How to Become a Teacher in Nebraska: 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.

Initial Teaching Certificate

The Initial Teaching Certificate is for applicants who have just finished a college or university teacher education program in Nebraska or another state. Since June 4, 2025, a Praxis content test is no longer required for a full certificate when the program was completed through a college or university. Applicants must also meet the human relations training and special education training requirements.

1. Complete an educator preparation program, including student teaching, at a college or university
2. Register in the TEACH system and submit the application and fee
3. Have your institution submit the Institutional Verification form (sent electronically for Nebraska programs)
4. Send official transcripts if your program was completed outside Nebraska
5. Submit fingerprints if you have lived outside Nebraska in the past five years
6. Show completion of the human relations training and special education training requirements

Source: education.ne.gov

Bachelor's in another field: the alternative route

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

Alternative Program Teaching Permit

The Alternative Program Teaching Permit is for people with a bachelor's degree, a plan with a college to finish an educator preparation program, and a job offer from a Nebraska school system. It is valid in the requesting school system, expires September 30 in the second year after issuance, and is renewed by completing 15 credit hours toward the program. No testing is required, and a full certificate may be granted once the program is completed. Separately, graduates of three approved programs can receive a renewable 2-year Alternative Teaching Certificate, which does not lead to a regular Nebraska teaching certificate.

1. Hold a bachelor's degree in any field
2. Arrange a plan with a college or university to complete an educator preparation program
3. Obtain a job offer and a request from a Nebraska school system
4. Submit the application, fee and Alternative Program Teaching Permit form in TEACH, with official transcripts
5. Complete 15 credit hours toward the program to renew the permit
6. Apply for the Initial Teaching Certificate after finishing the program

Source: education.ne.gov

Changing careers into teaching in Nebraska

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. The 3 programs below are on the state's approved list, and 2 of them say their coursework is online.

For pay context, the median annual wage for high school teachers in Nebraska was $63,450 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

Programs shown are a selection from the state's approved list, checked November 7, 2026. "Online" reflects what the program or the state says about its coursework; teaching practice is always in a real school. The full, current list is on the agency's approved-program page.

Licensed in another state

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

Out-of-State Certification

Nebraska offers reciprocity to applicants who hold a valid, unencumbered, regular teaching certificate from another state obtained by completing an educator preparation program. A content test is not required, and official transcripts are not needed when reciprocity applies. Applicants with an expired out-of-state certificate or an out-of-state alternative certificate apply for the Alternative Program Teaching Permit instead.

1. Apply through the TEACH portal
2. Email or upload your current, valid out-of-state teaching certificate
3. Have your current district complete the Verification of Employment Experience form if you have experience
4. Submit fingerprints for the background check

Source: education.ne.gov

Required tests, codes and qualifying scores

Nebraska uses Praxis 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 published by the state; check with the agency.

Background check

First-time applicants who have not lived in Nebraska for the five years before applying, and have never held a Nebraska certificate or permit, must submit fingerprints for an FBI national criminal history check. Fingerprints can be taken by LiveScan at Nebraska State Patrol troop headquarters or on FD-258 cards at another agency and mailed to the department. An additional background check fee is paid alongside the application fee. Source

Your first license

License: Initial Teaching Certificate. It is valid for 5 years. Expires September 30 in the fifth year after issuance. Teachers with two consecutive years of teaching may move to the Standard Teaching Certificate, and those who also hold a qualifying master's degree earned within ten years may move to the Professional Teaching Certificate. Source

Renewal

Initial, Standard and Professional teaching certificates renew through an application in TEACH plus recent experience or coursework. Teachers need at least 0.5 FTE as a contract teacher for one school year in an accredited or legally operated school in the last five years. Without that experience, six semester credit hours of education-related coursework, or 90 hours of equivalent professional development, are required. Requirement: 0.5 FTE contract teaching for one school year in the last 5 years, or 6 semester credit hours (90 hours of equivalent professional development). Source

Teacher pay in Nebraska

Elementary teachers in Nebraska earned a median of $62,380 a year in May 2025, $1,590 below 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

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

• Art and Music Education: Art, Music (statewide)
• Career and Technical Education: Career Clusters (statewide)
• Core Subjects: Elementary Education (statewide)
• Early Childhood: General Curriculum/ Early Childhood (statewide)
• English as a Second Language: Bilingual Education, English as a Second Language (statewide)
• Health and Physical Fitness (statewide)
• Language Arts (statewide)
• Mathematics (statewide)
• Science (statewide)
• Social Studies (statewide)
• Special Education (statewide)
• Support Staff: Counseling, Library/Media Specialist, Psychologist, Speech language pathologist/audiologist (statewide)
• World Languages: Any World Language (statewide)

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