School districts will soon be approached by Arkansas college and university graduates that have completed a teacher preparation program and are looking for that first teaching position. New graduates that have completed all requirements for their first initial teaching license, including the required background checks, the Praxis I, Praxis II Specialty Area Test and the Praxis II Principles of Learning and Teaching, will receive a Verification of Initial Licensure Eligibility Form signed by the college or university Licensure Officer.
This eligibility form verifies that the individual is now eligible for the three-year initial teaching license. The initial teaching license will be issued as soon as the school district completes their part of the form and indicates the hire date of the new teacher. A copy of the completed Verification of Initial Licensure Eligibility Form should be retained by the school district and a copy must be returned to the Office of Professional Licensure before the initial license can be issued.
The initial teaching license is a three-year non-renewable license. This license can be converted to a standard five-year teaching license upon completing Induction (the mentoring component and the Praxis III-Performance Assessment). Induction must be completed prior to the expiration date of the initial teaching license. New teachers working with the initial teaching license will be eligible to participate in the Praxis III-Performance Assessment as early as the second semester of the first year of teaching. However, they have until the end of their third year of teaching under the initial teaching license to complete Induction.
School districts are encouraged to hire new graduates with the initial teaching license to teach within their area of licensure. However, a district may hire a new graduate with the initial teaching license to teach full time out-of-area, if this meets the needs of the district. Teachers that are hired out-of-area must complete an Additional Licensure Plan (ALP) for the area they will be teaching and file a copy with the school district and with the Office of Professional Licensure.
Teachers working under an Additional Licensure Plan have three-years from date of hire to complete all licensure requirements for the new area. These forms may be downloaded from the ADE web site at http://adeweb. Click on Department Web Page, click on Teacher Licensure and scroll down to forms for additional areas of licensure. Select the additional licensure plan of your choice and download from this site.
For questions, please contact the Office of Professional Licensure at 501-682-4342 and ask to speak with a supervisor.