Purpose
To provide member school districts with the opportunity of securing well qualified personnel to teach and enrich our school systems, the Alternative Teacher Licensing Program offers:

1. Opportunities to develop capable professionals within our own system to ensure the ongoing vision and missions of our member districts
2. Equal opportunity for qualified minority participants
3. The ability to develop teaching staff in hard-to-recruit teaching areas, such as English as a Second Language, Linguistically Different: Bilingual, mathematics, and science.

Program Goals
The goals of this program include:

1. Developing a talent pool to supplement current teaching staff
2. Developing outstanding professionals to provide our students with enriching education based on practical life skills, as well as curriculum objectives

Program Requirements

A Statement of Eligibility is required from the Colorado Department of Education (CDE). To be approved for a Statement of Eligibility, candidates must:

1. Hold a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education
2. Complete the necessary subject knowledge required for teaching in the endorsement/teaching area (30 semester hours in the content area). An institution of higher education or CDE will review the transcript/portfolio to determine satifaction of this requirement.
3. Complete the appropriate content Program for Licensing Assessments for Colorado Educators (PLACE) assessment

Steps for Applying to the Alternative Teacher Licensing Program

• Download the application off the CDE website, www.cde.state.co.us, enclose transcripts, and send it to CDE.
• Take the PLACE exam in the content area only. This must be passed before entering the program.
• If you qualify, CDE will send you a Statement of Eligibility.
• Your Statement of Eligibility will help you find a full-time teaching position.
  

Completing the Alternative Teacher Licensing Program

• Provide Mountain BOCES with copies of your Statement of Eligibility, your signed contract from the school district stating your salary, and an Agreement Arrangement form for payment of the required fee.
• Mountain BOCES will initiate the paperwork to get you into the program. A Statement of Assurance will be sent to you and your superintendent for signatures. Send this form to Joy Yudnich, Human Resources, Mountain BOCES, and she will get signatures and send them to CDE. This needs to be done before you start teaching. The Statement of Assurance needs to be at CDE no later than October 1.
• After a few weeks, CDE will send you the Alternative Teacher License, which is good September through May.
• Meet with your Alternative Teacher License Committee to plan a schedule of 225 hours (click on example above right).
• You will be evaluated two times during the school year.
• In May, the school principal, mentor teacher, and alternative teacher committee will meet and sign documentation showing that you completed your 225-hour plan and recommending you for a provisional license.
• The Recommendation for Provisional License will be sent to the school principal and mentor teacher for signatures. Send this completed form to Mountain BOCES. Joy Yudnich will get signatures and send this to CDE, and you will receive your provisional license sometime in July.
  

Contact Information
If you have questions, please call Joy Yudnich at 719-486-2603 or e-mail her at jyudnich@mtnboces.k12.co.us.