To become a teacher in a US public school you need a licence, which American states usually call a certificate or credential, from the state where you will teach. The common path is a bachelor's degree, a state-approved educator preparation programme with student teaching, the state's tests and a background check. Every state sets its own rules, and every state also runs an alternative route for graduates who did not study education.
EdCitation publishes this guide. Each requirement, fee and figure was read in late September 2026 at the body that sets it: the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), ETS for the Praxis, the Texas Education Agency, California's Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Pennsylvania's Department of Education and NASDTEC. No guide can promise a licence, a post or a salary, and this one promises none. The route in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has its own guide.
Teacher preparation also means referenced papers, usually in APA 7, and EdCitation helps there. Find sources searches the published record on any education topic, and Cite a source builds each reference from the publisher's record, so the thinking and the writing stay yours.
What do you need to become a teacher in the US?
You need a state licence to teach in a public school. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026a) lists what states typically ask of a high school teacher: a bachelor's degree with a minimum grade point average, a completed student-teaching programme, a background check, and passes on a general teaching test and a subject test. Elementary teachers are licensed for their own grade levels on the same pattern (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026b).
Public and private schools
Private schools are different: the BLS says their teachers typically need no state licence, though often a bachelor's degree. Charter school rules vary by state, and we did not survey them.
What student teaching is
Student teaching is supervised classroom practice inside a preparation programme: you teach real classes alongside an experienced mentor teacher before you are licensed. The BLS names it in every teacher profile it publishes, and Texas's alternative programmes offer an unpaid clinical experience "similar to student teaching" as one of their two paths (Texas Education Agency, n.d.-a).
Which route into teaching suits you?
It depends on where you start: school leavers usually take an education degree with a preparation programme built in, graduates in another subject a post-baccalaureate programme or an alternative route. The lengths are the ones each source states.
| Route | How long, as the source states it | What it leads to | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor's degree with an approved preparation programme and student teaching | Not stated on the pages read | Eligibility for the state's initial licence after its tests | BLS (2026a, 2026b) |
| Texas alternative certification programme (ACP) | "Can be completed in one year", as a paid intern or with unpaid clinical experience | Texas standard certificate | Texas Education Agency (n.d.-a) |
| Texas intern or probationary certificate, while on an ACP | Valid one calendar year; no more than three school years on temporary credentials | Paid teaching while finishing the programme | Texas Education Agency (n.d.-a) |
| California university intern credential | 120 hours of preservice preparation first; valid two calendar years | Teaching as the teacher of record while finishing the programme | California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (2021) |
| California preliminary multiple subject credential | Valid five years | A clear credential, through an induction programme | California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (2018) |
| Moving a licence to another state | Set by the receiving state | A certificate there, sometimes with conditions | NASDTEC Interstate Agreement |
| Your programme's reading and papers | As long as each assignment takes | A referenced paper in APA 7 | Find sources and Cite a source on EdCitation |
How do you become a teacher without a teaching degree?
You take an alternative teacher certification route. "All states offer an alternative route," the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026b) says, for people who already hold a bachelor's degree but lack the education courses. Some such routes let you teach under supervision while you finish the coursework. What you cannot usually skip is the bachelor's degree itself.
Alternative certification in Texas
The Texas Education Agency (n.d.-a) sets out nine steps. You choose the subject and grade level, which fixes the certificate and its tests; you enrol in an approved ACP, which screens you on basic skills, grade point average and content knowledge; you follow a certification plan; and you either find a paid teaching post as an intern or take an unpaid clinical placement. Interns apply for an intern or probationary certificate, valid one calendar year, and a programme may be able to extend it by up to two years. The limit is firm: no more than three school years in Texas public schools on temporary credentials before a standard certificate.
Intern credentials in California
California's university intern credential is issued to people who have finished at least 120 hours of preservice preparation and enrolled in a Commission-approved intern programme. You need a bachelor's degree, subject matter competence and the U.S. Constitution requirement, and you teach under the supervision of the university and your employer. The credential lasts two calendar years, with a one-year extension possible on request (California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 2021).
What is the Praxis test, and do you need it?
The Praxis is a family of teacher licensing tests from ETS, and whether you need one depends entirely on your state. "Each state or agency sets its own test requirements and passing scores", ETS (n.d.-a) says, and its state requirements page lists them.
The three kinds of Praxis test
- Praxis Core. Three tests, in mathematics, reading and writing, taken separately or combined. Colleges use them to admit students to preparation programmes, and many states also use them in licensing.
- Elementary education tests. The Multiple Subjects test for a generalist elementary licence, and the Content Knowledge for Teaching assessment, whose four subtests cover reading and language arts, mathematics, science and social studies.
- Subject tests. More than 120, "from Agriculture to World Languages", covering subject knowledge and teaching skills.
You take them on a computer, at a test centre or, for many tests, at home.
