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Email: cert@mt.gov
Phone: 406.444.3150
FAX: 406.444.0743

We are available from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Mountain Time, Monday through Friday. Please be aware that our Licensure Division has a very small staff. Phone calls are handled in the order in which they are received. You may have to wait to speak to a Specialist.

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Educator Licensure

Thank you for your interest in becoming a licensed Montana educator.

This webpage provides all information necessary for you to apply for a new Montana Educator License, renew your existing Montana Educator License, or reinstate your lapsed Montana license.

Montana offers 4 main categories of Licensure:


Teacher (elementary and secondary, career and technical education, Native American Language and postsecondary faculty/dual credit teachers)

 

Class 2: Standard
  • Hold a bachelor’s degree; and
  • Verify completion of an accredited professional educator preparation program in an area approved for endorsement in Montana; and
  • Successfully complete a supervised teaching experience either as part of an accredited professional educator preparation program or successfully complete one year of teaching experience in a state accredited elementary and/or secondary school district.
Class 1: Professional
  • A Class 2 Standard Educator License or meet the qualifications of the Class 2 Standard Educator License; and
  • A master’s degree in professional education or an endorsable teaching area(s) from an accredited college or university; and
  • Verification of three years of successful K-12 teaching experience as a licensed teacher.
Class 4: Career and Technical
  • For those with work experience in career and technical areas, but without degrees in education.
  • Applicants must demonstrate 10,000 hours of work experience in each area they wish to teach.  Degrees, licenses and industry standard designations may be substituted for some of the work experience requirement.
Class 7: Native American Language and Culture
  • Granted upon recommendation from the tribe.
Class 8 Dual Credit-Only
Post Secondary Faculty License
  • For those college instructors who teach university courses in which high school students enroll and receive both college and high school credit for completion.  Eligible instructors must verify employment at a university and eligibility for licensure.  Please see your college or university Chief Academic Officer for additional information.

Please carefully review the "Qualifications" documents next to your chosen category of licensure, then apply for the most appropriate license.  If you qualify for more than one category (e.g. teaching and administration), you can apply for both on the same application form.

All applicants for an initial Montana License or reinstatement of a lapsed Montana license must complete a fingerprint based background check through the Montana Department of Justice.

APPLICANTS LICENSED IN OTHER STATES MUST COMPLETE THE ENTIRE LICENSURE PROCESS FOR MONTANA.  Include a copy of your current license from the other state.  Due to Montana's federally approved definition of a "highly qualified teacher", applicants from out of state who completed an alternative route to license or licensure/endorsement via testing may not qualify for full licensure in Montana.  Please apply for the appropriate license, and if you do not meet the qualifications, our Licensure Division will offer you the appropriate license after our review.

The preceeding summary is provided to give you an overview of Montana Educator Licensing.  Once you determine the Class(es) of licensure for which you may qualify, please review the Application for more specific information.

All licenses are valid for 5 years except the Class 5 Alternative License (3 years).

All applicants for initial licensure or reinstatement of a previous license must complete a fingerprint based background check through the Montana Department of Justice.

 

Administrator (principals, superintendents and subject-area supervisors)

Class 3: Administrator
  • A master’s degree in an accredited school administration program or the equivalent; and
  • Must qualify for one of the administrative endorsements for Montana (complete an accredited preparation program).
    • Principal: Elementary, Secondary, or K-12
    • Superintendent
    • Supervisor

Please carefully review the "Qualifications" documents next to your chosen category of licensure, then apply for the most appropriate license.  If you qualify for more than one category (e.g. teaching and administration), you can apply for both on the same application form.

All applicants for an initial Montana License or reinstatement of a lapsed Montana license must complete a fingerprint based background check through the Montana Department of Justice.

APPLICANTS LICENSED IN OTHER STATES MUST COMPLETE THE ENTIRE LICENSURE PROCESS FOR MONTANA.  Include a copy of your current license from the other state.  Due to Montana's federally approved definition of a "highly qualified teacher", applicants from out of state who completed an alternative route to license or licensure/endorsement via testing may not qualify for full licensure in Montana.  Please apply for the appropriate license, and if you do not meet the qualifications, our Licensure Division will offer you the appropriate license after our review.

