The State Board of Education adopted new reciprocity policies for Professional Licensure at the April 9, 2001 meeting. Emergency Rules and Regulations governing these policies were approved at the May 14, 2001 meeting.
These recently approved emergency rules and regulations became effective May 14, 2001 and will expire September 10, 2001. Permanent rules and regulations will be in place prior to the September 10, 2001 expiration date.
The approval of these emergency rules and regulations governing reciprocity, will have an immediate and very positive impact on licensing out-of-state or out-of-country teachers moving to Arkansas.
The most immediate impact on the pool of available teachers will be the option of accepting professional exams required for an out-of-state or out-of country license as meeting the professional exam(s) requirement for Arkansas.
Those applicants whose out-of-state or out-of-country license did not require professional exams will have a one-year, non-renewable, provisional license available to them as they have in the past. They must take and pass the required assessments before their provisional license can be converted to a standard license.
Since these policies are also retroactive, those teachers currently on your staff who are gaining their Arkansas teaching license through reciprocity may also take advantage of these new policies. This means that there may be some teachers currently employed in Arkansas who can get their standard license without having to complete the Praxis exams assessed when they applied for licensure earlier.
A copy of the guidelines currently being used by Professional Licensure is attached for your convenience.
Please contact The Office of Professional Licensure at 501-682-4342 if you have questions concerning these issues.