ESD 113's Certification department assists applicants in determining which application may be appropriate for them to complete in order to obtain or maintain a Washington State certificate, as a teacher, administrator or educational staff associate. Applicants submit their paperwork to the ESD Certification office for review and issuance of a temporary permit, when applicable. The 180 day permit allows the applicants to then seek and accept employment while the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Certification Office continues to review the application for testing results, etc., a second 180 day permit may be issued by OSPI if necessary.
Types of certificates in Washington include:
- Teacher
- Administrator (principal, superintendent and program administrator)
- Educational Staff Associate
- School counselor, school psychologist, and school social worker
- Speech language pathologist or audiologist, school nurse, occupational therapist and physical therapist
To meet the requirements for a full time Residency teaching certificate or a "regular" Substitute certificate, an applicant must have earned a bachelor's degree and completed an approved college/university teacher education program that included student teaching from a regionally accredited college or university. Or, if the applicant did not complete a program, they must provide verification of an out of state regular teaching certificate and be able to verify 3 years of out of state teaching experience. If the applicant does not meet the criteria described above, they may be eligible for a limited certificate, contact the certification office at the ESD for additional information.
Fingerprinting is a Washington State requirement for all individuals who have regular, unsupervised access to children within the P-12 system in the state, including those seeking certificates and those employed in a certified or classified position. Fingerprinting may be done at any one of the nine ESD's in the state of Washington. (See fingerprinting for more detailed information on this process).
Endorsements (designated teaching areas) can be added to teaching certificates by following one of three pathways. There are numerous requirements under each of these 3 pathways, please go to: http://www.k12.wa.us/certification/teacher/Endorsement.aspx for further explanation.
The Residency Certification is followed by the Professional Certificate, which requires the ProTeach Portfolio or National Board Certification. For information go to: http://www.k12.wa.us/certification/Teacher/procert-program.aspx
More information about Washington certification can be found at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Web site: http://www.k12.wa.us/certification/
Certification applications can be downloaded at: http://www.k12.wa.us/certification/certapp/forms.aspx
To accommodate questions from Human Resources or Personnel offices in Washington school districts, the link to the Certification Handbook is located at: http://www.k12.wa.us/certification/pubdocs/CertHandbook.pdf
If the information provided above has not answered your questions regarding certification in Washington State, contact: Chris Fieldstad or Heather Barclift at 360-464-6714 or email: certification@esd113.k12.wa.us