The preceeding summary is provided to give you an overview of Montana Educator Licensing.  Once you determine the Class(es) of licensure for which you may qualify, please review the Application for more specific information.

All licenses are valid for 5 years except the Class 5 Alternative License (3 years).

All applicants for initial licensure or reinstatement of a previous license must complete a fingerprint based background check through the Montana Department of Justice.

Specialist (School Counselors and School Psychologists)

Class 6: Specialist

Available only with

  • School Counselor or
  • School Psychologist endorsements

Must have:

  • Master's degree; and
  • Complete an accredited professional educator preparation program in the endorsement area.

Please carefully review the "Qualifications" documents next to your chosen category of licensure, then apply for the most appropriate license.  If you qualify for more than one category (e.g. teaching and administration), you can apply for both on the same application form.

All applicants for an initial Montana License or reinstatement of a lapsed Montana license must complete a fingerprint based background check through the Montana Department of Justice.

APPLICANTS LICENSED IN OTHER STATES MUST COMPLETE THE ENTIRE LICENSURE PROCESS FOR MONTANA.  Include a copy of your current license from the other state.  Due to Montana's federally approved definition of a "highly qualified teacher", applicants from out of state who completed an alternative route to license or licensure/endorsement via testing may not qualify for full licensure in Montana.  Please apply for the appropriate license, and if you do not meet the qualifications, our Licensure Division will offer you the appropriate license after our review.

The preceeding summary is provided to give you an overview of Montana Educator Licensing.  Once you determine the Class(es) of licensure for which you may qualify, please review the Application for more specific information.

All licenses are valid for 5 years except the Class 5 Alternative License (3 years).

All applicants for initial licensure or reinstatement of a previous license must complete a fingerprint based background check through the Montana Department of Justice.

Alternative License

Class 5: Alternative
  • Entry level license for candidates who might meet some but not all of the above requirements for the Class 1, 2, 3 or 6 licenses.
  • Not available for Class 4, 7 or 8 licensees.
  • Class 5 Licensees sign a Plan of Professional Intent agreeing to complete their deficiencies within 3 years. 
  • Cannot be renewed or reinstated (can only have one Class 5 License in your lifetime). 
  • Most typically used when someone has a bachelor's degree in an endorsable area and needs to complete a teacher prep program or fails to complete renewal requirements.

Please carefully review the "Qualifications" documents next to your chosen category of licensure, then apply for the most appropriate license.  If you qualify for more than one category (e.g. teaching and administration), you can apply for both on the same application form.

All applicants for an initial Montana License or reinstatement of a lapsed Montana license must complete a fingerprint based background check through the Montana Department of Justice.

APPLICANTS LICENSED IN OTHER STATES MUST COMPLETE THE ENTIRE LICENSURE PROCESS FOR MONTANA.  Include a copy of your current license from the other state.  Due to Montana's federally approved definition of a "highly qualified teacher", applicants from out of state who completed an alternative route to license or licensure/endorsement via testing may not qualify for full licensure in Montana.  Please apply for the appropriate license, and if you do not meet the qualifications, our Licensure Division will offer you the appropriate license after our review.

The preceeding summary is provided to give you an overview of Montana Educator Licensing.  Once you determine the Class(es) of licensure for which you may qualify, please review the Application for more specific information.

All licenses are valid for 5 years except the Class 5 Alternative License (3 years).

All applicants for initial licensure or reinstatement of a previous license must complete a fingerprint based background check through the Montana Department of Justice.

