**IMPORTANT** Questions or concerns after reading this information? To best serve you and to answer your questions quickly, please email only espbinfo@nd.gov with your question. (When you reach out to multiple contacts, it slows our response time.)
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When an applicant has earned a teaching degree from another country, they will need to have their transcripts evaluated and translated by a member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES, www.naces.org/members). The transcript needs to be translated to US equivalency by degree and course by course. The original NACES member evaluation should be mailed to our office, or if the agency sends official electronic evaluations, it can be sent directly to espbinfo@nd.gov.
- You do not need to send transcripts from your country. Your NACES evaluation will take the place of this.
Option 1:
Applicants who have earned a Teacher Education degree outside the US, have a valid teaching license in another state in the US, and have a valid US Social Security Number:
- Please apply for an Other State Educator License using NDTeach.
- Instead of sending official transcripts from your country, send your official NACES member evaluation.
Option 2:
Applicants with Teacher Education degrees earned outside the US who do not hold a teaching license in another US state:
- An applicant would apply for an Out-of-State Reciprocal License, and we would conduct a transcript analysis based on the NACES member evaluation to see what courses and/or tests they are missing to meet North Dakota Requirements. As long as the applicant agrees to complete the requirements within a 2 to 4-year time period, we would issue the applicant a license and they would be allowed to teach in North Dakota while working toward completing the required coursework and testing.
- *** Please note that the applicant should NOT create their own NDTeach account until after they have sent ESPB their Social Security Number and it has been updated in NDTeach . If they create their own account, this will result in duplicate accounts.
- An applicant may start the process without a valid US Social Security Number, but a license cannot be issued until a valid Social Security Number is on file with our office.
- To apply for a license with us, the applicant would need to complete and return the paper application and background check packet to our office.
- Along with the application, the applicant would send the official NACES member evaluation and pay all appropriate fees. Fees include:
- $30 application fee
- $85 out-of-state reciprocal license fee
- $175 transcript analysis fee
- We would also need a separate money order made payable to ESPB for the background check fee of $44.50.
40-day Provisional License
Applicants who have applied for their North Dakota license, but have not received a Social Security Number and/or their background check is not yet complete and have a teaching job starting soon:
A 40-day provisional license is available. To apply for this license, the applicant should print the two following forms, one for the applicant and one for their administrator. Complete and return to ESPB with payment for the $65 fee.