Licensure Reciprocity: Indiana

Analysis of Indiana's policies

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

Regrettably, Indiana grants a waiver for its licensing tests to any out-of-state teacher with three years of experience.

Teachers with valid, comparable out-of-state certificates are eligible for Indiana's professional certificate. There is no state-mandated recency requirement for the professional certificate; however, transcripts are required for all out-of-state applicants. It is not clear whether the state analyzes these transcripts to determine whether a teacher was prepared through a traditional or alternate route or whether additional coursework will be required.

Indiana 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

Indiana Administrative Code, Title 515, Article 4, Rule 1

Recommendations for Indiana

To uphold standards, require that teachers coming from other states meet testing requirements.
Indiana takes considerable risk by granting a waiver for its licensing tests to any out-of-state teacher who has three years of teaching experience. The state 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 the teacher's having experience.

Accord the same license to out-of-state alternate route teachers as would be accorded to traditionally prepared teachers.
Indiana should 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 Indiana. 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

Indiana was helpful in providing NCTQ with facts that enhanced this analysis. The state added that it requires the submission of transcripts as documentation that applicants meet the degree requirements for the licenses they seek, and for review for adding additional content areas to licenses if requested. Indiana asserted that it does not require transcripts as a way to limit applicants, and it reciprocates applicants from both alternate route and traditional programs if they hold a valid out-of-state license.  

Last word

The submission of transcripts should be unnecessary for certified out-of-state teachers, unless the state has some reason to suspect that the certifying state routinely certifies teachers who do not have a degree.