The Alternative Type E Teacher License was developed to offer an alternative route to teacher licensure for persons choosing to enter the teaching profession as a second career. An individual with a Bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited college/university may be employed on an Alternative E License for up to three years while completing 24 semester hours of professional education coursework to advance to a full Tennessee license.  An applicant is eligible for the Alternative E License if it can be documented that he or she has met the required knowledge and skills in the specific endorsement area.

 

There are three possible routes by which an applicant may document knowledge and skills to qualify for an Alternative E License:

• Completion of an appropriate degree with an academic major in the desired area of endorsement; OR

• Obtaining written verification from the college certification officer at a university with an approved program in the desired area of endorsement stating that admission requirements to the program have been satisfied and that the applicant does not lack content courses in the desired area of endorsement; ( Click Here1 for a list of colleges/universities in Tennessee and the programs offered at each.) OR

• Successful completion of the Praxis Exams Specialty Test (s) required for the desired area of endorsement.

Alternative E License Special Criteria

All candidates must:

• Successfully complete the Praxis specialty in Technology Education with a minimum score of 580.

• Successfully pass the Principles of Learning & Teaching (PLT) grades 7-12 30524; passing score is 159.

Be assigned a mentor by the State Program Consultant for Technology Engineering Education.  The candidate will do the following:

• Visit an assigned mentor’s Technology Engineering lab, on two separate visits, for a total of 16 hours of visitation within the first 30-days of the school year the candidate begins employment.

• The mentor will complete the appropriate forms and submit them to the Program Consultant for Technology Engineering Education for final approval within the time allowed.

• Visit a Technology Engineering instructor’s lab, outside the system they are employed, for a total of 16 hours of visitation.  The candidate will visit a highly qualified instructor who has been approved on the “Best Practice Program List” for Technology Engineering, Mathematics, Science, or Engineering.  These visits must be completed by the end of the first semester of the school year the candidate begins employment.  The candidate will be responsible for informing their mentor of these visits and sites and will need to have all appropriate forms completed and returned to their mentor.  The mentor shall provide support to the candidate during the first year of teaching and participate with the candidate in a university seminar at the end of the year. 

• Attend the New Teacher Training Seminar sponsored by the Division of Career and Technical Education.  The Program Consultant for Technology Engineering Education is responsible for communicating the location and dates for this training.

• Successfully complete the OSHA/TOSHA Safety Training sponsored by the Division of Career and Technical Education during the first semester of employment. 

The Program Consultant for Technology Engineering Education is responsible for communicating the location and dates for this training.

• Certain areas such as School Administrator, School Counselor, School Psychologist, Library Information Specialist and Speech/Language Pathologist require a prerequisite of an acceptable Master's degree in order to be placed on an Alternative E License.

• Alternative E Licenses may be issued for all initial licensure endorsement areas except for Elementary Education and Middle Grades Education.

• Applicants already holding a full Tennessee license are not eligible for the Alternative E License, as it is designed to assist with initial licensure, not with additional endorsements.

• An Alternative Type E License is issued for the duration of one school year at a time and always expires on the August 31 following the academic school year of its issuance.

• An individual may not be issued an Alternative Type E License more than three times. This includes initial issuance plus two renewals.

Feel free to call (615) 532-4885 and request that the Alternative Type E License application form be mailed to you.