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Kansas

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

Kansas does not offer a bilingual education credential; ELD/ESL is an add-on endorsement. SEI training is not mandated for all teachers. As of 2021, 8.0% of public-school students are classified English Learners (NCES). Re-verified against current SEA sources on 2026-05-08.

8.0%
classified ELs (2021-10-01)
view trend →
ELD
credential types offered

Credentials

Bilingual education

Not offered.

Kansas does not offer a bilingual-education teacher credential. Neither the KSDE 'Adding an Endorsement' page nor the Higher Education Teacher Preparation Standards index lists a bilingual endorsement; only an ESOL endorsement exists.

ESOL Endorsement

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

ESOL endorsement (K.A.R. 91-1-203, updated March 2023) is an add-on to an existing Kansas teaching license, with two pathways: Option 1 — complete a state-approved ESOL program at a Kansas IHE plus pass the state-approved ESOL content exam; Option 2 ('Test Plus') — complete state-approved ESOL content-specific coursework at an approved KS institution (e.g., FHSU ESOL 884/885; KU C&T 330/331/491 or 820/825; K-State EDCI 420/431 or 720/742; McPherson CI 428/628; Newman EDUC 6133/6113; Washburn ED 650/624; Wichita State CI 775) plus pass the ESOL content exam. Practicum is included in some institutional pathways (FHSU, KU) but is not a statewide regulatory requirement, so coded null.

Sheltered English Instruction (SEI)

Not mandated for all teachers.

Kansas has no statewide sheltered-English-instruction (SEI) mandate for all teachers. The Professional Education Standards (adopted 2015, revised 2016) embed EL-relevant competencies in Standard 2 (Learning Differences) — including 2.1.5PS on strategies for making content accessible to English language learners — but these are teacher-preparation program standards, not an SEI endorsement requirement.

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.

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. Kansas adopts revised Professional Education Teacher Preparation Standards

    KSBE adopted Kansas's current Professional Education Teacher Preparation Standards on 2015-01-13. Standard 2 (Learning Differences) embeds EL-relevant competencies (e.g., 2.1.5PS — strategies for making content accessible to English language learners) into the general preparation framework that binds all Kansas-prepared teachers.

    ksde.gov (opens in a new tab)

  2. Professional Education Standards updated to add ESOL/virtual-learning content

    KSBE edited the Professional Education Teacher Preparation Standards on 2016-04-29 to make ESOL and virtual-learning competencies explicit within the general preparation document. This is the textual basis for `professionalStandardsMentions.el = true` on Kansas's record.

    ksde.gov (opens in a new tab)

  3. Kansas adopts State Seal of Biliteracy

    Kansas formally adopted a State Seal of Biliteracy program in 2016, recognizing high-school graduates proficient in English plus one or more world languages. KSDE publishes program guidance; participation is district-opt-in.

    sealofbiliteracy.org (opens in a new tab)

  4. KSBE adopts ESOL Teacher Preparation Standards

    Kansas adopted the standalone ESOL (K-6, 5-8, 6-12, PreK-12) Teacher Preparation Standards on 2017-05-09. These define the competency floor for the ESOL endorsement (the only EL credential offered in Kansas, as an add-on to a primary license).

    ksde.gov (opens in a new tab)

  5. 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 Kansas'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] Kansas State Dept. 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] KSDE — English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) License Endorsement Requirements (K.A.R. 91-1-203, updated March 2023) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  4. [4] KSDE — Adding an Endorsement to Your License (lists ESOL among endorsements that cannot be added by content test only; Test Plus required) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  5. [5] KSDE — Higher Education Teacher Preparation Standards (index) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  6. [6] KSDE — Professional Education Teacher Preparation Standards (adopted 2015-01-13; edited 2016-04-29 to include ESOL/virtual learning) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  7. [7] KSDE — English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Teacher Preparation Standards (adopted 2017-05-09) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  8. [8] NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2023, Table 204.20 — English learner share of public-school enrollment by state (Kansas Fall 2021: 8.0%) (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). Kansas EL teacher certification. https://projectcert.org/states/ks/
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_ks_2026,
  author  = {{projectcert}},
  title   = {{Kansas EL teacher certification}},
  year    = {2026},
  url     = {https://projectcert.org/states/ks/},
  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.