New Licensure Regulations from August 2007 and June 2008

KSDE has been reviewing several measures to ease "barriers to licensure" during the past year. After receiving comments from K-12 schools, colleges, teachers and the public, these proposals were approved. We want to explain some of the regulations that we believe will be of greatest interest to KU students and alumni. We will update this as more details arrive:

1. Secondary licensed science teachers may now add additional secondary science endorsements by simply passing the appropriate science subject exam. Information on subject exams is posted at this web site under Licensure, Licensure Exams. For example, if you are licensed in Earth & Space Science and could pass the Physics exam, you could add the Physics endorsement without completing all the courses in a Physics program.
2. Any licensed teacher (at any subject or level) may add a middle level endorsement by having 15 credits in the middle level content area (math, science, history or English), plus a passing score on the appropriate middle level subject exam, plus a middle level pedagogy course or 1 year of accredited experience in grades 6-8. This is basically a revival of the old "15 hour rule" from the early 1980s. For example, a teacher with Elementary K-9 or K-6 will be able to add middle level 5-8 endorsement in the four main content areas through this shorter route. Some of those teachers will already have 15 hours in the content area. If you are a KU alum, you may email the KU Licensure Officer with your KUID number, mailing address, current licensure, and what you want to add and she will evaluate your KU transcripts and send an email response. Non-KU students must follow the procedures listed at this link http://soe.ku.edu/students/licensure/evaluation.php which requires a $20 fee per endorsement.
3. Secondary licensed teachers (holding a 7-12 or 6-12 license, or a K-12 or PK-12 license) may add any other secondary endorsement by verifying through a Licensure Office at an institution completion of 50% or more of an approved content area program plus the appropriate methods subject exam. For example, if you have a license in Social Studies 6-12 and want to add English 6-12, you would need 50% of an approved program (that's about 20 hours at most schools) plus English methods plus the passing English subject exam score. Teachers will want to carefully select the English courses they take, aligned with the subject exam. Our approved program lists can be found at this web site under Academic Programs. Download the appropriate pdf file to view the content courses for KU. If you are a KU alum, you may email the KU Licensure Officer with your KUID number, mailing address, current licensure, and what you want to add and she will evaluate your KU transcripts and send an email response. Non-KU students must follow the procedures listed at this link http://soe.ku.edu/students/licensure/evaluation.php which requires a $20 fee per endorsement.
4. New teachers can now get a One-Year-Nonrenewable License without an existing offer of employment. This means that any person completing an "initial" licensure program can go ahead and apply for the one year license even if they don't have passing licensure exam scores.
5. A Provisional License may be issued at any level, regardless of the level of the existing license. This has been an issue recently for Elementary K-6 or K-9 teachers who are working on the ESOL PK-12 program through KU, since PK-12 is the only level we offer for this endorsement. Individuals did not qualify for provisional license in the past; they will now, assuming they have 50% of the ESOL courses completed (including methods course) and need the provisional for an ESOL job.
6. Any teacher with a middle level content endorsement (math, science, history/social studies, or English) can add the secondary level in that same content area by completing 50% of the courses in an approved program, plus the methods and a passing score on the secondary level subject exam. This would allow a middle school English teacher to extend her level to secondary for a high school position.
7. In Summer 2008, KSDE is considering several other changes; three may have particular interest for KU students and alumni. First, if you are an alum with an expired Kansas license, KSDE may be able to issue you a one-year "transitional license" so you can go back to teaching immediately while you take courses to renew the expired license. In the past, you had to complete 6-8 credits before you could start teaching again on contract. Second, KSDE may change the name of the "conditional" license to an "initial" license, a logical improvement. Third, there is discussion about allowing districts to pay students during their student teaching experience; this is a radical change from past practice and may be complicated and controversial. We will keep you posted!

If you have additional questions, feel free to contact the Licensure Officer for more information:

Alisa Branham abranham@ku.edu - updated May 2008