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Wisconsin

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

Wisconsin offers Bilingual Education as an add-on endorsement; 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, 5.9% of public-school students are classified English Learners (NCES). Re-verified against current SEA sources on 2026-05-08.

5.9%
classified ELs (2021-10-01)
view trend →
Bil + ELD
credential types offered

Credentials

Bilingual/Bicultural Education (23) Licensure

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

Bilingual-Bicultural Education (subject 1023) is a supplemental license under PI 34.078 — it requires an underlying Tier II/III/IV teaching license and is not standalone. PI 34.078(2)(b) requires proficiency in English and the target language; PI 34.078(2)(c) requires an approved program with coursework in cultural studies, foundations, theory and methodology, contrastive language study (phonology/morphology/syntax), bilingual-bicultural field experiences, and a clinical program. No state-adopted bilingual content test exists; each EPP measures English and target-language proficiency (commonly via ACTFL). The underlying primary-license content test and edTPA gate the pathway.

ESL Licensure

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

ESL (subject 1395) is a kindergarten through grade 12 teaching-area license under PI 34.047(3)(e) earned via an approved program plus assessments under PI 34.021(1)(c)-(d) (Praxis II ESOL #0360, passing 530, plus edTPA in Teaching Students of Other Languages). PI 34.052(6) creates an add-on pathway for holders of an elementary/middle school, special education, or equivalent license: the ESL credential may be added by passing the approved content knowledge test (no second approved program required). No language-proficiency exam is required of ESL candidates.

Sheltered English Instruction (SEI)

Not mandated for all teachers.

Wisconsin does not mandate SEI-style training for all teachers. SEI/Sheltered English/Content-Based ESL is one of several Language Instruction Educational Program models (alongside pull-out ESL, push-in ESL, and bilingual program models) districts may run, taught by ESL-licensed (1395) staff.

State policy signals

Seal of Biliteracy

Recognition for graduating students proficient in English plus another language.

Adopted in 2015.

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. Wisconsin Bilingual-Bicultural Education Act enacted (Ch. 395, Laws of 1975)

    Wisconsin enacted one of the strongest state bilingual mandates in the country, codified at Wis. Stat. §§ 115.95 to 115.996. Districts must operate a bilingual-bicultural education program at any school enrolling 10 or more EL students at the K-3 level, 20 or more at grades 4-8, or 20 or more at the high-school level — all of the same non-English language background. The 1975 act also established the bilingual-bicultural teacher license category that PI 34.078 (formerly PI 34.33(3)) administers today, and is the legal source of Wisconsin's status as a bilingual-program state rather than an SEI state. The statute's combination with WIDA (headquartered at UW-Madison) makes Wisconsin distinctive in the upper Midwest.

    docs.legis.wisconsin.gov (opens in a new tab)

  2. Wisconsin Seal of Biliteracy initiated by DPI

    DPI launched the Wisconsin Seal of Biliteracy in October 2015 to recognize graduating high-school students who demonstrate proficiency in English plus one or more additional languages. The program is administered by DPI rather than created by a standalone authorizing statute; districts opt in and award the seal locally.

    dpi.wi.gov (opens in a new tab)

  3. DPI publishes ESL/Bilingual-Bicultural/World Languages license guidance

    DPI's Teacher Education, Professional Development and Licensing team issued a one-stop guidance document mapping each WI language-instruction license (ESL 1395, Bilingual-Bicultural 1023, World Language) to the program models it can be used in (sheltered/SEI, pull-out/push-in ESL, transitional/two-way/maintenance bilingual, immersion) and the educator-preparation requirements for each — including Praxis II ESOL #0360 (passing 530), edTPA, and the EPP-administered language-proficiency check (commonly ACTFL) for bilingual candidates.

    dpi.wi.gov (opens in a new tab)

  4. Chapter PI 34 (educator licenses) reorganized and renumbered

    The Wisconsin administrative-rule re-number consolidated the educator licensing scheme. The bilingual-bicultural supplemental rule moved from PI 34.33(3) to PI 34.078; the ESL teaching-area subject moved from PI 34.30(g) to PI 34.047(3)(e); and the add-on-by-content-test pathway for ESL/world-languages was placed at PI 34.052(6). Substantive requirements (approved program, English + target-language proficiency for bilingual, content-area test for add-on) were preserved across the renumbering.

    docs.legis.wisconsin.gov (opens in a new tab) · docs.legis.wisconsin.gov (opens in a new tab) · docs.legis.wisconsin.gov (opens in a new tab) · docs.legis.wisconsin.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 Wisconsin'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] Wisconsin Dept. of Public Instruction (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] Wisconsin DPI — Educator Licensing landing page (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  4. [4] Wisconsin DPI — Bilingual and English Learner Education (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  5. [5] Wisconsin DPI — Bilingual-Bicultural Programs (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  6. [6] Wisconsin DPI — What Can I Teach with My License? (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  7. [7] Wisconsin DPI — Supplementary Teaching Licenses (PI 34 supplementary list) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  8. [8] Wisconsin DPI — Language Instruction Guidance: ESL, Bilingual/Bicultural, and World Languages (2017-09-15) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  9. [9] Wis. Admin. Code Chapter PI 34 — Educator Licenses (table of contents) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  10. [10] Wis. Admin. Code PI 34.078 — Bilingual-bicultural education (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  11. [11] Wis. Admin. Code PI 34.047 — Teaching areas (English as a Second Language at PI 34.047(3)(e)) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  12. [12] Wis. Admin. Code PI 34.052 — Additional license areas (ESL add-on by content test at PI 34.052(6)) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  13. [13] Wisconsin DPI — Wisconsin Educator Standards (10 standards) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  14. [14] Wisconsin DPI — Wisconsin Seal of Biliteracy program page (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  15. [15] WIDA Consortium membership (Wisconsin = charter member; WIDA is housed at WCER, UW-Madison) (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  16. [16] NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2023, Table 204.20 (English learners by state, Fall 2021) (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). Wisconsin EL teacher certification. https://projectcert.org/states/wi/
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_wi_2026,
  author  = {{projectcert}},
  title   = {{Wisconsin EL teacher certification}},
  year    = {2026},
  url     = {https://projectcert.org/states/wi/},
  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.