Today's Licensing Requirements
All teachers in North Dakota must be certified and licensed by the State of ND.
Prospective teachers must have graduated from a four-year college and meet requirements including:

• A minimum of thirty two (32) semester hours in a major field of study.
• A major in early childhood education, elementary education, middle level education or secondary education must include evidence of appropriate:
  • Content area preparation
  • Teaching methods and strategies
  • Applied experience at the appropriate grade level – field experience, clinical practice or student teaching.

           
Current North Dakota’s licensing law requires teachers to have at least minored in the fields in which they are teaching. Beginning in 2003, teacher candidates were required to pass a basic-skills test, but the State does not test new teachers in their content areas.  

No Child Left Behind definitions of “highly qualified teachers”