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Arizona

Verified against current sources (2026-05-07) Cite this page ↓

Arizona offers Bilingual Education as an add-on endorsement; ELD/ESL is an add-on endorsement. SEI training is mandated for all teachers. As of 2021, 8.2% of public-school students are classified English Learners (NCES). Re-verified against current SEA sources on 2026-05-07.

8.2%
classified ELs (2021-10-01)
view trend →
Bil + ELD + SEI
credential types offered

Credentials

Bilingual Education PreK-12 Endorsement

  • Add-on endorsement
Approved program
Required
Coursework
Required
Practicum
Required
Subject test
Not required
Language proficiency
Required

Bilingual, PreK-12 endorsement under R7-2-615(J). Full endorsement = (a) approved bilingual program OR 21 semester hours of specified coursework, (b) 3-hr practicum OR 2 years bilingual classroom experience, (c) verified proficiency in a world language other than English (seven options: Arizona Classroom Spanish Proficiency Exam, AEPA/NES foreign-language portion, tribal verification of an American Indian language, comparable out-of-state exam, world-language degree, 3 years foreign-language teaching, or ACTFL OPI). Provisional endorsement (3 years, non-renewable) = prerequisite certificate + language-proficiency verification only.

English as a Second Language PreK-12 Endorsement

  • Add-on endorsement
Approved program
Required
Coursework
Required
Practicum
Required
Subject test
Not required

English as a Second Language (ESL), PreK-12 endorsement under R7-2-615(K). Full endorsement = (a) approved ESL program OR 18 semester hours of specified coursework, (b) 3-hr ESL practicum OR 2 years ESL/bilingual experience, (c) a 'second language learning experience' (six-hour single-language coursework, intensive language training, third-semester placement, ACTFL OPI intermediate-low, AZ Spanish Proficiency Exam, American Indian language verification, or AEPA/NES foreign-language exam). The second-language requirement is exposure-not verified proficiency, hence languageProficiency=false. Provisional ESL = 6 hours of ESL coursework including methods (3 yrs, non-renewable). ADE explicitly states the ESL endorsement also authorizes teaching in a Structured English Immersion setting.

Structured English Immersion (SEI) Endorsement

Mandated for all teachers.

Universal mandate: per R7-2-615(L) and ADE OELAS, 'a Provisional or full SEI endorsement, or an ESL or Bilingual endorsement, shall be required of a teacher who is instructing students in a sheltered English immersion or structured English immersion model.' Originating in Proposition 203 (2000) and HB 2064 (2006), Arizona has the country's broadest teacher-of-EL credentialing mandate. The full SEI endorsement is earnable via 3 semester hours of approved coursework or 45 clock hours of approved professional development under A.R.S. § 15-756.09(B); the provisional version is 1 semester hour or 15 clock hours (3 years, non-renewable). Spring 2019 legislation reduced the daily SEI ELD block from 4 hours to 2 hours and re-opened broader access to dual-language and bilingual program models, but did not repeal the teacher endorsement mandate.

State policy signals

Seal of Biliteracy

Recognition for graduating students proficient in English plus another language.

Adopted in 2016.

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

ELP assessment

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

AZELLA · State-specific assessment.

Source: www.azed.gov (opens in a new tab)

History of licensure

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

  1. Flores v. Arizona filed (D. Ariz. CV-92-596-TUC-RCC)

    Plaintiff parents in the Nogales Unified School District filed a class action alleging Arizona was violating the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974 by underfunding programs for EL students. The case (later named Flores v. Arizona) drove the next two decades of EL policy in the state, leading to the 2000 district-court ruling that Arizona's per-pupil EL funding was "arbitrary and capricious" and forcing the legislature to act on EL teacher preparation and program funding. The case ultimately produced Horne v. Flores at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009.

    supreme.justia.com (opens in a new tab)

  2. Voters approve Proposition 203 (English for the Children)

    Proposition 203 amends Arizona law to require Structured English Immersion as the default instructional model for ELs and lays the foundation for the universal SEI-endorsement mandate later codified in R7-2-615(L) and A.R.S. § 15-756.09.

    azed.gov (opens in a new tab)

  3. HB 2064 establishes SEI endorsement infrastructure

    HB 2064 (50th Legislature, 2nd Regular Session) creates the Arizona English Language Learners Task Force and authorizes the SEI endorsement and SEI model — setting the 4-hour daily ELD block standard and embedding the SEI endorsement requirement for any teacher instructing ELs in an SEI setting.

    azed.gov (opens in a new tab) · azed.gov (opens in a new tab)

  4. Horne v. Flores decided by U.S. Supreme Court (557 U.S. 433)

    In a 5–4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the lower courts' rulings against Arizona in the long-running Flores v. Arizona litigation and remanded for reconsideration in light of changed circumstances — namely Proposition 203's SEI mandate, HB 2064's new EL Task Force and SEI endorsement, and the federal No Child Left Behind framework. The decision narrowed the EEOA enforcement leverage federal courts had previously exercised over state EL programs and is the controlling SCOTUS precedent on EEOA "appropriate action" claims. The companion HB 2064 SEI infrastructure remained in force.

    supreme.justia.com (opens in a new tab)

  5. Arizona Seal of Biliteracy authorized (SB 1239)

    Governor signed SB 1239 (A.R.S. § 15-258) creating the Arizona State Seal of Biliteracy, recognizing high school graduates who attain proficiency in English and one or more world languages.

    sealofbiliteracy.org (opens in a new tab)

  6. SB 1014 reduces daily SEI/ELD block from 4 hours to 2

    Spring 2019 legislation (SB 1014, signed July 2019) reduced the mandatory daily SEI English Language Development block from 4 hours to 2 hours and re-opened access to dual-language and bilingual program models. The teacher-of-EL endorsement mandate under R7-2-615(L) was not repealed.

    azed.gov (opens in a new tab) · azleg.gov (opens in a new tab)

  7. 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 Arizona'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)

Sources

  1. [1] Arizona Department of Education (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] ADE OELAS — SEI Endorsement (mandate language for all teachers of ELs) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-07
  4. [4] ADE Educator Certification — Structured English Immersion, PreK-12 endorsement (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-07
  5. [5] ADE Educator Certification — Bilingual Education, PreK-12 endorsement (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-07
  6. [6] ADE Educator Certification — English as a Second Language, PreK-12 endorsement (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-07
  7. [7] Ariz. Admin. Code R7-2-615 — Endorsements (J Bilingual, K ESL, L SEI), Arizona State Board of Education (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-07
  8. [8] Ariz. Admin. Code R7-2-602 — Professional Teaching Standards (Title 7 Ch. 2), Arizona Secretary of State Administrative Code (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-07
  9. [9] Sealofbiliteracy.org — Arizona state page (A.R.S. § 15-258, SB 1239 signed 2016-05-12) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-07
  10. [10] WIDA Consortium member roster (Arizona is not a member; AZ uses AZELLA) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-07
  11. [11] NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2023, Table 204.20 — English learners enrolled in public schools by state, fall 2021 (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-07

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 7). Arizona EL teacher certification. https://projectcert.org/states/az/
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_az_2026,
  author  = {{projectcert}},
  title   = {{Arizona EL teacher certification}},
  year    = {2026},
  url     = {https://projectcert.org/states/az/},
  urldate = {2026-05-07},
  note    = {Last verified 2026-05-07}
}
@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.