Teaching Categories and Requirements
State or Territory Certification/License. A valid fully professional state teaching license in content areas or the state’s equivalent (as DoDEA determines comparable to DoDEA's teacher categories) will be accepted as fulfilling all qualifications for professional teaching education and certification in content areas. To receive full reciprocity the license must be unencumbered, which means a license that is not revoked, suspended, or made probationary or conditional by the state licensing board of education. The Praxis I and II or seven years of teaching at the Prek-12 level can be substituted in lieu of an unencumbered license and will require all minimum education requirements, a student teaching/internship and full qualification standards must all be met. Applicant’s claiming military spouse preference under the MSLRA will receive consideration for an encumbered license.
Minimum Academic Preparation and Requirements. A baccalaureate degree from an institution accredited by a regional accrediting association is required. Academic preparation of at least 40 semester hours (SH) in general education course work distributed over such fields as English, history, social studies, mathematics, fine arts, languages, science, philosophy, and psychology is required. In addition, a minimum of 18 SH of professional teacher education course work in such areas as learning process, tests and measurement, educational philosophy, psychology, social foundations, methods of teaching and curriculum applicable to the type and level of the position for which applying is required. (Note: Speech Language Pathologists, Social Workers, School Nurses, School Psychologists, JROTC Instructors, and non-certified Training Instructors are excluded from the minimum academic preparation requirement.)
Student Teaching or an Internship. Student teaching or an internship as part of an approved teacher education program in an accredited U.S. institution is required. In the absence of an approved student teaching or internship program, applicants may be given credit for one year of successful full-time employment as an educator. Since that one year of employment substitutes for a course, no credit may be given for pay purposes.
(Note: Speech Language Pathologists, Social Workers, School Nurses, Guidance Counselors, School Psychologists, JROTC Instructors and non-certified Training Instructors are excluded from the student teaching requirement.)
Foreign Degrees and Course Work from Non-accredited Institutions. Credits or degrees earned from a foreign college or university must be evaluated prior to acceptance. Three evaluation procedures are acceptable:
- the work must be evaluated and interpreted by a current member of National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES). This website provides a list of current organizations who can perform your evaluation. You must select and work directly with one of these organizations.
- the foreign institution that awarded the degree is on a list endorsed by a regionally accredited university or on a list endorsed by a state department of education for the purpose of teacher certification in that state (this procedure will require an English translation of the transcript and a copy of the document awarding the degree, together with an authenticated list produced by an American university or a state department of education); and
- the work may be evaluated by the graduate division of a regionally accredited university and declared the equivalent of similar undergraduate or graduate work in a U.S. institution.
Graduates of non-accredited institutions may have their undergraduate work validated by admittance to graduate school and completion of a minimum of 5 SH of credit in a regionally accredited graduate college.
Testing Requirements. Applicants must submit proof of achieving DoDEA's minimum scores for the required PRAXIS tests. Please note that DoDEA has adopted NEW test names and qualifying scores for PRAXIS I. There is no change in requirements for PRAXIS II and both PRAXIS I and PRAXIS II must be met.
DODEA COMPETENCY TESTS AND QUALIFYING SCORES EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 1, 2019:
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| PRAXIS I NEW Competency Test Name | Test Code | Qualifying Scores |
|---|---|---|
| Core Academic Skills for Educators: Reading | 5713 | 156 |
| Core Academic Skills for Educators: Writing | 5723 | 162 |
| Core Academic Skills for Educators: Mathematics. (On-screen four-function calculator provided.) |
5733 | 150 |
| If you wish to take all three computer-delivered Praxis Core exams (5713, 5723, 5733) at the same time, select Core Academic Skills for Educators: Combined Test (5752) when registering. Scores will be reported by individual test (5713, 5723, 5733). | ||
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| PRAXIS II Principles of Learning and Teaching (PLT) | Test Code | Qualifying Scores |
|---|---|---|
| Principles of Learning and Teaching: Grades K–6 | 5622 | 160 |
| Principles of Learning and Teaching: Grades 5–9 | 5623 | 160 |
| Principles of Learning and Teaching: Grades 7–12 | 5624 | 158 |
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Applicants may take any one grade level of the PLT
Applicants should contact the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in Princeton, New Jersey, directly at (609) 771-7395 for a registration bulletin or register on-line at: www.ets.org/praxis. The designated codenumber for DoDDS is 7077.
Exemptions to the testing requirement:
- Applicants who are fully certified by a U.S. state department of education.
- Applicants who have completed seven (7) years or more of full-time professional teaching experience.
- JROTC Instructors.
- Applicants for the positions of Guidance Counselor, School Psychologist, Speech-Language Pathologist, and Vocational Training Instructor are only required to take the PRAXIS l tests.
- School nurses are exempt from the PRAXIS tests, with the exception of those nurses who also have teaching endorsements.
Extracurricular Activities. In addition to meeting the academic requirements, most positions require participation in extracurricular activities.
Elementary School Positions
All educators applying for elementary classroom teaching positions must possess 24 semester hours of elementary education course work, inclusive of the required elementary methods. No second teacher category is required, except where noted. The minimum qualification standards are detailed in each position description.
Middle School Positions
DoDEA operates middle schools and combination middle/secondary schools. Educators who are assigned to schools configured as middle school and/or middle/secondary school, must meet the minimum qualification standards in the specific middle school content areas as detailed in each position description.
Secondary School Positions (Usually Grades 7-12)
DoDEA operates a variety of school configurations. Secondary teachers may be required to teach at the middle and senior high school levels. Endorsements for optional additional categories in other content areas can be met with 24 semester hours of credit once an educator has met the 30 semester-hour requirement for the initial secondary category. The minimum qualification standards are detailed in each position description.
