Code of Vermont Rules › Agency 22 - DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION › Sub-Agency 000 - GENERAL › Chapter 010 - LICENSING OF EDUCATORS AND THE PREPARATION OF EDUCATIONAL PROFESSIONALS (5000) › Section 22 000 010 - LICENSING OF EDUCATORS AND THE PREPARATION OF EDUCATIONAL PROFESSIONALS (5000)

Current through June, 2024
Acronym Guide
Acronym
Stands for
ASHA
American Speech Language Hearing Association
CAEP
Counsel for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation
CTE
Career Technical Education
EPP or TPP
Educator Preparation Program or Teacher Preparation Program
ETS
Education Testing Services
IEP
Individual Education Plan
INTASC
Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium
K
Kindergarten
L/RSBs
Local/Regional Standards Boards
LSB
Local Standards Board
NASDTEC
National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification
NASP
National Association for School Psychologists
NCSP
Nationally Certified School Psychologists
NLN
National League for Nursing
PK
Pre-Kindergarten
PSEL
Professional Standards for Educational Leaders
RN
Registered Nurse
ROPA
Results Oriented Program Approval
ROTC
Reserve Officers' Training Corps
RSB
Regional Standards Board
SD
School District
SLP
Speech Language Pathologist
SU
Supervisory Union
V.S.A.
Vermont Statutes Annotated
VSBPE
Vermont Standards for Board Professional Educators
LICENSING RULES
5100 STATUTORY AUTHORITY
16 V.S.A. §
											1691a;  16 V.S.A. §
										1692;   16 V.S.A. §
											1694;   16 V.S.A. §
											1695;   16 V.S.A. §
											1697.
5150. Definition of Terms.
For the purpose of these Licensing Rules, unless the context otherwise clearly requires, the following definitions apply:
"Add-on" refers to an endorsement that may only be acquired as an additional endorsement to an existing Level I or II Professional Educator License and cannot be considered an endorsement on its own. Add-on endorsements take on the degree requirements of the existing endorsement. For example, an add-on to a Career Technical Education license would be considered a Career Technical Education endorsement.
"Administrator" means an individual licensed under 16 V.S.A. Chapter 51, the majority of whose time in a public school, school district, or supervisory union is assigned to developing and managing school curriculum, evaluating and disciplining personnel, or supervising and managing a public-school system or public-school program.
"Administrative Experience" refers to the number of years where the majority of time is spent as a professionally licensed administrator developing and managing school curriculum, evaluating and disciplining personnel, or supervising and managing a public-school system or public-school program under an endorsement for which demonstration of competency with the Vermont Core Leadership Standards is requisite.
Endorsement areas for educators whose employment is considered administrative experience
20
Assistant Director of Adult Education
92
Career Technical Center Director
N/A
Assistant Career Technical Center Director (must hold endorsement 92)
93
Director of Curriculum
86
Director of Special Education
91
Principal
N/A
Assistant Principal (must hold endorsement 91)
90
Superintendent
N/A
Assistant Superintendent (must hold endorsement 90)
75
Supervisor (renewable, removed on 8/2/13)
"Applicant" means an individual applying for a license or endorsement.
"Apprenticeship License" is a four (4) year conditional license. See Rule  5340.
"Approved Educator Preparation Program(s)" means an institution of higher education or other educational organization that meets established standards for licensure according to these rules and is approved to recommend candidates for Educator licensure by the Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators.
"Associate's Degree" means a credential from an institute of higher education reflecting a minimum of forty-eight (48) college credit hours from a regionally accredited or state-approved institution.
"Bachelor's Degree" means an academic undergraduate degree conferred by a college or university upon those who complete the curriculum. Also called baccalaureate.
"Conditional License" means a license under which an applicant needs to meet additional requirements to be eligible for a professional license. A conditional license includes Provisional, Apprenticeship, and Emergency Licenses.
"Cooperating Educator" means an Educator assigned to a student teacher or intern by a local school in order to fulfill the requirements of   Section 5924 of these rules.
"Core Content Areas" means English, math, science, and social studies.
"Core Teaching Standards for Vermont Educators" means what all Educators should know and be able to do as defined in the document titled A Vision for Teaching, Leading, and Learning: Core Teaching and Leadership Standards for Vermont Educators, developed, and periodically updated by the Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators.
