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All states / Alabama

Alabama

Verified against current sources (2026-05-08) Cite this page ↓

Alabama does not offer a bilingual education credential; ELD/ESL is available both as a standalone license and as an add-on endorsement. SEI training is not mandated for all teachers. As of 2021, 4.7% of public-school students are classified English Learners (NCES). Re-verified against current SEA sources on 2026-05-08.

4.7%
classified ELs (2021-10-01)
view trend →
ELD
credential types offered

Credentials

Bilingual education

Not offered.

Alabama does not issue a bilingual education certificate or endorsement. The only appearance of 'bilingual' anywhere in Alabama Administrative Code Chapter 290-3-3 (Educator Preparation) is in the Pre-K curriculum's reference to 'bilingual/multilingual' linguistic domains (Rule 290-3-3-.06) — not a credential.

ESL Endorsement

  • Standalone certification
  • Add-on endorsement
Approved program
Required
Coursework
Required
Practicum
Required
Subject test
Required

Branded 'English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)' (Grades P-12) under Alabama Admin. Code Rule 290-3-3-.43. Issued only at the Class A (master's-degree-level) level — there is no Class B (bachelor's-level) ESOL certificate, so every ESOL candidate must first hold a Class B Professional Educator Certificate in another teaching field. We code both `standalone: true` (ESOL is the named field of a Professional Educator Certificate, with a dedicated rule, TESOL-aligned program standards, and a Praxis subject test) and `addOn: true` (it can be earned only by candidates already certified in another field). Single pathway: completion of a State-approved Class A ESOL program (3.25 GPA min for candidates admitted on/after 2017-07-01), 300-clock-hour internship with an ESOL-certified cooperating teacher, and the AECAP Praxis ESL subject test. No second-language proficiency requirement. Most recent rule revision adopted 2021-08-12, effective 2021-10-15.

Sheltered English Instruction (SEI)

Not mandated for all teachers.

No universal SEI/EL training mandate for all teachers. Rule 290-3-3-.43(3)(b) and parallel rules in non-ESOL teaching fields require a 'survey of special education' or, alternatively, a diversity course — but the diversity course can be satisfied by any one of five topics (methods of accommodating students with exceptionalities; multicultural education; teaching English language learners; rural education; urban education). EL is a permitted but optional satisfier, not a required topic. The 2025-2026 ALSDE EL Guidebook does not impose new SEI obligations on non-ESL teachers.

State policy signals

Seal of Biliteracy

Recognition for graduating students proficient in English plus another language.

Adopted in 2022.

Source: sealofbiliteracy.org (opens in a new tab)

ELP assessment

Annual English Language Proficiency test used for EL identification and reclassification.

ACCESS for ELLs · WIDA Consortium member.

Source: wida.wisc.edu (opens in a new tab)

History of licensure

Dated policy and verification events shaping this state's EL teacher credentials.

  1. EPAA 29(100) document analysis (Leider, Colombo & Nerlino, 2021)

    Leider, Colombo & Nerlino published in Education Policy Analysis Archives 29(100) a comprehensive document analysis of every state and DC's bilingual, ELD/ESL, and SEI teacher-credentialing requirements, professional teaching standards mentions, and EL-percentage figures, based on primary SEA sources collected October–December 2019. The 2019 coding of Alabama's EL-credentialing landscape is preserved as a temporally-anchored research baseline against which the catalog's later verifications are framed.

    doi.org (opens in a new tab)

  2. Class A ESOL rule (290-3-3-.43) revision effective

    Most recent revision of Alabama Admin. Code Rule 290-3-3-.43 (English for Speakers of Other Languages, P-12) adopted 2021-08-12 and effective 2021-10-15, codifying the Class A approved-program pathway with 300-clock-hour internship under an ESOL-certified cooperating teacher and the AECAP Praxis ESL subject test as the sole route to the ESOL Professional Educator Certificate.

    alabamaachieves.org (opens in a new tab)

  3. Alabama Seal of Biliteracy authorized (Act 2022-200)

    Governor signed Act 2022-200 establishing the Alabama Seal of Biliteracy, recognizing high school graduates who attain proficiency in English plus one or more world languages. ALSDE published statewide implementation guidelines in March 2024.

    alabamaachieves.org (opens in a new tab) · sealofbiliteracy.org (opens in a new tab)

  4. ALSDE publishes 2025-2026 Alabama EL Guidebook

    ALSDE released the 2025-2026 Alabama EL Guidebook consolidating identification, services, assessment, exit, and monitoring guidance for ELs. Does not impose new SEI obligations on non-ESL teachers; reaffirms ESOL (P-12) as the state's sole EL-specialist credential.

    alabamaachieves.org (opens in a new tab)

Sources

  1. [1] Alabama State Dept. of Education (cited domain alsde.edu retired 2022; current domain is alabamaachieves.org) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2019-11-15 (via Leider et al. 2021)
  2. [2] Leider, Colombo & Nerlino (2021), EPAA 29(100). Tables 2-5 + Appendix A. (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2019-11-15 (via Leider et al. 2021)
  3. [3] Alabama Administrative Code Chapter 290-3-3 (Educator Preparation), SUPP. NO. 21-4 — Rule 290-3-3-.43 (ESOL, Grades P-12) and Rule 290-3-3-.04 (Alabama Core Teaching Standards) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  4. [4] Alabama Administrative Code Chapter 290-3-2 (Educator Certification), SUPP. NO. 16-1 — IEC and certification-issuance rules (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  5. [5] ALSDE — Alabama EL Guidebook 2025-2026 (published 2025-12-10) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  6. [6] ALSDE — Alabama Seal of Biliteracy Overview and Guidelines for Public Schools (Act 2022-200, signed 2022-04-01) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  7. [7] Sealofbiliteracy.org — Alabama state record (adoption date 2022-04-06, ALSDE awarding entity) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  8. [8] WIDA Consortium — member directory (Alabama listed; uses ACCESS for ELLs) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  9. [9] NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2023, Table 204.20 — English learners enrolled in public schools by state, fall 2021 (Alabama: 34,965 / 4.7%) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08

Cite this page

Site content is published under CC BY 4.0. When citing a fact from this page, please cite both projectcert and the original Leider et al. (2021) paper the dataset extends.

APA
projectcert. (2026, May 8). Alabama EL teacher certification. https://projectcert.org/states/al/
Leider, C. M., Colombo, M. W., & Nerlino, E. (2021). Decentralization, teacher quality, and the education of English learners: Do state education agencies effectively prepare teachers of ELs? Education Policy Analysis Archives, 29(100). https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.29.5279
BibTeX
@misc{projectcert_al_2026,
  author  = {{projectcert}},
  title   = {{Alabama EL teacher certification}},
  year    = {2026},
  url     = {https://projectcert.org/states/al/},
  urldate = {2026-05-08},
  note    = {Last verified 2026-05-08}
}
@article{leider2021decentralization,
  author  = {Leider, Christine M. and Colombo, Michaela W. and Nerlino, Erika},
  title   = {{Decentralization, teacher quality, and the education of English learners: Do state education agencies effectively prepare teachers of ELs?}},
  journal = {Education Policy Analysis Archives},
  volume  = {29},
  number  = {100},
  year    = {2021},
  doi     = {10.14507/epaa.29.5279}
}

See the methodology for how these data were collected, or the glossary for term definitions.