The following licensure programs are available at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. For available licensure programs at the graduate level, consult the Graduate Catalog.

The Advising Licensure Coordinators listed below are for students who are formally admitted to Professional Education and/or for students who already hold a bachelor's degree. 

Freshmen or sophomores not yet admitted to Professional Education should contact the Winther Hall Information Desk (education@uww.edu or 262-472-1101) to be referred to the appropriate advisor.

The State of Wisconsin through the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has implemented a set of teacher education program rules that are referred to as PI 34. The rules describe a general education requirement that must be met by all teachers seeking their first teaching license, regardless of previous degrees.

To meet the General Education requirements for teacher licensure, students at UW-Whitewater must complete one third of the credits for a bachelor's degree or a minimum of 40 semester hours of course work in general education and the course requirements in each of the categories listed. All courses taken to satisfy UW-Whitewater's proficiency, general studies, major, and minor requirements may be used to meet the General Education requirements for teacher licensure.

• No course shall be used to satisfy more than one area of the PI-34 general education requirements for licensure; and
• For transfer, non-traditional, and post baccalaureate students, the decision about the suitability of any given course to be accepted in partial fulfillment of PI-34 general education requirements for licensure shall be made by the College of Education & Professional Studies faculty or Licensure Program Coordinator evaluating the student's transcript. These decisions are matters of professional judgment that shall be made in the best interests of the student and the intent of the general education for licensure requirement established by the PI-34 legislation.

Licensure Tests

Wisconsin Foundations of Reading Test

All candidates in Wisconsin applying for a teaching license in Early Childhood, Elementary Education, Special Education, Reading Teacher license, and Reading Specialist will be required to take the Foundations of Reading Test (WI-FOR). Passing scores on the Wisconsin Foundations of Reading Test (WI-FOR) will be required to be endorsed for a Wisconsin Teaching License. 

For detailed information about the test, visit Foundations of Reading Test for Wisconsin.

State Minimum Score:  240 

The WI-FOR test is being administered through the UW-W Testing Office Thursday evenings during the academic year.   Students can also electronically enroll to take the WI-FOR at:   www.wi.nesinc.com

Praxis II and Content Area Assessments

As of September 18, 2017, in order to qualify for student teaching and licensure, students must either:

1. Pass the appropriate Praxis subject assessment test

or

2. Have a 3.00 or greater GPA in their major and licensure courses.  

Students must complete these requirements by March 1st for Fall student teaching or October 1st for Spring student teaching in order to be placed by the Office of Field Experience (OFE).  

Students admitted to the College of Education and Professional Studies will be provided the required Praxis subject assessment test numbers and/or content area exam names in their acceptance packet.  Ultimately, it is the student’s responsibility to know which test they will required to take. Students must consult with their COEPS faculty advisor for clarification of which Praxis subject assessment test(s) and/or content area exam(s) they will be required to pass for licensable minors and/or non-declared programs. 

Test Preparation Resources

• The UW-Whitewater Academic Support Center and Tutorial Center provides free tutoring services for students.  For more information, please visit their website.

• The UW-Whitewater Andersen Library has a plethora of test preparation materials for students seeking teacher licensure available for checkout and for use in the library.
  • Use the Test Prep Resources for Teacher Licensing LibGuide to find study materials online and in the Andersen Library. 

• Test preparation books are available for purchase at the University Bookstore and through your preferred bookseller.  The ETS website provides free study companions and low-cost interative tests.  In order to obtain a copy of the "test at a glance" for your desired subject area, under "for test takers", click on "prepare for a test".

• We also recommend that students visit their local public libraries to utilize test preparation materials available there.

Wisconsin Foundations of Reading

Test outline, practice tests, study guides, videos, and tutorials provided by Pearson Education, the test publisher, can be found here.

UW-Madison hosts an online self-paced test review course for FREE. Become familiarized with the objectives and content of the test through a series of modules, each of which represents a different subarea of the test. Each module contains readings and activities designed to help, in conjunction with methods courses, to become comfortable with the material that will be tested on the Foundations of Reading Test. Register for this course here. 

• Applying for licensure in Wisconsin
• DPI licensure codes
• Applying for licensure in another state
• Resources

APPLYING FOR LICENSURE IN WISCONSIN

Instructions for September 1, 2004 - August 31, 2019 Program Completers

Step 1:  Please submit the Educator Licensing Online (ELO) UWW Application Form to the Winther Hall Information Desk window (education@uww.edu). 

Step 2:  Check here to see if you are required to submit fingerprints to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI).

Step 3:  Check your email approximately one to four weeks after you complete your program (or complete Step 1 - whichever comes later), looking for an email from Jillian Smith, UWW Certifying Officer.  The email will confirm that your endorsement for licensure has been submitted to the DPI. 

Step 4:  After you receive the confirmation email from the UWW Certifying Officer you may begin the DPI ELO application process.  Please note:  Step 1 and Step 3 MUST occur before the DPI ELO system will be ready for you. 

Additional Information:

• DPI will require UWW to upload your name into ELO before you will be able to submit your license application.
• In order for UWW to submit your name to ELO, you will have needed to completed Step 1 (see above), have your final grades in, your degree posted (if applicable), your edTPA completed, your human relations requirement completed, and passed any required content exams.
• You may view your unofficial transcript in WINS if you would like to track when your grades have been posted, your Bachelor's degree posted, and to see if your Human Relations Requirement milestone has been posted.  EVERYTHING must be posted before your name will be submitted to DPI.
• If all your ducks are in a row, DPI estimates you should be able to complete the online application in approximately 40 minutes.  
• DPI will require a $125 credit card payment (no PINS are accepted).
• Once you are applying on DPI's ELO website, if you encounter problems please contact DPI at:  http://dpi.wi.gov/support/contact-educator-licensing.
• To check on the status of your application at DPI once your license application has been submitted by you online, use the ELO Public Search at the Department of Public Instruction.

DPI Licensure Codes

To find out your licensure codes for the State of Wisconsin, use the DPI website.  Find the appropriate major and/or minor and choose the content code.

APPLYING FOR LICENSURE IN ANOTHER STATE

1. Research out-of-state requirements before applying for positions out of Wisconsin. Contact the Department of Education in the state you wish to seek employment.
2. If the out-of-state application form requires an instituional endorsement, you may email the form to:  education@uww.edu
3. Once the out-of-state application form has been signed, the application will be emailed or mailed to the person or office the instructions on the form say to return the form to.
4. If you are applying for both your Wisconsin license and an out-of-state license, submit both applications together.  They will be processed together which will decrease your wait time.

Resources

US Department of Education
Career Services

A license may be issued in Wisconsin to an applicant who has received institutional endorsement. Students must meet the following requirements to be eligible for UW-Whitewater institutional endorsement for licensure:

1. Completion of an approved major, major and minor, or broadfield major, the required professional sequence, and the baccalaureate degree.
2. Successful completion of the Directed Teaching semester or Graduate Practicum semester at UW-Whitewater.
3. An combined GPA of 2.75 based on all courses. Exceptions to the 2.75 licensure GPA requirement may be made by the Licensure Officer for no more than 10% of the students completing a licensure program each grading period.
4. Successful completion of a standardized examination in each licensure area is required by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI ). UW-Whitewater requires successful completion of the appropriate standardized examination before a student teaching or practicum placement will be made.

Human Relations

UW-Whitewater students seeking licensure in the State of Wisconsin must meet the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's human relations requirement. In formation about how the human relations requirement will be met by UW-Whitewater students can be found on the Office of Field Experiences website. Human Relations requirements must be met to receive a bachelor's degree and/or teaching license.