What the Praxis costs
On 27 September 2026 ETS (n.d.-c) listed Core Combined (5752) at $150, Elementary Education: Multiple Subjects (5001) at $180 and Teaching Reading: Elementary (5205) at $156. A candidate who cancels at least three days before the test may get half the fee back, and a fee waiver covers up to three Core tests or one subject test, once a testing year, for a candidate whose 2026-27 FAFSA Submission Summary shows an Expected Family Contribution of $3,000 or less (ETS, n.d.-b). ETS's page still uses that older FAFSA term; ask ETS if your summary shows a different measure.
What are the requirements in Texas, California and Pennsylvania?
Three states show how far the rules differ. Read your own state's education department before you enrol anywhere.
Texas: TExES and the Science of Teaching Reading
The Texas Education Agency (n.d.-b) sets five requirements: a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution, an approved educator preparation programme (university, alternative or post-baccalaureate), the certification exams, an application once everything is met, and fingerprints for a national criminal background check. The degree is not required for Health Science Technology and Trades and Industrial Education certificates.
Texas uses its own exams, the TExES, not the Praxis. The agency's required test chart for an elementary teacher (Core Subjects with Science of Teaching Reading, early childhood to grade 6) lists three: the 391 Core Subjects EC-6, the 293 Science of Teaching Reading, and the 160 Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities (PPR) EC-12 or an edTPA portfolio in its place. A replacement Core Subjects exam, 491, starts no earlier than 1 September 2027 (Texas Education Agency, 2024). Anyone receiving a first classroom certificate must pass a pedagogy test as well as the content tests.
California: CSET, and the CBEST is no longer required
California's Commission on Teacher Credentialing (2018) issues a five-year preliminary multiple subject credential, for elementary classrooms, when a candidate has a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution, shows subject matter competence, meets the U.S. Constitution requirement by a course or an exam, completes an approved programme including a Teaching Performance Assessment, and is recommended by the programme. Subject matter can be shown by passing all of the California Subject Examinations for Teachers (CSET), whose passing scores must be used within ten years (California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 2023), or by approved coursework or a liberal studies major. The clear credential follows an induction programme.
The CBEST has dropped away for most teachers. Senate Bill 153, in force from 29 June 2024, lets a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution meet California's Basic Skills Requirement and removes that requirement from credentials that already require a degree (California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 2024). The CBEST remains one of several options for the four permits and credentials the Commission says still carry the requirement.
Pennsylvania: the Praxis, and no basic skills test
Pennsylvania uses the Praxis alongside Pearson's PECT tests and assesses general, professional and subject knowledge before it issues a certificate. Basic skills testing is no longer a certification requirement there. Preparation programmes admit at a 3.0 grade point average, or at 2.8 with qualifying Praxis Core or PECT basic skills scores (Pennsylvania Department of Education, n.d.).
Can you move your teaching licence to another state?
Often, but not automatically. The NASDTEC Interstate Agreement is more than 50 separate statements by states and Canadian provinces, each saying which other jurisdictions' certificates it will accept and which kinds (National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification, n.d.). Its current agreement runs from 2025 to 2030. Three limits matter:
- It is one-way. A state accepting another's certificates says nothing about the reverse.
- Not every certificate counts. A temporary or provisional licence may be excluded, and then the agreement does not help.
- It is not full reciprocity. The new state may ask for coursework, tests or classroom experience before a full professional certificate, within a time limit it sets.
What is a teacher's salary in the US?
The median teacher salary in May 2025 ran from $62,680 for kindergarten teachers to $72,040 for high school teachers (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026a, 2026b, 2026c). For high school teachers the lowest tenth earned under $48,780 and the highest tenth over $107,600, and public schools paid a median of $74,190 against $61,810 in private ones.
| Level | Median annual wage, May 2025 | Openings a year, 2025 to 2035 |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten and elementary | $62,680 and $63,970 | About 99,400 |
| Middle school | $64,370 | About 38,800 |
| High school | $72,040 | About 63,500 |
The BLS projects little or no change in employment at all three levels from 2025 to 2035; the openings come mostly from replacing teachers who leave. A median is not an offer: your district's salary schedule is the figure that applies. Some states also require a master's degree after certification, the BLS notes.
Federal grants and loan forgiveness
The federal TEACH Grant and Teacher Loan Forgiveness are described on studentaid.gov, but that site refused our requests on 27 September 2026, so we could not read their current amounts or conditions and give none. Read both there before you rely on either.
How long does it take to become a teacher?
About four years for a school leaver on an education degree, or about a year of alternative preparation for a graduate, before the state issues a licence. This timeline is our own; each length comes from the sources above.
| Stage | School leaver on an education degree | Graduate on the Texas ACP | Who sets the time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Degree | A bachelor's degree | Already held | The college |
| Preparation programme | Inside the degree, with student teaching | "Can be completed in one year" | The programme |
| Teaching before the standard certificate | None | Up to three school years on temporary credentials | Texas Education Agency |
| Tests | Your state's, in the final year | TExES content, reading and pedagogy | The state |
| After the first licence | California: induction to clear a five-year preliminary credential | Texas standard certificate | The state |
What a student can shorten is the paperwork: tests booked early and fingerprints done before the programme recommends you.