"Core Leadership Standards for Vermont Educators" means what all administrators should know and be able to do as defined in the document titled A Vision for Teaching, Leading, and Learning: Core Teaching and Leadership Standards for Vermont Educators, developed, and periodically updated by the Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators.
"Educational Entities" means Vermont public schools and Technical Centers and Recognized Independent Schools.
"Educator" means any teacher, administrator, or professional support staff requiring a license under 16 V.S.A. Chapter 51.
"Emergency License" is a one-year non-renewable conditional Educator license. See Rule  5360.
"Endorsement" means the field and instructional level in which an Educator is authorized to serve, pursuant to Rule  5440, as identified by the code numbers printed on the license. A license shall bear one or more endorsements.
"Field" means an administrative or instructional area or area of professional practice.
"Initial Licensure" means the first Vermont professional Educator license and endorsement acquired by an applicant. All subsequent licenses and/or endorsements shall be considered additional.
"Instructional Level" means the grade level(s) or age ranges an Educator is endorsed to teach.
"Internship" means a graduate experience in which one is supervised by both an onsite supervisor and qualified faculty of an institution of higher education.
"Interstate Agreement" means the system whereby a recommendation for licensure from a state-approved Educator preparation program at an accredited college or university, or a professional license, is recognized in another state. The reciprocity is governed by the Interstate Agreement developed by the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC). It does not guarantee that a license in one state can simply be 'traded in' for a license in another state. Each jurisdiction that is a signatory to the Agreement sets its own requirements under which a license will be issued.
"Jurisdiction Specific Requirements" means additional requirements for licensure pursuant to Vermont Statute or as determined by the Standards Board, pursuant to   16 V.S.A.§
											1694 beyond the performance and knowledge standards; including degree requirements, years of experience, professional licensure, or credentials.
"Liberal Arts and Sciences" means those academic courses of instruction intended to provide a general knowledge in the arts, humanities, sciences, and mathematics, as opposed to professional and technical subjects.
"License" means the authority to engage in teaching or school administration, as the context requires, in the state and includes the endorsements the licensee possesses.
"Licensee" means an individual licensed under 16 V.S.A. Chapter 51.
"Licensing Action" means action that suspends, revokes, limits, or conditions licensure or certification in any way and includes warnings, reprimands, probation, and administrative penalties.
"Limitations" means any subject or instructional constraints placed on an endorsement restricting what an Educator is licensed to teach or constraints the Standards Board may apply.
"Local Standards Board (LSB)" means a board whose majority membership shall be licensed teachers and that is established and maintained pursuant to Rule  5620   for the primary purpose of recommending teachers for relicensure pursuant to these rules.
"Major" means an academic course of study leading to a bachelor's degree by an accredited/approved four-year institution. The equivalent of a major is defined as a compilation of at least thirty (30) credit hours in the specified major field from accredited/approved institution(s), at least nine (9) of which shall be advanced undergraduate courses or higher.
"Master's degree" means an advanced/graduate academic degree conferred by a regionally accredited or state approved institute of higher education.
"Minor" means an academic course of study earned as part of a bachelor's degree by an accredited/approved four-year institution, or a compilation of at least eighteen (18) credit hours in the specified course of study from accredited/approved institution(s), at least six (6) of which shall be advanced undergraduate courses or higher.
"Office" means the unit within the Vermont Agency of Education responsible for professional standards, Educator licensing, and preservice approval.
"Online coursework" refers to learning that consists of student-teacher interaction which is conducted over the Internet and through the use of technology to support student learning with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace.
"Practicum" means a minimum of sixty (60) hours of supervised field experience, that need not be consecutive.
"Professional Educator License" means a non-conditional, current license comparable to a Level I or Level II Vermont Educator license and does not include Provisional, Emergency, Teaching Intern, or Apprenticeship licenses or their equivalent in other states.
"Professional Learning Plan" means a plan that sets forth how an Educator with an apprenticeship license with a Career Technical Education endorsement who has not met the requirements of   Sections 5230-5235 of these rules intends to meet those requirements.
"Professional Support Staff" means a person, other than a teacher or administrator, who is required to hold an Educator license to be employed in a public school.
"Provider" means an entity with the authority to recommend an Educator for licensure or endorsement.
