Lateral Entry is an alternative route to licensure for college graduates who have decided to leave the private sector and seek a career in teaching. To determine if you are eligible for a lateral entry license, view the eligibility chart below. In order to apply for a lateral entry teaching license, an applicant must be employed. The school system the applicant is employed by will verify eligibility for a lateral entry license and make the request for licensure to the State Department. More information is on the DPI website.

Lateral Entry licenses are issued for three years. The educator will be required to associate with an accredited college/university to have a plan of study issued for the license area they are seeking. The NCDPI recently changed the policy, effective July 1, 2016, requiring lateral entry licensed teachers to complete a minimum of 6 semester hours of coursework toward their plan of study each year. The policy now allows the teacher to meet all coursework and testing by the end of the 3rd year with no yearly minimum of coursework to complete. However, Person County Schools still locally requires lateral entry licensed teachers to provide the Human Resource Office with documentation of completing a minimum of 6 semester hours per year toward their plan.

Another change, effective July 1, 2016, is that elementary education and special education applicants can now be hired through the lateral entry process if they meet the the lateral entry requirements on the attached Lateral Entry Eligibility chart. They do not have to have passed the Praxis or Pearson Tests that were previously required to be passed prior to licensure eligibility.

The new State policy also requires lateral entry licensed teachers (including elementary and special education) to "ATTEMPT" (not pass) required State test(s) during their first year of teaching and "PASS" all required State test(s) by the end of their second year. This is a major change, in that, lateral entry licensed teachers previously had to pass all State test(s) by the end of their third year (no attempts required).

All requirements must be met within the three year time period that the license is issued regardless if the teacher continues employment with a school system. If a teacher does not meet the lateral entry licensure requirements by the time the license expires, they are not eligible for another lateral entry license until they pass the required test(s) for the specialty area in which the license will be issued and at least six years have elapsed since the prior lateral entry license was issued.

A lateral entry license can only be applied for by a school system and requires the employee to pay a non-refundable licensure processing fee of $100 made payable by VISA or MasterCard.

• Form ME - Verification of Military Service Experience
• Form E - Verification of K-12 Educator Experience
• Form V - Verification by Institution: Completion of Approved Education Program
• Form CE - Verification of Postsecondary Educator Experience
• Form NE - Verification of Non-teaching Experience