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Nebraska

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

Nebraska offers Bilingual Education both as a standalone certification and as an add-on endorsement; ELD/ESL is an add-on endorsement. SEI training is not mandated for all teachers. As of 2021, 7.3% of public-school students are classified English Learners (NCES). Re-verified against current SEA sources on 2026-05-08.

7.3%
classified ELs (2021-10-01)
view trend →
Bil + ELD
credential types offered

Credentials

Bilingual Education Endorsement

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

92 NAC 24 §006.09 Bilingual Education endorsement (PK-12 / PK-6 / 7-12). Supplemental endorsement that requires the holder to also hold (or earn concurrently) an ESL endorsement plus a subject or field endorsement. Rule 24 mandates a minimum of 12 semester hours of methodology, content instruction, and content literacy in bilingual education programs, of which 9 hours must be taught in the target language, plus a 45-clock-hour practicum in a bilingual education program taught in the target language. The June 2024 Rule 24 Guidelines further set ACTFL Advanced-Low target-language proficiency as Standard 1. Both an approved educator-preparation program (Rule 20) and a Praxis content-test add-on pathway are available.

ESL Endorsement

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

92 NAC 24 §006.23 English As A Second Language endorsement (PK-12 / PK-6 / 7-12), Supplemental only — no standalone ESL/TESOL license. Rule 24 mandates 15 semester hours across Second Language Acquisition, English Language/Linguistics, Cross-Cultural Communication, Methods/Curriculum Design in ESL, and Assessment and Evaluation of ELLs, plus a 45-clock-hour practicum with ELL students. June 2024 Rule 24 Guidelines align the endorsement to TESOL standards. Per the NDE Educator Certification announcement of June 4, 2025, applicants who complete an approved educator preparation program are no longer required to pass the Praxis content test; a Praxis-test add-on pathway remains available for adding the endorsement. ESL is a prerequisite for the Bilingual Education endorsement.

Sheltered English Instruction (SEI)

Not mandated for all teachers.

State policy signals

Seal of Biliteracy

Recognition for graduating students proficient in English plus another language.

Adopted in 2020.

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

ELP assessment

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

ELPA21 · ELPA21 consortium member.

Source: www.education.ne.gov (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 Nebraska'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. Nebraska Seal of Biliteracy adopted (LB 1042)

    Nebraska Seal of Biliteracy authorized by LB 1042 (2020) and codified at Neb. Rev. Stat. §79-769; administered by NDE World Languages. Recognizes graduates who demonstrate proficiency in English and at least one additional language.

    education.ne.gov (opens in a new tab)

  3. Rule 24 (92 NAC 24) endorsement framework readopted

    NDE readopted Rule 24 effective 2024-06-02, refreshing the Bilingual Education (§006.09) and English As A Second Language (§006.23) endorsement specifications. Companion Rule 24 Guidelines (June 2024) align ESL to TESOL standards and set ACTFL Advanced-Low as the bilingual target-language proficiency floor.

    education.ne.gov (opens in a new tab) · education.ne.gov (opens in a new tab)

  4. Praxis content-test waiver for approved-program completers

    NDE Educator Certification announced that effective June 4, 2025 candidates completing an approved Nebraska educator-preparation program no longer need to pass the Praxis content test for endorsement; a Praxis-test add-on pathway remains available for adding endorsements without an approved program. Reflected in eld.requirements.test=false (program completers' default path).

    education.ne.gov (opens in a new tab)

Sources

  1. [1] Nebraska 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] NDE Educator Certification — homepage (Praxis content-test waiver for approved-program completers, June 4, 2025). (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  4. [4] NDE Educator Certification — Nebraska Certificate Endorsements list. (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  5. [5] 92 NAC 24 — Endorsements (Rule 24, effective June 2, 2024). §006.09 Bilingual Education and §006.23 English As A Second Language. (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  6. [6] NDE Guidelines Recommended for Use With Rule 24 (Endorsements), June 2024 — TESOL-aligned ESL standards and ACTFL Advanced-Low Bilingual proficiency standard. (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  7. [7] 92 NAC 20 — Approval of Educator Preparation Programs (Rule 20). Professional teaching standards §005.02 (linguistic, cultural, diverse references). (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  8. [8] 92 NAC 21 — Issuance of Certificates and Permits (Rule 21). (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  9. [9] NDE English Learner Programs — Serving English Learners (ELPA21 summative; Alt ELPA for students with significant cognitive disabilities). (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  10. [10] NDE World Languages — Nebraska Seal of Biliteracy (NeSoBL). (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  11. [11] NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2023, Table 204.20 — English learners enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools, by state, fall 2000 through fall 2021. Nebraska fall 2021: 7.3%. (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). Nebraska EL teacher certification. https://projectcert.org/states/ne/
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_ne_2026,
  author  = {{projectcert}},
  title   = {{Nebraska EL teacher certification}},
  year    = {2026},
  url     = {https://projectcert.org/states/ne/},
  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.