Teaching Endorsements

• TIME: Given the current stay at home order across the country, this may be the perfect opportunity for you to dedicate time toward professional development
• EXPERTISE: Hone your craft and gain knowledge and skills that will help you be a more effective teacher.
• JOB SECURITY: Holding additional endorsements may qualify you for leadership positions in your district.
• COMPENSATION: Teachers with a Master’s degree earn, on average, $10,000 more per year in the State of Washington. Total cost for a Master’s program through the competency-based option is under $15,000. This is an investment that provides significant returns.

In a competency-based model, students move through the sequence of courses required for the endorsement independently. There are no online or face-to-face courses. Instead, candidates demonstrate mastery of the competencies through portfolio assignments and proctored exams.

A micro-credential represents a portion of course equivalence to one credit. For instance, RDG 502 has two micro-credentials: History and Theory of Reading and Dyslexia. To demonstrate mastery of the competencies for each micro-credential, students complete a portfolio assignment and take an online proctored exam.

Courses are graded as pass/fail. Each portfolio assignment has a rubric for scoring purposes. Each online proctored exam contains 20 multiple choice questions and five short answer/essay responses. Students must successfully complete all assessments for each micro-credential in order to receive a grade for the course.

This program is self-paced and allows for rolling enrollment options. In this way, students can enroll in a course as soon as the previous course is completed. There is no need to wait for the beginning of a semester to begin a course. Similarly, students have the ability to wait between courses if they are not prepared to move forward.

This depends on the state in which you live. In Washington State, after you complete the coursework you will need to take the following assessments: NES Essential Components of Elementary Reading Instruction (104) or the English Language Learners (051). For more information, please visit the Washington Educator Skills Test website at: http://www.west.nesinc.com/PageView.aspx?f=GEN_Tests.html. If you live in another state, please contact us at 509-865-8650 for state-specific information.

ABSOLUTELY! The credits from the ELL/BLE and Reading endorsements are designed to contribute to our Master’s in Inclusive Education: Dyslexia, ELL, and Cultural Competence. If you complete both endorsements for 32 credits, the only additional requirement for the Master’s Degree is a three-credit research sequence.

Required: Students must hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Education. While not required, it is preferable that a student be working as a P-12 classroom teacher while pursuing the endorsement options.  The COE application packet is required, but is limited to general information. Students are not required to take any entrance exams.

Students need access to the internet and a webcam/headphones to fulfill testing requirements.

The cost for your exam and portfolio assessments is included in your tuition; however, should you need to repeat an assessment, additional fees ($125) will apply.  You will contact your advisor to schedule your exams when you are ready, at which time you will receive access information.  Please plan to have a webcam (i.e. webcam is one word) installed in/on your device to permit remote proctoring of exams. Detailed instructions will be provided prior to your scheduled exam.

Each endorsement is 16 credits. The cost per credit for the competency-based program is $437.50. This reflects a discount of $358.50 per credit. Total discount for the endorsement is $5,736. This includes testing fees for the first attempt. If a student fails the test and/or portfolio, a retesting fee of $125 will be assessed. Students will pay for each course as they progress through the program. In this way, the payment schedule is individualized to each student based on course enrollment.