Mississippi

For initial certification in Mississippi, all candidates must:

• Earn a baccalaureate degree.
• Complete an approved program of teacher education OR an alternate route program.
• Pass the Praxis tests for their certification area.

Review the Educator Licensure home page of the Mississippi Department of Education for comprehensive licensure guidelines.

• ETS discontinued paper-delivered testing.
• However, Praxis tests will continue to be available in a paper-delivered format as required for ADA accommodations.
• All scores for previously administered paper-delivered tests are reportable for 10 years from the date the test was taken.
• Mississippi requires a Social Security number (SSN) in order to process educator certification paperwork. ETS does not require your SSN for its own purposes but will submit it to Mississippi with your test results. Failure to provide your SSN could delay processing of your certification application.

• If you test in Mississippi at a test center or at home, and your Praxis profile address is in Mississippi, your score report will be sent automatically to the Mississippi Department of Education.
• If you test outside Mississippi or your Praxis profile address is not in Mississippi, your scores are NOT automatically sent to the Mississippi Department of Education. To have your scores sent to the Mississippi Department of Education, you must select the Mississippi Department of Education (state code 7599) as a score recipient when you register.
• For all methods of Praxis testing, to request additional score reports, you must select the Mississippi Department of Education (state code 7599) with each additional score report request.

• Teacher candidates or those wishing to become certified must take the Praxis tests.
• Prior to entering an educator preparation program at your college or university, you may be required to take the Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators (Core) tests to demonstrate your qualifications. Alternate route teacher candidates are required to take the Core tests for educator licensure.
• Teacher education program graduates for all content areas must pass the Principles of Learning and Teaching (PLT) test that most closely matches the grade levels of the license sought. The PLT test is not required for alternate-route candidates.
• In Mississippi, both traditional and alternate route candidates must take the appropriate Praxis Subject Assessments for each area of certification sought.

To find answers to frequently asked questions about educator licensure, please review the Mississippi Department of Education, Educator Licensure page. From this website, you can navigate to information on Mississippi educator licensure, including:

• types of licenses
• highly qualified status
• alternative route programs
• licensure guidelines
• renewal
• reciprocity
• Praxis test information

The federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 requires that all Mississippi teachers be highly qualified and fully certified for all core subject areas in which they teach. For more information on highly qualified status in Mississippi, please review the Mississippi's Educator Licensure, Highly Qualified Teacher page.

Mississippi has three approved Alternate Route Programs that lead to educator licensure, including:

• Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT)
• Teach Mississippi Institute (TMI)
• American Board Certification for Teacher Excellence (ABCTE)

Alternate route candidate must achieve the Mississippi State Board of Education approved admission criteria of a twenty-one (21) ACT (or SAT equivalent) or achieve a qualifying passing score on the Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators examination or have verification of a 3.0 overall GPA on a baccalaureate transcript or last 60 hours course credit as established by the State Board of Education prior to non-traditional program admission.

They are also required to pass one of the approved Praxis subject area tests for the chosen alternate route program. Note the Mississippi Educator Licensure, Alternate Route Programs website to find approved alternate route subject areas and more information on components of each program.