Most people -
parents and education experts alike - agree that good teachers are critical to
students' success in learning at school. By looking at some measures of teacher
qualifications, you can better understand the overall quality of the teachers
working in your school. One measure of teacher quality is whether or not a
teacher has been granted a teaching license.
This indicator is not related to Highly Qualified teacher data.
The types of teaching licenses vary as teachers progress from beginning to more
experienced. Also, many teachers add/pursue additional teaching areas during their
career, which may change the type of license held. When a teacher is referred to
as "fully licensed," he/she has met all of the requirements and teaching standards
set by the NC State Board of Education for all areas on their license. Teachers who have
entered the profession from alternate careers and teachers who have been hired on
an "emergency" basis do not have full licenses. In addition, a teacher may be
‘fully licensed’ in one area and have another area in which they are not
‘fully licensed.’ These teachers are classified as not having a full license.
Classification is independent of the actual subject/area taught by the teacher.
Full licensure is an indication of the level of formal teacher training a teacher
has had. This table provides the percentage of fully licensed teachers as
of March 1, 2012.
To view the percentage of teachers with emergency/provisional licenses or who are entering teaching via lateral entry, click on the triangle symbol beneath the table. Teachers with emergency permits hold at least a bachelor's degree but are teaching subjects in which they did not major in college. Emergency permits are valid for one year only and are not renewable. Teachers with provisional licenses are fully licensed in one or more areas, but are assigned to teach in areas in which they are not fully licensed. This license can be renewed annually for four years while the appropriate course work is pursued to become fully licensed. Lateral entry teachers hold at least a bachelor's degree in the area they are assigned to teach and are taking appropriate coursework to complete licensure and become initially licensed.
In North Carolina, anyone interested in teaching must complete an approved education program in order to be granted a teaching license. In addition, North Carolina requires new teacher applicants to obtain a minimum score on the content-based PRAXIS Examinations in their main teaching field. Out-of-state teacher applicants can qualify for a North Carolina teaching license when their education programs are equivalent to the standards and guidelines of North Carolina's approved education programs.
The school-level Report Card allows you to compare the percentage of fully licensed teachers in your school with averages from similar schools at the district and state level. Use the district and state averages as reference points in reading school level data. Remember that these averages only provide an indication of how favorable the data might be. It would be a mistake to judge a school as "better" or "worse" based only on slight differences in the data. Ideally, every teacher in a school is fully licensed, but a lack of a license does not necessarily mean a teacher is unqualified.
School similarity for district and state averages is determined based on the grades offered in your school. For more technical information about the data in this table, see the Data Sources & Information Guide. For more information about teacher licensure in North Carolina, visit the NC Department of Public Instruction’s Licensure website.