How to Become a Teacher in Minnesota: Tests, Fees and Routes

By the Transforming Education editorial team. Every fact on this page was checked against the source linked beside it on November 7, 2026.

No degree yet: the traditional route

For high school students, college students and anyone without a bachelor's degree. You earn the degree and the teacher preparation in one program.

Minnesota's professional teaching licenses are the Tier 3 and Tier 4 licenses. The most common way to earn one is to complete an approved teacher preparation program. The other common pathway is a recommendation for licensure through the portfolio pathway, and PELSB also describes specific pathways for heritage language educators and American Indian educators.

1. Choose a pathway to a Tier 3 or Tier 4 professional teaching license.
2. Find a Minnesota approved teacher preparation program.
3. Complete the approved teacher preparation program.
4. Apply to PELSB for a first license.

Source: mn.gov

Bachelor's in another field: the alternative route

For people who already hold a bachelor's degree in a subject other than education.

Tier 1 and Tier 2 licenses

Minnesota's Tier 1 and Tier 2 licenses sit below the full professional Tier 3 and Tier 4 licenses. To qualify for either one, a teacher must have a job offer from a Minnesota public or charter school before applying. Teachers in career and technical education, career pathways, visual or performing arts, or world languages may qualify for a Tier 1 or Tier 2 license without a bachelor's degree. PELSB publishes forms for moving from Tier 1 to Tier 2 and from Tier 2 to Tier 3.

1. Get a job offer from a Minnesota public or charter school.
2. Apply through the PELSB Initial Licensure System if this is a first Minnesota license.
3. Use the paper Tier 1 or Tier 2 application if PELSB already has a file folder number on record.
4. Use the bachelor's degree exemption application for a CTE, career pathways, arts or world languages license without a degree.
5. Apply to move up a tier when eligible, using the PELSB forms for moving between tiers.

Source: mn.gov

Changing careers into teaching in Minnesota

If you already have a bachelor's degree and some years in another job, start with the alternative route described above. It is built for people who did not study education.

For pay context, the median annual wage for high school teachers in Minnesota was $76,460 in May 2025, according to the BLS OEWS state estimates. If your background matches a subject on the state's shortage list, that list is further down this page.

State-approved alternative certification programs

Not confirmed in the agency pages we could check; check with the agency.

The agency keeps the official list here: approved programs in Minnesota.

Licensed in another state

For teachers who hold a license from another state and want to teach in Minnesota.

Out-of-State Applicants

PELSB offers several pathways for teachers from other states, and the tier issued depends on preparation, experience and testing. A Tier 4 license requires a bachelor's degree, a state-approved preparation program with student teaching equivalent to Minnesota's (typically 12 weeks) and three years of teaching experience in the licensure field. A Tier 3 license requires a bachelor's degree plus either that kind of program, or a professional license from another state in good standing with two years of teaching in the content area there and passing scores on the applicable Minnesota content and pedagogy exams. A Tier 2 license, which requires a job offer from a Minnesota public school, covers teachers who completed a preparation program but not 12 weeks of student teaching, or who have not attempted their state's exams or the MTLE.

1. Compare degree, preparation program, student teaching and experience with the Tier 4, Tier 3 and Tier 2 criteria.
2. Check the PELSB testing flow chart to see whether licensure exams are required.
3. For a Tier 3 license based on another state's license, pass the applicable Minnesota content and pedagogy exams.
4. For a Tier 2 license, get a job offer from a Minnesota public school first.
5. Apply to PELSB for the matching tier, and contact PELSB by email or at 651-539-4200 with questions.

Source: mn.gov

Required tests, codes and qualifying scores

Minnesota uses MTLE for teacher licensure. The table lists the core tests by license area, with the qualifying score and fee exactly as the source publishes them. Which tests you take depends on the license area you are seeking, so check the full list for your subject before you register.

Scores and fees change. Confirm both on the testing company's page before you register.

Fees, background check and license validity

License fees: Not confirmed in the agency pages we could check; check with the agency.

Background check

Every applicant for an initial PELSB license must complete a fingerprint background check on an FD-258 card and submit the card with the application. Prints can be taken outside Minnesota, but PELSB no longer hands out cards and does not accept electronic fingerprint submissions, and the card must be complete and taken within the past year. PELSB sends the card to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and must have the results before issuing a license; the 30-day processing time starts once the application, including those results, is complete. Anyone who previously held a Minnesota educator license does not need to be fingerprinted again. Source

Your first license

License: Tier 3 license. It is valid for 3 years. A Tier 3 license expires on June 30 of its expiration year, can be renewed after January 1 of that year, and can be renewed an unlimited number of times. A Tier 3 license holder cannot receive a Tier 1 or Tier 2 license. Source

Renewal

To renew a Tier 3 license, the teacher must complete 75 clock hours, including all mandatory requirements in effect at the time of renewal, during the three years before renewal. The local school district's relicensure committee must approve and enter the hours before the teacher applies to PELSB; teachers who live and work outside Minnesota submit them to the PELSB renewal specialist. From January 1, 2026, all 75 hours must be complete to move to a Tier 4 license in the year the Tier 3 license expires. Requirement: 75 clock hours, including mandatory requirements, every 3 years (Tier 3 license). Source

Teacher pay in Minnesota

Elementary teachers in Minnesota earned a median of $76,350 a year in May 2025, $12,380 above the national median of $63,970. Half of teachers in each occupation earn more than the median and half earn less. What you earn in a given district depends on its salary schedule, your experience and any graduate credits.

Annual wages, cross-industry estimates, from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics May 2025 state tables, retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on November 7, 2026. Special education teachers are shown separately; our guide to the online master's in special education covers the add-on and initial-license options.

Teacher shortage areas, 2026-27

Minnesota reported these subject areas to the US Department of Education as teacher shortage areas for the 2026-27 school year.

• English as a Second Language: English as a Second Language (statewide)
• Language Arts (statewide)
• Mathematics (statewide)
• Science (statewide)
• Special Education: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cross Categorical, Early Childhood, Emotional Disabilities, Learning Disorder (statewide)

Source: US Department of Education, Teacher Shortage Areas report, retrieved November 7, 2026.