Hiring Policy
Provisional/Emergency License(s) Availability: Virginia allows teachers with "allowable deficiencies for full licensure" to teach on a Provisional License. This license requires candidates to hold a bachelor's degree.
Provisional/Emergency License(s) Validity Period:
Virginia's Provisional License is valid for up to three years and is nonrenewable. Individuals must complete all requirements for a
full license, including passage of applicable content tests within the validity period of the license.
COVID-19 State Policy: Virginia has implemented the following changes to its rules regarding Provisional and Emergency Licensure. Candidates unable to take licensure tests can apply for a one-year license that expires June 30, 2021. COVID-19 policies do not
affect the state's grade in
Provisional and Emergency Licensure.
Requirements for Out-of-State Teachers: Because licensure requirements for out-of-state teachers are scored in Requirements for Out-of-State Teachers, only the state's policies regarding emergency/provisional license(s) are considered as part of this goal.
Ensure that all teachers pass required subject-matter licensing tests before they enter the classroom.
All students are entitled to teachers who know the subject matter they are
teaching. Permitting individuals who have not yet passed state licensing tests
to teach neglects the needs of students, because it enables adults who may not be able to meet minimal state standards to earn teaching licenses.
Virginia should ensure that all teachers are required to pass licensing tests — an
important minimum benchmark for entering the profession —before entering the
classroom as the teacher of record.
Limit exceptions to one year.
Although suboptimal, there may be limited and exceptional circumstances under which
conditional or emergency licenses are necessary. In these instances, it is
reasonable for a state to give teachers up to one year to pass required
licensing tests. Virginia's current policy puts students at risk by allowing teachers to teach on emergency certificates for three years without passing required subject-matter licensing tests.
Virginia recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.
6B: Provisional and Emergency Licensure
Teachers who have not passed content licensing tests place students at risk. While states may need a regulatory basis for filling classroom positions with a few people who do not hold full teaching credentials, many of the regulations permitting this put the instructional needs of children at risk, often year after year.[1] For example, schools can make liberal use of provisional certificates or waivers provided by the state if they fill classroom positions with instructors who have completed a teacher preparation program but have not passed their state licensing tests. These allowances are permitted for up to three years in some states. The unfortunate consequence is that students' needs are neglected in an effort to extend personal consideration to adults who cannot meet minimum state standards.[2]
While some flexibility may be necessary because licensing tests are not always administered with the needed frequency, making provisional certificates and waivers available year after year could signal that the state does not put much value on its licensing standards or what they represent. States accordingly need to ensure that all persons given full charge of children's learning are required to pass the relevant licensing tests in their first year of teaching, ideally before they enter the classroom. Licensing tests are an important minimum benchmark in the profession, and states that allow teachers to postpone passing these tests are abandoning one of the basic responsibilities of licensure.