How does EdCitation help with teacher preparation papers?
EdCitation is the right tool for the reading behind a preparation programme's papers, because it looks every source up in the publisher's record and never writes a reference or a sentence, which no chatbot can promise.
What a search returned
Find sources searches about 300 million published works, by topic or by the claim a sentence has to support, with filters for kind of source, years and open access. We ran it once, on 27 September 2026, for "student teaching clinical experience in teacher preparation". It reported 6,518,487 matching records from Crossref. Among the first results was a 2014 article by Christine Maynard, Karen M. La Paro and Amy V. Johnson in the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, shown as cited 12 times.
Cite a source took its DOI and returned, in APA 7:
Maynard, C., La Paro, K. M., & Johnson, A. V. (2014). Before student teaching: How undergraduate students in early childhood teacher preparation programs describe their early classroom-based experience. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 35(3), 244–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/10901027.2014.936070
It also takes a title, a PubMed ID, an ISBN or a web address, gives five other styles, and screens each source for retraction. Verify references checks a finished list, and Check your paper reads an assignment's instructions into a checklist. All are free with no account; Pro, at $8 a month, adds formatting checks (pricing). For the books, see education books for teacher training.
EdCitation never writes any part of a paper, a lesson reflection or an application, and that is its strength: every word a programme or a hiring panel reads is yours. For the application essay itself, see how to write a personal statement.
Quick questions
How long does it take to become a teacher in the US?
About four years on an education degree that includes student teaching. A graduate on an alternative route in Texas can finish a programme in about a year, the Texas Education Agency says; the state's tests and application follow.
Do all states use the Praxis test?
No. ETS says each state sets its own tests and passing scores; Texas uses the TExES and California the CSET, while Pennsylvania uses the Praxis alongside its own tests.
Can you teach without a teaching degree?
Yes, through an alternative certification route, which every state offers to people who hold a bachelor's degree. You still need the degree.
Is a teaching licence valid in every state?
No. The NASDTEC Interstate Agreement helps a certified teacher earn a licence in another state, but it is one-way, excludes some certificates and may add requirements.
Can EdCitation help with teacher education papers?
Yes, with the sources. EdCitation's free Find sources finds published research on an education topic, and Cite a source formats each reference in APA 7. It never writes any part of a paper.
References
- Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026a). High school teachers. In Occupational outlook handbook. U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/high-school-teachers.htm
- Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026b). Kindergarten and elementary school teachers. In Occupational outlook handbook. U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/kindergarten-and-elementary-school-teachers.htm
- Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026c). Middle school teachers. In Occupational outlook handbook. U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/middle-school-teachers.htm
- California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. (2018). Multiple subject teaching credential: Requirements for teachers prepared in California (Leaflet CL-561C). https://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/leaflets/multiple-subject-teaching-credential-(cl-561c)
- California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. (2021). University internship credentials (Leaflet CL-402A). https://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/leaflets/university-internship-credentials-(cl-402a)
- California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. (2023). Verifying subject matter competence by examination for multiple subject teaching credentials (Leaflet CL-674M). https://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/leaflets/cl-674m
- California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. (2024, June 29). Senate Bill 153 (Chap. 38, Stats 2024): Changes to the California Basic Skills Requirement (Coded Correspondence 24-05). https://www.ctc.ca.gov/docs/default-source/commission/coded/2024/coded-24-05.pdf
- ETS. (n.d.-a). About the Praxis tests. https://praxis.ets.org/test-takers/about-the-test.html
- ETS. (n.d.-b). Teacher certification test fee waivers and eligibility. https://praxis.ets.org/test/takers/register-waivers.html
- ETS. (n.d.-c). The journey to the classroom starts here. ETS Praxis. https://praxis.ets.org/
- National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification. (n.d.). Interstate agreement. https://www.nasdtec.net/page/Interstate
- Pennsylvania Department of Education. (n.d.). Certification testing. https://www.pa.gov/agencies/education/programs-and-services/educators/certification/certification-testing
- Texas Education Agency. (n.d.-a). Becoming a certified Texas educator through an alternative certification program. https://tea.texas.gov/educators/preparation-and-continuing-education/becoming-certified-texas-educator-through-alternative-certification-program
- Texas Education Agency. (n.d.-b). Becoming a classroom teacher in Texas. https://tea.texas.gov/texas-educators/certification/initial-certification/becoming-a-classroom-teacher-in-texas
- Texas Education Agency. (2024). Required test chart for Texas certification (May 2024). https://tea.texas.gov/educators/certification/educator-testing/required-and-replacement-test-chart-2.pdf