"Provisional License" is a conditional two-year license. See Rule  5350.
"Regional Standards Board (RSB)" means a board whose majority membership shall be licensed administrators and that is established and maintained, pursuant to Rule  5630, for the primary purpose of recommending administrators for relicensure pursuant to these rules.
"Relicensure Credit" means a unit of measure assigned by a local or regional standards board, or the Office, to professional learning activities, including academic credit bearing courses, that meet standards for relicensure. Fifteen (15) hours of professional learning is equivalent to one (1) relicensure credit. Relicensure credits and academic credits apply equally toward relicensure requirements. Only academic course credits receiving a grade of "B" or better are accepted.
"School Year" means the year beginning July 1 and ending the next June 30.
"Secretary" means the Vermont Secretary of Education or an agent designated by the Secretary to carry out a particular duty.
"Standards Board" means the Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators established under   16 V.S.A. §
											1693.
"Student Teaching" means a minimum of thirteen (13) consecutive weeks of supervised, concentrated field experience, however named, required for initial licensure, in which the candidate shall gradually assume the full professional roles and responsibilities of an Educator in the initial endorsement area sought.
"Superintendent" means the Superintendent of a Supervisory Union (SU), Supervisory District (SD), or school district pursuant to   16 V.S.A. §
											241.
"Teacher" means an individual licensed under 16 V.S.A. Chapter 51, the majority of whose employed time in a public-school district or supervisory union is assigned to furnish to learners direct instructional or other educational services, as defined by rule of the Standards Board, or who is otherwise subject to licensing as determined by the Standards Board.
"Teaching Experience" means the number of years where the majority of time is assigned to furnish to learners direct instructional or other educational services under an endorsement for which demonstration of competency with the Vermont Core Teaching Standards is requisite.
"Transcript Review" means the process of qualifying for an additional endorsement and/or an initial license (only an option in a limited number of endorsement areas) by documentation of qualifications via academic transcripts and any additional requirements.
Endorsement areas for educators whose employment is considered teaching experience
20 Assistant Director for Adult Education
16 Junior ROTC
03 Business Education
61 School Librarian
92 Career
65 School Nurse
87 Career
65A Associate School Nurse
10 Design Technology Education
66 School Psychologist
30 Driver and Traffic Safety Education (In-vehicle and Full endorsement)
54 School Social Worker
84 Educational Speech Language Pathologist
68 Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
42 Educational Technology Specialist
67 Teacher
09 Family and Consumer Sciences
60 Work-Based Learning Coordinator
Endorsement areas for educators whose employment is not considered teaching experience
30
Driver and Traffic Safety Education (in-vehicle instruction only)
16
Junior ROTC Instructor
65
School Nurse
65A
Associate School Nurse
54
Social Worker
60
Work-based Learning Coordinator
Endorsement areas where you can apply for Initial Licensure via Transcript Review
20 Assistant Director for Adult Education
16 Junior ROTC
03 Business Education
61 School Librarian
92 Career Technical Education Director
65 School Nurse
87 Career Technical Education Special Needs Coordinator
65A Associate School Nurse
10 Design Technology Education
66 School Psychologist
30 Driver and Traffic Safety Education (In-vehicle and Full endorsement)
54 School Social Worker
84 Educational Speech Language Pathologist
68 Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
42 Educational Technology Specialist
67 Teacher of the Visually Impaired
09 Family and Consumer Sciences
60 Work-Based Learning Coordinator
5200 LICENSING RULES
5210. License Expiration.
Any license issued shall expire on June 30 of the expiration year specified on the license.
5211 Responsibilities of preparation programs regarding rule and policy changes
5211.1 It is the responsibility of higher education institutions with approved Educator preparation programs to ensure that they are aware of all changes to licensing rules and/or policies, including endorsement changes, including those made subsequent to their program approval date. The Office will inform, in a timely manner, higher education institutions with approved Educator preparation programs and coordinators of approved alternate route to licensure programs of any changes to licensing rules and/or policies.
5211.2 Approved Educator preparation programs shall ensure that all general licensure competencies (if appropriate), specific endorsement competencies and other licensure requirements are addressed for each candidate in the program.
5211.3 Candidates for licensure via any alternate route to licensure approved under 5332 are subject to licensure requirements at the time of written notification of acceptance of their credentials for review.