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You are here: Home / Preparation programs / Approval / Offer an endorsement

Offer an endorsement

An endorsement is a specific subject matter or content area listed on an educator’s certificate. The endorsement type will determine which certificate it can be added to.

  1. An endorsement can be added to a residency teacher certificate.
  2. A basic area endorsement can be added to a CTE teacher certificate.
  3. A specialty endorsement can be added to all teacher, ESA, and administrator certificates.

Both the endorsement and basic area endorsement dictate what courses an educator can teach. See teacher assignment policy. Specialty endorsements provide visibility and evidence of an educator’s professional preparation and learning accomplishments. Specialty endorsements are not connected to assignment policy.

Please email your questions to prajakta.deshmukh@k12.wa.us.

Offer an endorsement

What organizations are eligible to offer an endorsement?

Your institution must be either an approved residency teacher program or an approved CTE plan 1 program to offer an endorsement. Learn about program approval.

All residency teacher programs must offer at least one endorsement, and all CTE plan 1 programs must offer at least one basic area endorsement.

Proposal process

  1. To offer a new endorsement, programs must submit a proposal to PESB at least 60 days before the PESB board meeting at which they would like your proposal to be considered. View a list of all endorsements and competencies.
  2. PESB convenes a staff review team to review the endorsement proposal form.
  3. The review team provides you with feedback and an overall recommendation of the endorsement proposal.
    • If the review team recommends approval of the endorsement proposal, the recommendation is presented at the board meeting and listed as a consent agenda item. The board always has the option to take an item off the consent agenda.
    • If the review team does not recommend approval of the endorsement proposal, you have the option to either present at the board meeting on the full agenda, or revise the proposal and re-submit it for a subsequent board meeting.

Through the proposal process, programs provide evidence of subject matter expertise, strategies, and endorsement design. If the proposal is approved, the program can offer the endorsement immediately. If the proposal is denied, the program cannot offer the endorsement. Programs can resubmit their proposal with changes that reflect board feedback.

View the endorsement proposal form.

Dual endorsement certification requirement

Programs should inform their candidates that specific endorsements must be paired with a second endorsement on a teaching certificate. Programs may still recommend a candidate for certification without both endorsements since this is a certification requirement rather than a program completion requirement. OSPI’s certification office will verify the dual endorsement requirement before issuing the certificate. Learn more about the dual endorsement requirement.

Offer a specialty endorsement

What organizations are eligible to offer a specialty endorsement?

  • Approved educator preparation programs
  • Other organizations maintaining status as a approved in-service education agency under WAC 181-84-045 in partnership with a PESB approved educator preparation program provider

Proposal process

To offer a specialty endorsement, organizations must submit and present a proposal to the Board for approval. Organizations will remain approved until June 30 of the year they are scheduled for re-approval, which occurs every five years.

View a list of specialty endorsements and essential learnings.

Through the proposal process, organizations will describe their specialty endorsement model, including the essential learnings, organizational capacity, and participant recruitment and retention strategies. Organizations will also detail how they are responding to educator, student, and community needs.

Organizations must include the following information in their proposal:

  • Specialty endorsement proposal form
  • At least two letters of support from education or community-related organizations

Once the proposal is submitted, it undergoes an internal review in which staff provides detailed feedback. Staff also makes a recommendation on whether the proposal is ready to come forward at the upcoming Board meeting. or if the proposal needs revision that requires more time and should come forward at a later Board meeting date. If the staff recommends that the proposal is ready to com forward at the upcoming Board meeting, it goes on the consent agenda.

If the Board approves the proposal, organizations can immediately begin offering the specialty endorsement. If the Board denies the proposal, organizations can resubmit it with changes that reflect Board feedback.

Educator information

Approved organizations should inform their educators that a specialty endorsement can only be added to an existing certificate with an endorsement. If pre-service educators are completing a specialty endorsement, they must first earn their certificate with an endorsement before the specialty endorsement can be recognized.

Proposal guidance and tips

Proposal guidance

Proposal language should be specific, supported by evidence, and related to a projected outcome, strategy, action, or system. The strongest proposals make clear connections between an identified need, how the endorsement responds to that need, and how programs will bring their proposal to life.

Additional tips

  • Before starting the process, familiarize yourself with the relevant endorsement competencies and specialty endorsement essential learnings. These outline the relevant subject matter for teacher candidates seeking that endorsement.
  • PESB staff complete a review of all proposals and provide programs with detailed feedback. We encourage you to view our most frequent staff feedback before completing the proposal form.
  • Proposals are formal documents; review and check all materials for completion prior to submitting.
  • Board members review a lot of materials for Board meetings. Proposal language should be concise, direct, and avoid redundancies. You can cite descriptions from one section of your proposal in another section.
  • Cite all sources via works cited list.

Submission instructions

All proposals are due at least 90 days in advance of their requested PESB board meeting beginning with the November 2024 Board meeting. Due dates are firm and there is no guarantee a proposal will come forward at the requested board date. Additionally, PESB staff will not accept submissions without all required attachments or with sections left blank.

All proposals should be submitted via email to EPPapproval@k12.wa.us as Microsoft Word documents. Find additional submission instructions in each form.

Board meetings Final draft proposal due
May 22-23, 2025 February 21, 2025
July 24, 2025 April 25, 2025
September 19-20, 2025 June 20, 2025
November 13-14, 2025 August 15, 2025
January 22-23, 2026 October 24, 2025
March 26-27, 2026 December 26, 2025
May 14-15, 2026 February 13, 2026
July 16-17, 2026 April 17, 2026
September 25-26, 2026 June 26, 2026
November 19-20, 2026 August 21, 2026

 

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