualify to renew your Professional Teaching Certificate.

To renew without teaching experience before or after expiration, applicants need to obtain six semester credit hours from a 4-year standard institution of higher education in education-related coursework.

If you have a job offer but do not hold a valid teaching certificate and have not obtained the 6-credit hours, you could qualify for our Alternative Program Teaching Permit.

FAQs

FAQs

I accidently applied for the wrong certificate but it won’t let me change it. How do I fix this?

If I currently hold an administrative certificate, do I need to also hold a teaching certificate? 

  • No, your administrative certificate carries your teaching endorsements so there is no need to hold both types of certificates.

Can I use subbing experience to renew my teaching certificate? 

  • Unfortunately, we do not count substitute teaching experience towards the renewal of your teaching certificate. There are additional ways of renewing your teaching certificate without teaching experience.

I applied for a professional teaching certificate, but I was given a standard. Why did I not get a professional? 

  • A Professional Teaching Certificate requires completion of a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction, Educational Technology, or their content area within the last 10 years. If we do not have transcripts on file documenting the qualifying degree, or if additional information is needed and not provided, we will issue the highest level of certificate for which the applicant qualifies.  In many cases, this may be a Standard Teaching Certificate.

I have a Professional Teaching Certificate in another state, why don’t I hold one here?

  • Each state has different requirements and names for their teaching certificate. Our team works hard to determine the best certificate applicants qualify for.

I received my master’s degree in Educational Leadership, shouldn’t I be able to move to a Professional Teaching Certificate? 

  • A master’s degree in Educational Leadership may qualify an individual for an Administrative Certificate, but it does not qualify for a Professional Teaching Certificate. To qualify for a Professional Teaching Certificate, applicants must have completed a master’s degree in Curriculum & Instruction, Educational Technology, or their content area within the past 10 years.

I completed my masters but I never applied for my Professional Teaching Certificate. Can I do that now? 

  • We can move an applicant to a Professional Teaching Certificate as long as they have at least two years of teaching experience and have completed a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction, Educational Technology, or their content area within the last ten years. If the master’s degree is older than ten years, unfortunately we are not able to use it to move to a Professional Teaching Certificate.
Updated October 5, 2026 2:10pm