Licensure Reciprocity: Ohio

Analysis of Ohio's policies

Ohio could do more to support licensure reciprocity for certified teachers from other states. 

Commendably, Ohio does not grant any waivers on its testing requirements, and all out-of-state teachers, no matter how many years of experience they have, must meet Ohio's passing scores on licensing tests.

However, other aspects of the state's policy may create obstacles for teachers from other states seeking licensure in Ohio. Teachers with comparable out-of-state certificates are eligible for Ohio's professional certificate. There is no state-mandated recency requirement, but transcripts are required for all applicants. It is not clear whether the state analyzes these transcripts to determine whether a teacher was prepared through a traditional or alternate route or whether additional coursework will be required.

Ohio is also a participant in the NASDTEC Interstate Agreement; however, the latest iteration of this agreement no longer purports to be a reciprocity agreement among states and thus is no longer included in this analysis.

Citation

Licensure Information for Out-of-State Applicants www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=3&TopicRelationID=1072&ContentID=587&Content=62437

Recommendations for Ohio

Accord the same license to out-of-state alternate route teachers as would be accorded to traditionally prepared teachers.
Ohio should consider discontinuing its requirement for the submission of transcripts. Transcript analysis is 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 Ohio. Regardless of whether a teacher was prepared through a traditional or alternate route, all certified out-of-state teachers should receive equal treatment.

State response to our analysis

Ohio was helpful in providing NCTQ with the facts necessary for this analysis. The state added that transcripts are required to help establish that a person holds the college degree they represent themselves as holding, and that they are who they say they are. Ohio contended that simply sending in a copy of an out-of-state license, which could be easily fabricated, without any accompanying official academic records, would invite possible document fraud and could not be considered an accountable approach when licensing individuals to teach Ohio children.