Requirements to Become a Teacher in Arizona, AZ
So, you want to become a teacher in Arizona, home of the Grand Canyon and one of the four corners? Need some help getting a push in the right direction? Well congratulations, you landed here and that’s a good start. Let’s begin by looking at the overview of the teaching industry in Arizona. As of last year there were approximately 1,012,000 students in the state. Arizona has 2,042 public schools, broken down into 1,097 elementary, 255 middle, and 464 high schools. Teachers in Arizona had an average salary of $35,386 in 2009-2010 (according to bls.gov), with incrementally higher salaries going to those with higher qualifications. School districts in Arizona have among the highest multilingual student populations in the nation, as well as some of the best foreign language courses the U.S. Has to offer. Now, let’s take a look at the requirements to obtain a teaching certification.
Preliminary Requirements
Provisional Elementary Certification in Arizona:
- Minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited institution.
- Complete the Application for Certification.
- Have either photocopy of valid Arizona IVP fingerprint card or Arizona fingerprint clearance card.
- Complete either a teacher preparation program from an accredited university, 45 semester hours of education courses from accredited university 8 of which must be in practicum of grades K-8, or have a valid elementary certification from a different state.
- Pass the Professional Knowledge Elementary portion (91) of the AEPA (Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessment) .
- Pass the Subject Knowledge Elementary Education exam (01) on the Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessment.
- Verify you have completed the Structured English Immersion (SEI) training.
- Taken the Arizona State Constitution class or examination.
- Taken the U.S. Constitution class or examination.
- Pass a criminal background check.
- Some schools and districts may have additional requirements.
Provisional Secondary Certification
- Meet the same requirements for the elementary education in addition to:
- Passing score on the (92) portion of the Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessment instead of the (91) version.
- Passing score on the Subject Knowledge Secondary Education portion of the AEPA instead of elementary version.
- 30 semester hours of education including 8 in practicum of grades 7-12 instead of 45 with 8 in K-8.
Applying for Teacher Accreditation
After satisfying these requirements, you must then submit the packet for your Arizona Teaching Certification and pay any required fees
What next?
Once you have fulfilled these requirements and submitted the appropriate paperwork, you should look into seeing if you past teaching experience or degrees beyond a bachelor’s make you eligible to receive highly qualified teaching status. Once you receive the provisional teaching certification, it is valid for 3 years after which you must apply for and meet the necessary requirements for a standard teaching certification.