Licensure Reciprocity: Arkansas

Analysis of Arkansas's policies

Arkansas does not support licensure reciprocity for certified teachers from other states.

Although Arkansas requires documentation that a standardized test was required for the issuance of the out-of-state teaching license, it allows its testing requirement to be waived with three years of teaching experience.

Teachers with current, comparable out-of-state certificates are eligible for Arkansas's standard teaching license. All out-of-state teachers are required to complete a three-hour Arkansas history course if the licensure area is early childhood, elementary, middle school areas or secondary social studies. The state does not offer teachers a test-out option. Transcripts are required for all applicants; however, it is not clear whether the state analyzes transcripts to determine whether a teacher was prepared through a traditional or alternate route or whether additional coursework will be required.

Arkansas is also a participant in the NASDTEC Interstate Agreement; however, the latest iteration of this agreement no longer purports to be a reciprocity agreement among states and thus is no longer included in this analysis.

Citation

Arkansas Department of Education Rules Governing Teacher Licensure by Reciprocity arkansased.org/rules/rules_current.html

Recommendations for Arkansas

To uphold standards, require that teachers coming from other states meet testing requirements.
Arkansas takes considerable risk by granting a waiver for its licensing tests to any out-of-state teacher with three years of teaching experience. It should not provide any waivers of its teacher tests unless an applicant can provide evidence of a passing score under its own standards. The negative impact on student learning stemming from a teacher's inadequate subject-matter knowledge is not mitigated by a teacher's having recent teaching experience.

Offer a standard license to certified out-of-state teachers, absent unnecessary requirements.
Although the state's Arkansas history coursework requirement is reasonable, it should offer out-of-state teachers a test-out option. The state should also consider discontinuing its requirement for the submission of transcripts. Transcript analysis is likely to result in additional coursework requirements, even for traditionally prepared teachers; alternate route teachers, on the other hand, may have to virtually begin anew, repeating some, most or all of a teacher preparation program in Arkansas. Regardless of whether a teacher was prepared through a traditional or alternate route, all certified out-of-state teachers should receive equal treatment.

State response to our analysis

Arkansas recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis. The state added that experience is no longer required for the standard license.