Frequently Asked Questions About Teaching Endorsements

What are endorsements?
Endorsements are content areas or academic disciplines in which the teacher is prepared to teach. There are two kinds of endorsements: primary (30 or 40 semester credits) and supporting (16 semester credits).

• Elementary teachers (Grades K-8): The primary endorsement is elementary certification. The state requires content knowledge to teach the Essential Academic Learning Requirements. Whitworth University expects students to have prior coursework in US history, geography, civics, economics, physical and life sciences, and health and physical fitness.
  
  
• Elementary endorsement courses for MIT applicants: Often, applicants to the program have not had the wide array of coursework to meet all the requirements for the content areas in elementary education. Applicants can take one-credit independent study courses from Whitworth University to meet some areas not previously addressed in university courses.
  
  
• Secondary teachers: The primary area of endorsement for secondary teachers will be in the subject area you plan to teach, which is usually your academic major. In the MIT program, we only accept applicants who have a primary area of endorsement in a subject that is commonly taught in the schools. This is to ensure that field placement can be made in subjects you will be teaching throughout the day. For example: a history major would be acceptable because a teacher could teach history courses for an entire school day; a psychology major would not be acceptable because there is no endorsement in psychology, nor are there full-time teaching assignments in psychology in secondary schools.
  
  Recently, the state has made the requirements more focused and specific coursework is necessary in all endorsement areas. To learn more about the requirements, please select the link on this web page on teaching endorsements.
  
  
• Endorsements for secondary teachers at Whitworth University:
  • Arts: Drama, Visual Arts, General Music, Choral Music, Instrumental Music
  • English: English/Language Arts; ESL
  • History
  • Social Studies
  • Mathematics
  • General Science: Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Physics
  • World Languages: French, German, and Spanish

How do nontraditional majors meet endorsement requirements?
Occasionally, students have a major such as environmental studies, which is not an endorsable area. Whitworth University will work with you to design a program of study that will meet the endorsement requirements. The endorsement must be completed prior to beginning the MIT Program. To begin the planning, please review the endorsement options described above. Once you have decided on a subject area that is of most interest, contact Becky Sartell to arrange for individual advising. Her phone number is (509) 777-3769.

What are the credit requirements for a primary endorsement?
Thirty semester credits (or 45 quarter credits) are required for a primary endorsement in most subject areas. For broad-based primary endorsements, such as social studies, language arts, or science, 40 semester credits (or 60 quarter credits) are required.

What are supporting endorsements?
Supporting endorsements are similar to academic minors. The state requires 24 quarter credits and specific content for each supporting endorsement. Supporting endorsements are applicable to secondary and elementary certification and allow teachers to teach in these subjects as well. Secondary teachers must have a primary endorsement and can add supporting endorsements. From a hiring perspective, a supporting endorsement makes a teacher more marketable and versatile in the school setting.

What else should I know about endorsements?
You must have earned a "C" (2.0) or better or a grade of pass on a pass-fail system of grading in any course listed as part of an endorsement. All courses including correspondence courses must have been taken at a regionally accredited college or university. AP courses must be shown as accepted by a regionally accredited college or university and listed on the transcript. There is no limit on higher education course level (undergraduate lower or upper division) and there is no time limit on when the course was taken. More than one essential area may have been covered in a course. In other words, one course may meet more than one of the essential areas required. Transcripts submitted with your application to the MIT program will be used to verify course work.

What if I have taken a course that does not clearly state a content area requirement for an endorsement?
If a course title does not clearly indicate the topic of the course, additional documentation must be submitted. This documentation may include any of the following:

• A letter from the department chair where the course was taken. The letter must be written on college or university letterhead and signed by the department chair whose name and title are typed, and must identify the course taken (title, course number, and year) and the essential area(s) covered. The department chair may also send an email with his or her "signature" verifying who is sending the e-mail
• A course syllabus
• A course description from the university catalog (be sure to copy the cover of the catalog to clearly identify the year the course was taken to verify the source of the course description)

When is this information submitted?
You must submit the information regarding endorsements at the time of application.

Frequently Asked Questions About Teacher Certification

How will I be certified if I want to teach middle school?
Middle school teachers can be certified at either the elementary or secondary level. If you select elementary certification, you will be qualified to teach any subject area; however, the middle school hiring team would want to be confident that you had adequate content knowledge in the areas you would most likely teach. Frequently, middle schools integrate subjects into block classes, with English and social studies being the most common. With elementary certification, you could readily teach in this integrative model, provided you had a solid knowledge base in both English and social studies. The hiring team would make a judgment based on your college transcript, previous experiences, as well as your performance in the MIT Program. If you are certified to teach at the secondary level and apply to teach in an integrative English-social studies block, technically you would need to have both areas of endorsement--English and social studies. Thus, the elementary endorsement makes you more versatile, but secondary endorsement would verify your content knowledge base.

Another approach to middle school teaching is to think about your long-range goals. If you envision yourself teaching middle or high school, then secondary certification is a better choice. If you envision yourself teaching elementary or middle school, then elementary certification is a better choice. Essentially, this decision is a matter of personal preference.

What Teacher Certificate can be earned?
Washington issues the Residency Teacher Certificate to first-time applicants for a regular teaching certificate.

The candidate must have:

• Earned a bachelor's or higher degree in an endorsement from a regionally accredited college/university
• Completed a state-approved teacher preparation program at a regionally accredited college/university, to include teaching methodology and internship

Holders of the Residency Certificate are expected to progress to the Professional Certificate within 5 years. If not:

• The Residency Certificate may be renewed (once) for 2 years if the teacher is enrolled in a college/university program (and making satisfactory progress in the program) leading to the Professional Teaching Certificate
• The Residency Certificate may be renewed (once) for 5 years if not currently employed as a teacher

How are basic skill competencies to be assessed for the Residency Certificate?
(WAC 180-78A-200)
For out-of-state applicants, applicants must pass all three subtests of the Washington Educator Skills Test-Basic (WEST-B) before they can be issued the Residency Certificate. Out-of-state applicants have up to 12 months to meet this requirement.

For in-state candidates entering a teacher preparation program, as a condition of admittance to a program in Washington an individual must demonstrate competency in the basic skills of oral and written communication, reading, and mathematics in one of the following ways:

• Completion of a baccalaureate degree program; or
• Completion of the Master in Teaching program; or
• Passing all three subtests of the Washington Educator Skills Test-Basic (WEST-B).
  
  

For a full explanation of the Professional Certificate, please access the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction: http://www.k12.wa.us/certification/profed/profcertinfo.aspx

What if I have questions about endorsements and teacher certification?
If you have other questions or need further clarification or assistance, go to the OSPI web site: http://www.k12.wa.us/certification.

Teaching Endorsement Sheets
To find out if you have already fulfilled the Washington-state endorsement requirements, click on the Teaching Endorsement Sheets title to view the corresponding endorsement sheets. To download a worksheet, follow these steps: Open document, do a "File - Save As," and save the document to your home computer as a Microsoft Word document. Working from the documents saved on your computer, complete the documents, edit, and save again.

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