Massachusetts Educator Licensure


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The Center for Education Policy + Practice has curated a variety of documents to support the application process for licenses issued by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Resources available on this page include original materials created by the Massachusetts Teachers Association and documents from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Office of Educator Licensure.

Check List Licensure Summaries

MTA Check List Academic Licensure 2023-24

MTA Check List Vocational Licensure 2023-24

Emergency Licensure

IMPORTANT New applications for Emergency Licenses will end on November 7, 2023.

Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTELs)

All candidates for educators licensure must create an ELAR account before registering for any MTEL test. All license applications, payments and supporting documents are processed through the ELAR account.

Provisional Teacher

Educator Preparation & Initial Licensure

Initial License Extension

Educators who have completed five years of employment under the Initial license may be eligible for a one time extension to grant an additional five years of employment.

Professional Licensure Application

Professional Licensure Renewal

Audit of Professional License Renewal

Ch 74 Vocational Technical Educator Licensure

Preliminary and Emergency VTE Licenses

VTE Professional Licensure Requirements and Application

Professional License Renewal for VTE Licenses

Administrator VTE Licenses

DESE Chapter 74 Guide for Vocational Technical Administrator & Cooperative Education Coordinator Licensure

Retirement & MTRS for Ch. 74 Vocational Technical Educators

Vocational Education Credit – MTRS
Additional information about MTRS Creditable Service is available here.

Special Topics

Teacher of Students with Moderate Disabilities

DESE Competency Review Guide September 2023

English as a Second Language

Instructional Technology Specialist Teacher

Digital Literacy and Computer Science Teacher

​The Digital Literacy and Computer Science PreK-6 license is available through a Competency Review  process.

The Digital Literacy and Computer Science MTEL will also satisfy the content knowledge requirements for either the PreK-6 and/or 5-12 DLCS license.

NOTE: Cambridge College – Digital Literacy/Computer Science Massachusetts MTEL Preparation Course SCI 6017 January/February 2024 Dates TBD
The Cambridge College Digital Literacy/Computer Science MTEL Preparation Graduate Course is targeted at assisting teacher candidates in preparing to take and pass the Massachusetts DLCS 5-12 MTEL test. The five modules are in direct support of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks for DLCS: 

  • Computational Thinking: Data Structure and Algorithms
  • Computers Software and Networks
  • Computer and Society
  • Computer Programming

The course runs for a 5-week period and awards 3 graduate credits.
Cost:  $600.00 (with minimum of 10 enrolled)
Contact:  Professor John N. Papadonis [john.papadonis@cambridgecollege.edu]

DESE is offering a limited number of scholarships for those teachers who have taught digital literacy and computer science topics.

SEI Endorsement

MTA Licensure Workshop Handouts

Please note, handouts from MTA licensure workshops are only available for a short time after the workshop session has ended. Please download and save copies of any resources for your own files. If you are looking for a document that is no longer posted online, please send an email to licensure@massteacher.org.

Quincy Education Association Licensure Basics 11/2023

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