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Teaching Route Checklist

California route planner

Build your route checklist.

Use the credential, experience, and document evidence you have today. The result shows the closest planning route and the points that still require an official CTC answer.

3

official routes,
one conservative
planning result.

Route checklist

Tell us what you know now.

Choose “Not sure” whenever the answer depends on a document you have not checked. That is safer than forcing a route.

Private by design Your answers are not saved or submitted.
01 Your teaching credential

Start with the credential issued by another U.S. state, not a degree or preparation program.

A preparation program certificate alone is not enough.
Intern, temporary, emergency, or alternative labels may matter.
02 National Board status
This is separate from your state teaching credential.
03 Full-time teaching experience

Route 2 also depends on two specific documents from the experience period. Availability matters as much as the number of years.

Check what your former employer can actually release.

No email address, name, certificate number, or document upload is requested.

Your planning result will appear here.

The result separates a likely route from the points that only CTC can decide.

No JavaScript fallback

Read the three routes directly.

The interactive tool never preselects a result. If JavaScript is unavailable, these summaries still explain the planning boundaries.

01 Route 1

Less than two years of full-time experience

Route 1 is the closest planning option when you hold an out-of-state professional-level teaching credential and have less than two years of full-time experience, or no experience beyond student teaching.

  • Review the current application instructions and fee on the CTC website.
  • Prepare a copy of your out-of-state teaching credential.
  • Arrange official transcripts that meet CTC submission requirements.
02 Route 2

Two or more years of full-time experience with evidence

Route 2 is the closest planning option when you hold an out-of-state professional-level teaching credential, have at least two years of full-time teaching experience, and can provide both an employer verification letter and two summative annual evaluations.

  • Prepare the Route 1 base documents: credential copy, official transcripts, and current application materials.
  • Obtain an official employer verification letter that documents at least two years of full-time teaching experience.
  • Obtain two summative annual evaluations from the experience period.
03 Route 3

National Board Certification

Route 3 is the closest planning option when you hold both an out-of-state professional-level teaching credential and National Board Certification.

  • Prepare a copy of your out-of-state professional-level teaching credential.
  • Arrange official transcripts that meet CTC submission requirements.
  • Prepare a copy of your National Board Certification.