Licensure Reciprocity: North Dakota

Analysis of North Dakota's policies

Out-of-state teachers may apply for either North Dakota's out-of-state reciprocal license-, or its out-of-state highly qualified license, depending on candidates' incoming credentials. However, the state does not require evidence of effective teaching during previous employment in its reciprocity policy.

Whether out-of-state teachers must meet North Dakota's own testing requirements appears to depend on the license. Those applying for the licensure based on highly qualified status must meet the state's cut-score requirements. However, although those applying for the reciprocal license have two years to pass North Dakota's licensure tests, candidates who passed a state test as a condition of licensure are not required to meet North Dakota's standard. 

Further, other aspects of the state's policy create obstacles for teachers from other states seeking licensure in North Dakota. North Dakota routinely reviews the college transcripts of licensed out-of-state teachers who are not highly qualified, an exercise that often leads the state to require additional coursework before it will offer its license. States that reach a determination about an applicant's licensure status on the basis of the course titles listed on the applicant's transcript may end up mistakenly equating the amount of required coursework with the teacher's qualifications. 

In addition, the reciprocal license requires completion of a "professional education sequence from a state-approved teacher education program, including supervised student teaching." Depending on the state's working definition of the term "student teaching," this policy is unlikely to offer much flexibility for teachers prepared in district-based alternate route programs.

North Dakota also requires all out-of-state teachers to take coursework in Native American and multicultural studies and does not offer a test-out option.

North Dakota is a participant in the NASDTEC Interstate Agreement, which outlines which other states' certificates will be accepted by the receiving state. This agreement is not a collection of two-way reciprocal acceptances, nor is it a guarantee that all certificates will be accepted by the receiving state, and it is therefore not included in this analysis.

Citation

North Dakota Administrative Code 67.1-02-02-07; 67.1-02-06-01, -2 North Dakota Century Code 15.1-13-20

Recommendations for North Dakota

Require evidence of effective teaching when determining eligibility for full certification.
To facilitate the movement of effective teachers between states, North Dakota should require that evidence of teacher effectiveness, as determined by an evaluation that includes objective measures of student growth, be considered for all out-of-state candidates. Such evidence should indeed be a factor for candidates who come from states that make student growth an important factor of a teacher evaluation (see "Evaluation of Effectiveness" analysis and recommendations).

To uphold standards, require that teachers coming from other states meet testing requirements.
North Dakota should insist that out-of-state teachers meet its own testing requirements, and it should not provide any waivers of its teacher tests unless an applicant can provide evidence of a passing score under its own standards. By continuing to allow testing waivers, North Dakota cannot be assured that teachers who have passed assessments in other states have met comparable content knowledge expectations.

Offer a standard license to certified out-of-state teachers, absent unnecessary requirements. 
North Dakota should reconsider its policy of transcript reviews. Such reviews are not a particularly meaningful or efficient exercise and are likely to result in additional coursework requirements, even for traditionally prepared teachers; alternate route teachers, on the other hand, may have to virtually begin anew, repeating some, most or all of a teacher preparation program in North Dakota.
Also, the state's Native American and multicultural studies coursework requirements are reasonable; however, it should offer out-of-state teachers a test-out option.

Accord the same license to out-of-state alternate route teachers as would be accorded to traditionally prepared teachers. 
Regardless of whether a teacher was prepared through a traditional or alternate route, all certified out-of-state teachers should receive equal treatment. State policies that discriminate against teachers who were prepared in an alternate route are not supported by evidence. In fact, a substantial body of research has failed to discern differences in effectiveness between alternate and traditional route teachers.

State response to our analysis