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Are You Already a Teacher?
Are you already a teacher? Ohio has multiple paths for current teachers to pursue further higher education. If you are interested in adding a second (or third) licensure area to your first license, look through the list of initial licenses Ohio offers available at “How do I become an Ohio Teacher?” Perhaps you are interested in adding a specific specialization to your license? Glance through the list of endorsements areas available to add to your teaching license. Can you motivate and inspire others? Are you an effective leader within your school? You may want to consider pursuing a career in school leadership.
Click on the links below to further explore Ohio’s advanced licensure areas:
- Endorsements
- Administrative Specialist Licensure
- Principal Licensure
- Superintendent Licensure
- Pupil Services – School Counselor
If you are already familiar with the type of license you wish to pursue, use the Program Finder to search for institutions approved by the Ohio Board of Regents to offer programs that lead to your desired license.
Interested in renewing your current license?
Please contact the Ohio Department of Education for information on forms and policies related to renewing your current educator license. Please note that if you are taking course work for credit, the Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents recognizes degree programs from out-of-state institutions that have been approved by a regional accreditor. For online programs that lead to a new license, please review the Online Educator Preparation portion of this site.
Ohio Department of Education, Office of Licensure
Educator.Licensure@ode.state.oh.us
(614) 466-3593
Endorsements
Ohio also allows teachers to add endorsements to their license. An endorsement is a specific specialization which may be added to any standard teaching license in Ohio unless otherwise noted. Ohio offers the following teaching endorsements:
- Adapted Physical Education (limited to Physical Education license)
- Adult Education (full-time adult program)
- Bilingual
- Career Based Intervention
- Career-Technical Work-Site Teacher/Coordinator (limited to career-tech license)
- Computer/Technology
- Driver Education (limited to Young Adult or Multi-Age teacher license)
- Early Childhood (grades 4-5) Generalist (limited to an Early Childhood P-3 license)
- Gifted Intervention Specialist K-12
- Literacy Specialist
- Mathematics Specialist (PK-6)
- Middle Childhood Generalist (grades 4-6)
- Prekindergarten
- Prekindergarten Special Needs
- Reading
- School Nurse Wellness Coordinator
- Science Specialist (PK-9)
- Teacher Leader (limited to a professional teaching license or permanent teaching certificate)
- TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages)
- Transition to Work (limited to Intervention Specialist license or Career-Tech)
- Urban Principal (may be added to a standard principal license or certificate)
Administrative Specialist Licensure
This license requires a master’s degree (or higher). Specific license fields include the following:
- Educational Research
- Educational Staff Personnel Administration
- Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Development
- Pupil Services Administration
- School-Community Relations
- Vocational Education Administration
Principal Licensure
This license requires a master’s degree (or higher). The Principal’s license is broken apart into three separate fields:
- Principal - Grades PK-6 (for those with an early childhood, middle childhood, multi-age, or intervention specialist license)
- Principal - Grades 4-9 (for those with a middle childhood, multi-age, adolescence to young adult, intervention specialist, or career technical license)
- Principal - Grades 5-12 (for those with a middle childhood, multi-age, intervention specialist, adolescence to young adult, or career technical license)
Superintendent Licensure
This license requires a master’s degree (or higher) and can be added to a principal or administrative specialist license.
Pupil Services – School Counselor*
This license requires a master’s degree (or higher). Teachers with two years of successful teaching experience under a standard teaching certificate, or provisional or professional teacher license can complete an approved preparation program and complete an internship consisting of six hundred contact hours in a school setting.
*The Pupil Services license also includes the following fields: School Audiologist; School Social Worker; School Speech –Language Pathologist; School Psychologist; School Nurse; Orientation and Mobility Specialist; Occupational Therapist; and Physical Therapist. However, these do not have programs that directly target educators with teaching experience.