How to Become a Teacher in North Dakota

North Dakota certification requirements, step by step

Each requirement below is stated as North Dakota Education Standards and Practices Board (ESPB) publishes it, with the governing source cited.

1. 1

   Complete an approved teacher education program with student teaching

   Finish a bachelor's-level approved program that includes the professional education component and a minimum of ten weeks of full-time student teaching. In-state completers apply for the Initial In-State two-year license once all North Dakota requirements are met.

   Source: nd.gov

2. 2

   Pass Praxis Core and required Praxis II assessments

   ESPB requires Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators. Qualifying scores are Reading 5713 = 156, Writing 5723 = 160, and Math 5733 = 150, or a composite of 466 with no score below the minima (Reading 149, Writing 153, Math 143). Praxis II content and Principles of Learning and Teaching tests apply by grade span and subject. Email score-report PDFs to espbinfo@nd.gov.

   Source: nd.gov

3. 3

   Complete mandated reporter training for initial licensure

   House Bill 1562 (NDCC 15.1-07-34) requires suspected child abuse or neglect mandated-reporter training for all initial licenses effective August 1, 2025. Complete the ND Department of Health and Human Services educator module at mandatedreporter.pcand.org and upload the PDF certificate to the To Do section of the ND Teach application.

   Source: nd.gov

4. 4

   Apply in ND Teach and pay initial fees

   Submit the online application in ND Teach with official transcripts and a completed background packet. ESPB lists a $30 initial application fee, $44.50 fingerprinting, and $85 for the Initial In-State two-year license. A $5 maintenance charge is added to every new application. Incomplete files wait on those documents before evaluation.

   Source: nd.gov

5. 5

   Move from the two-year initial license to a five-year license

   After 18 months of successful full-time-equivalent contracted teaching in North Dakota, apply for the first five-year license ($140). Five-year renewals require being under contract at least 30 days in the period and six semester hours of re-education. After 25 years of holding a North Dakota license, educators may apply for the 25-year life license (effective August 1, 2025) and must later report intent to keep teaching every five years at no cost.

   Source: nd.gov

ESPB is a fee-funded professional board, not a Department of Public Instruction bureau, and it says so on the licensing-fees page. That structure explains why every new application carries a $5 maintenance charge on top of the $30 initial application fee and the license amount. Candidates who budget only the $85 two-year license are surprised by fingerprinting at $44.50 and the stacked application charges. Because ESPB does not receive state tax dollars, those published amounts are the operating budget of the licensing system, not optional surcharges a district can waive.

Praxis Core in North Dakota is numerically specific. The testing page publishes both qualifying scores (156/160/150) and a composite option (466) that still enforces floor scores of 149/153/143. Mixing leftover PPST subtests with Core subtests is forbidden. Score reports must be saved as PDFs and emailed to espbinfo@nd.gov; relying on ETS to push scores without that upload is how initial applications sit in To Do. Praxis II content and PLT cuts live on the ETS North Dakota requirements page rather than as a second ESPB table, so candidates should open that ETS list for their endorsement instead of inventing a single state cut.

The August 1, 2025 mandated-reporter rule is a new initial-licensure document, not an in-service district training you can skip at application. HB 1562 points applicants to the DHHS educator module, which ESPB says takes at least an hour. The certificate has to be uploaded as a PDF in ND Teach. Account problems go to the familiesflourish troubleshooting path first. Experienced out-of-state teachers on OSEL should still check whether their file is coded as an initial license that triggers the same To Do item.

North Dakota's out-of-state fork is unusually clean if you already hold a license—and unusually expensive if you do not. OSEL for licensed, student-taught, tested program completers can be two or five years ($85 or $190 initial) with no extra North Dakota tests when the sending state already tested. Unlicensed out-of-state completers pay $175 for transcript review plus $85 for a reciprocal license and then have up to five years (two plus three) to finish ND coursework and tests. That is the difference between a recognition license and a deficiency plan, and it is why ESPB's homepage treats those as two different applications.

Required exams and fees

North Dakota uses ETS Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators, Praxis II content assessments, and Principles of Learning and Teaching. Fees and cut scores appear only when published by the cited source (as of September 2026).

Moving a license to North Dakota

Educators who completed an accredited program with student teaching and hold a valid license from another U.S. state or territory apply for an Other State Educator License (OSEL). ESPB honors the sending state's program and tests when those conditions are met; a background check is still required. If the sending state did not test and the license was issued after 2002, the educator has two years to complete North Dakota tests. Applicants who finished an out-of-state program but do not hold a license apply for a two-year Out-of-State Reciprocal License ($85 plus $175 transcript review) that can be extended for three more years.

Official North Dakota reciprocity guidance