Part Time Teaching Licenses: Virginia

Analysis of Virginia's policies

Virginia does not offer a license with minimal requirements that would allow content experts to teach part time.

Recommendations for Virginia

Offer a license that allows content experts to serve as part-time instructors.
Virginia should permit individuals with deep subject-area knowledge to teach a limited number of courses without fulfilling a complete set of certification requirements.  The state should verify content knowledge through a rigorous test and conduct background checks as appropriate, while waiving all other licensure requirements.  Such a license would increase districts' flexibility to staff certain subjects, including many STEM areas, that are frequently hard to staff or may not have high enough enrollment to necessitate a full-time position.

State response to our analysis

Virginia noted that it offers the Local Eligibility license.

Last word

The Local Eligibility license does not meet the intent of this goal, which is to allow content experts to teach part-time in the K-12 classroom. The Local Eligibility license cannot be used for instruction in core academic areas and requires that applicants complete training within the three-year scope of the license to become fully certified. There is also no indication that it is designed to be used on a part-time basis.