Bilingual Cross-Endorsements

Overview

Please note that these are only general guidelines. Approval and/or acceptance of specific coursework will be determined once an application, fee, and official transcripts have been submitted for review.

All current bilingual endorsements are specific to the subject/grade level to be taught, and require that you also hold the non-bilingual endorsement for the specific content area to be eligible for the bilingual endorsement. To be eligible to add the elementary bilingual endorsement, for example, you must first become eligible to add the current elementary endorsement (#305). To become eligible to add the bilingual secondary general science endorsement, you must first become eligible to add the secondary general science endorsement (#034), etc.

There is no bilingual special education endorsement. It is up to the employing district to determine if you have the required language skills to serve as a special education teacher for students in a bilingual program. There are also no bilingual special subject endorsements to teach art or music, etc.

Once you hold an appropriate non-bilingual endorsement, the requirements to add the bilingual endorsement include:

  • At least 18 semester hours of credit completed at ONE regionally accredited college to include coursework in the following areas:
    • First and Second Language Acquisition;
    • Linguistic and Academic Assessment;
    • Cross Cultural Sensitivity and Communication and Implications for Instruction;
    • Strategies for Modifying English Content Area Instruction;
    • Methods of Teaching ESL; and
    • Methods of Teaching Bilingual Education.
  • In addition, applicants must demonstrate written competency in English with a passing score on the Praxis Core Academic Skills: Writing test, AND oral and written competency in the language of instruction by passing the ACTFL OPI and WPT tests in the non-English language of instruction being requested.

A list of approved courses for the bilingual endorsement is available.

NOTE: All coursework must result in the award of college-level credit posted to an official transcript from a regionally accredited college or university