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pathways to becoming a k-12 CS teacher in Washington

Washington State offers multiple pathways to becoming a certified Computer Science (CS) teacher. The best path for you depends on your prior education, experience, and career goals. It is important to understand the distinction between a certificate (a license to teach) and an endorsement (a specialization in a specific subject area)

pathways to becoming a k-12 CS teacher in Washington

Washington State offers multiple pathways to becoming a certified Computer Science (CS) teacher. The best path for you depends on your prior education, experience, and career goals. It is important to understand the distinction between a certificate (a license to teach) and an endorsement (a specialization in a specific subject area)

Certificates vs. endorsements: What's the difference?

In Washington:

• A certificate is the license you must hold to teach in public K-12 schools.

  • General (Residency) Teacher Certificate: This is the standard certificate for non-CTE teachers.

  • Career and Technical Educator (CTE) Certificate: Required if you plan to teach Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses

• An endorsement is the specific subject matter or content area listed on your teaching certificate in Washington State.

  • All certificates must have at least one endorsement, and some endorsement areas cannot stand alone.

Every K-12 public school teacher in Washington must hold at least one endorsement in addition to holding a valid certificate.

Here are some details about the approved endorsements in Washington state:

• University of Washington, Seattle offers a 1-year secondary-level Masters in Teaching with an optional 5th quarter in CS education. See the program's detailed FAQ, which includes details about coursework and instructors. The program focuses on critical CS pedagogy and intersections between CS and social justice.

• Western Washington University's College of Education offers a secondary endorsement pathway for CS.

• Central Washington University includes three pathways:

  • Earn an undergraduate degrees in both CS and STEM teaching, which includes coursework on CS education.

  • Earn an undergraduate degree in CS and a minor in STEM teaching, which includes coursework on CS education.

  • Earn a Master of Arts in Teaching and pursue up to two endorsements over 4-5 quarters, including CS. Candidates complete online coursework; some meeting times are synchronous, others are self-paced with scheduled deadlines for materials.

• Whitworth University's School of Education offers Master of Teaching programs for both new and current primary and secondary teachers.

• The College of Education at Washington State University, Tri-Cities is piloting a course on CS pedagogy.

In addition to CS endorsements, some CTE Plan 2 certifications cover CS:

• NEWESD 101's Online Professional Learning Academy offers a CTE teacher certification program.

How do I become a middle or high school CS teacher?

In secondary schools (grades 6 - 12), teachers teach particular subjects. There are two main routes if you want to teach CS at this level:

1. General Education (Residency) Teacher Certificate + CS Endorsement

   1. Complete a State Approved Teacher Preparation Program

      • This is typically done by completing a teacher preparation program (either a bachelor's or master's level) 

      • To enter a preparation program, you must take (but not necessarily pass) the Washington Educator Skills Test - Basic (WEST-B) assessment or another approved basic skills test (such as SAT, ACT or other equivalent assessments). 

   2. Demonstrate Content Knowledge in CS

      • Pass the National Evaluation Series™ (NES®) Computer Science exam to add the CS endorsement

        1. This pathway is the shortest, but requires substantial CS content knowledge to pass the exam. You can learn more about the topics you’ll have to learn to pass the exam from the exam preparation materials.

      • Some programs (e.g., the University of Washington Seattle’s secondary-level Masters in Teaching with a CS focus) include dedicated CS pedagogy courses. Other programs may not focus on CS teaching, but you can still add the CS endorsement by passing the NES CS exam.

   3. Benefits of the General Education Route

      • You receive pedagogical preparation across multiple subjects or in a specific subject (e.g., math or science) plus you can add CS.

      • You’ll be fully certified to teach CS in a non-CTE context (e.g., a general education CS course).

2. Career and Technical Educator (CTE) Certificate (Plan 1 or Plan 2)

A Career and Technical Educator (CTE) Certificate is an alternative pathway to teaching CS in Washington. There are two ways to earn a CTE certificate. 

1. CTE Plan 1: University Route

   • Includes a full teacher preparation program leading to both an initial CTE certificate and a residency teacher certificate.

   • Requires one year (2,000 hours) of industry experience in the occupational area.

   • Earn CTE Technology Ed endorsements

2. CTE Plan 2: Business and Industry Route 

   • Designed for individuals transitioning from industry to teaching

   • Requires three years (6,000 hours) of industry experience in the occupational area.

     1. If you already hold a residency teacher certificate, you may count some or all of your teaching hours if relevant to CS or STEM.

   • Complete a PESB-approved CTE endorsement at places like Bates Technical College, Cascadia Technical College, Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University, Olympic College or ESD101.

     1. Plan 2 earns a Specialty Area endorsement within Agriculture, Business & Marketing, Family & Consumer Sciences, Health & Human Services, and Skills & Technology Sciences.

     2. Do not earn any of the Plan 1 endorsements. Earn a specialty endorsement within a general endorsement.

3. CTE Plan 1 or Plan 2

   • Can enroll in a State Approved Teacher Preparation Program. The degree is required for the teaching certificate, but can be earned alongside the teaching certificate

Already have a Teaching Credentials but want to add CS?

• If you already hold a Washington residency teacher certificate in another subject, you can add a CS endorsement by passing the National Evaluation Series™ (NES®) Computer Science exam

• If you want to be able to teach CTE-coded CS courses, you’ll need the CTE teacher certificate (via either Plan 1 or Plan 2) in addition to demonstrating content knowledge in CS.

Additional ways to get CS teaching experience

• Microsoft's TEALS: A volunteer program that connects CS content experts with expert teachers. While volunteering through TEALS does not certify you to teach independently, it will give you classroom experience, which may be helpful if you eventually decide to pursue a teaching career.

How can I prepare for the CS endorsement exam?

• Puget Sound CSTA: offers exam prep for the CS endorsement.

• Pre-service programs: Certain teacher preparation programs (e.g. UW's STEP CS or Central Washington's STEM Teaching Programs) include coursework that helps prepare for the exam

• Study Groups: Organize or join a study group on our Slack community

How do I become a higher education CS teacher?

Unlike K-12, faculty at colleges and universities do not need state certification. However, some colleges and universities require a Ph.D., a master's degree, or significant experience teaching CS. Here are some pathways to becoming a CS teacher:

• Review Job Postings: Review job postings at the state's 2-year and 4-year colleges and universities on the CRA Jobs website. These are typically posted as early as November and as late as February, with most interviews occurring January through April.

• Network: Reach out to CS teachers in higher education listed in our Community page to learn more about careers.

• Informational Interviews: Contact any teaching-track faculty at a university for an informational interview to learn about the path that they followed to obtain their job.

Why aren't there more programs that prepare CS teachers?

While higher education prepares a lot of teachers to teach Math, Science, English, Social Studies, Language Arts, and other subjects required in Washington state public schools, most of our state's universities do not yet prepare teachers to teach CS. A 2018 report by CS education experts from around the country recommended the following:

• Schools of education in higher education need to create pre-service programs that teach the content, teaching methods, and state standards for teaching CS.

• States need to supplement these pre-service programs with in-service professional development programs.

Washington state has only just begun these two efforts.