Renewals

Educators Renewal Application Forms

Renewal Requirements
Online Renewal (Class 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6)

Paper Application Forms
Class 1, 2. 3, 4, 6 or 8
Class 7
Traffic Education

How to get Renewal Units
Pre-Approval Form
For Providers I Provide Multiple Events throughout the year
Online Approval & Reporting
 Application
Annual Report Form
I want to provide a single event
Application
Completion Report

Lapsed License

Fingerprinting Print Instructions for Law Enforcement
Request Fingerprint Packet
Redissemination Request
I have earned the credits Reinstatement Application
I have NOT earned the credits Class 5 Application

Adding Endorsements

With Internship If your school district has an opening in an area outside of your existing endorsement(s), you may be eligible to participate in an internship.  The internship is an agreement between the licensee, their school district and a Montana university's accredited educator preparation program.  The licensee has 3 years to complete the requirements for the endorsement.  The school district can report the intern as the "educator of record" for purposes of the Annual Data Collection (accreditation report).
Teaching Internship Application
School Counselor Internship Application
Principal Internship Application
Superintendent Internship Application
Without Internship

Follow these steps to add an endorsement without an internship:
1.  Contact a university's accredited educator preparation program offering the endorsement you wish to add.
2.  Complete the specific coursework
3.  Work with the university's licensure official to submit the documentation required to add the endorsement to OPI.

Montana Educator Preparation Programs

Map to Educator Licensure

Licensure Rules

Administrative Rules, State of Montana Chapter 57

Montana Secretary of State

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Montana Educator Preparation Programs

Montana PEPPS Standards & Procedures Manual
Institutional Report - 2007

Montana has 9 post-secondary campuses offering teacher education programs that have been approved by the Montana Board of Education for teacher/administrator/specialist certification in Montana. Each institution offers its own combination of programs. Both historical and current combinations of programs can be accessed through this site.

Carroll College
University of Great Falls
MSU-Billings
MSU-Bozeman
MSU-Northern Rocky Mountain
Salish Kootenai
UM-Missoula
UM-Western

Instructions:

  • Select the institution.
  • Current approved programs will have a "yes" in the "if still approved" column and/or a date of last on-site review.
  • Historical (discontinued) programs will have the last year of approval in the "if still approved" column and may or may not have a date of last on-site review.
  • If a program is still current as a major but not as a minor (and vice versa), "minor 19--" will be in the "if still approved" column (the last year it was approved as a minor) and a date will be in the last on-site review column (last review of the current major program.)
  • If you have specific questions regarding the institutions' education programs, please contact the certification official for the respective institution(s). Contact information is provided.
  • On-site reviews occur on a rotating schedule with every campus being reviewed every five years. Provisional approval may be awarded by the Board of Public Education on recommendation from the Teacher Education Division of the Office of Public Instruction for programs instituted between on-site reviews.
TITLE II, HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF 1998
Sec. 207. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR PROGRAMS THAT PREPARE TEACHERS

This legislation calls for a State Report Card on the Quality of Teacher Preparation. It requests states to provide a description of the teacher certification and licensure assessments, and any other certification and licensure requirements, used by the State. It asks for the percentage of teaching candidates who passed each of the assessments used by the State for teacher certification and licensure, disaggregated and ranked, by the teacher preparation program in that State from which the teacher candidate received the candidate's most recent degree, which shall be made available widely and publicly. It asks for information on the extent to which teachers in the State are given waivers of State certification or licensure requirements, including the proportion of such teachers distributed across high- and low-poverty school districts and across subject areas.

An initial report was due April 7, 1999, giving basic information about the state's certification, which in Montana includes the only state mandated testing requirement. Following this, the state was to establish (with the cooperation of appropriate institutions) a procedures report which was due October 7, 2000.

An unexpected complication with the law was the absence of definitions and the unanticipated variety of state rules, laws and assessments (varying from none to many). It took nearly a year of meetings to determine how the desired goal of the legislation might be collected. A set of guidelines for implementing Title II was not available until January 2000.

The act includes penalties for states and institution for failure to comply. "Fines.--In addition to the actions authorized in section 487(c), the Secretary may impose a fine not to exceed $25,000 on an institution of higher education for failure to provide the information described in this subsection in a timely or accurate manner."

'In order to receive funds under this Act, a State, not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of the Higher Education Amendments of 1998, shall have in place a procedure to identify, and assist, through the provision of technical assistance, low-performing programs of teacher preparation within institutions of higher education..." This is the context for the attached report, dated October 5, 2000.