Professional Teaching Certificate
First Time Applicant
Who applies?
- A Professional Teaching Certificate is for applicants who have completed a Master’s Degree program in one of the following: Curriculum & Instruction, Educational Technology, or Master’s in your Content Area within the last 10 years. If your master’s degree led you to your first initial teaching certificate, it will not advance you to a professional.
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?
- An application and fee in the TEACH system (Please note that registration for TEACH is required first; then an application can be submitted.)
- Qualify for or hold a Standard Teaching Certificate
- Fingerprints (required only if someone has lived outside of Nebraska in the past five years)
- Official Transcript(s) showing a qualifying advanced degree
- 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.
- Educator Certificate – A certificate is required only for those who have not been certified in Nebraska.
- 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.
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
More information to come.