Transferring a California teaching licence to Washington
Washington is a member of the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact and California is not, so the compact does nothing for this move. OSPI evaluates a California teacher on its own out-of-state application.
Which framework applies to you
| California | Not a compact member |
| Washington | Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact member (enacted 2024) |
The compact governs movement between member states. Because one end is not a member, the compact route does not exist for you at all — whatever the other state's membership is publicised as doing. Why that matters →
The question that decides this corridor
Which of your California exam passes will OSPI accept in place of Washington’s basic skills test and the content test for your endorsement?
OSPI says an out-of-state teacher’s passing score from their own state’s exam "may be used" for either Washington test, but publishes no list of the exams it accepts. If a score is not accepted, both tests must be passed within one calendar year of the Residency Teacher First Issue temporary permit. The decision is made once: tests from other states cannot be used to add an endorsement later, so every endorsement you do not get at the first application needs a Washington test.
Who to ask: OSPI Professional Certification, 360-725-6400 (hours are not published on the pages captured)
ambiguous_confirm_with_state — this is a real gap in the
published record, not a gap in our reading of it. We checked on
10 September 2026. Anyone who gives you a confident answer to this is guessing;
the agency is the only place it can be settled.
Moving on military orders? Federal law gives a military spouse a separate route: a covered teaching certificate is valid in the new state on three documents. Washington's education agency does not mention that route on the pages we read. What federal law and Washington publish →
What Washington requires
Each card carries the rule or agency page it comes from and the date we read it. Where a source states something verbatim, we quote it rather than paraphrase.
hold or have held a full teaching certificate in another state with at least three years of out-of-state or out-of-country teaching experienceWashington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Professional Certification, Teacher (first-time certification: Out-of-State Applicant and Professional Teacher) — read 10 September 2026
Membership comes from the Council of State Governments list. Whether OSPI runs a separate compact route, and what it asks for, is unresolved from OSPI’s own pages as read on 10 September 2026.
Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Professional Certification, Teacher (first-time certification: Out-of-State Applicant and Professional Teacher) — read 10 September 2026Submit a copy of a full, regular teaching certificate issued by another state (valid or expired) and three years of out-of-state teaching experience
Georgia and California also accept an expired certificate; New York and Nevada do not. The military route below is different: it asks for a valid certificate.
Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Professional Certification, Teacher (first-time certification: Out-of-State Applicant and Professional Teacher) — read 10 September 2026Complete a basic skills test (WEST-B or approved alternative)Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Professional Certification, Teacher (first-time certification: Out-of-State Applicant and Professional Teacher) — read 10 September 2026
your passing score from your state's teacher certification exam may be used to meet Washington's basic skills or content knowledge test requirement
OSPI publishes no list of which states’ exams it accepts, and "may be used" leaves the decision to OSPI on the documents you send.
Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Professional Certification, Teacher Assessments — read 10 September 2026the testing requirements must be successfully completed within one calendar year of issuance of the Residency Teacher First Issue (FI) temporary permitWashington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Professional Certification, Teacher Assessments — read 10 September 2026
Tests from other states cannot be used to add endorsements.
Adding an endorsement costs $81 per endorsement on the fee schedule.
Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Professional Certification, Adding an Endorsement — read 10 September 2026Only educators who hold an endorsement in Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Space Science, or Physics will be eligible to add the Science endorsement.
The same pairing rule applies to Bilingual Education and English Language Learner. PESB dates the requirement from 1 September 2019.
Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Professional Certification, Dual Endorsement Requirements — read 10 September 2026Additional permits will not be issued beyond the second 12-month permit.Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Professional Certification, Dual Endorsement Requirements — read 10 September 2026
Residency Teacher (1st issue) | $93
The schedule is headed "Total Fee (as of January 1, 2022)". Whether fees are refundable is not stated on the page.
Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Professional Certification, Professional Certification Fee Schedule — read 10 September 2026Hold a certificate issued by the National Boards
Professional Teacher also requires attesting to coursework on issues of abuse (Form 4020G). Which other states’ second-tier certificates PESB has approved is on a reciprocity page that was not captured.
Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Professional Certification, Teacher (first-time certification: Out-of-State Applicant and Professional Teacher) — read 10 September 2026Submit fingerprints for a background check if you do not already have a valid Washington certificate on record
OSPI Fingerprint Records: 360-725-6135.
Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Professional Certification, Teacher (first-time certification: Out-of-State Applicant and Professional Teacher) — read 10 September 2026the designation of mandatory grade levels on certificates for assignment purposes, no longer appears appropriateWashington State Legislature (rule of the Professional Educator Standards Board), WAC 181-82-201 Grade designations for endorsements obtained after August 31, 2000 — read 10 September 2026
The preliminary credential is issued for a maximum of five years. … If requirements for the clear credential are not completed before the expiration of the preliminary, the holder will be unable to teach in California's public schools with that credential until those requirements are met and the document is renewed.California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Single Subject Teaching Credential Requirements for Teachers Prepared Out-of-State (CL-560) — read 10 September 2026
Educators can skip this step if they hold a valid Washington educator certificate or if results are on file within the last two years.Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Professional Certification, How to Apply for a Certificate — read 10 September 2026
The preliminary credential is issued for a maximum of five years.
Leaflet CL-560C carries a printed revision date of May 2021.
California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Single Subject Teaching Credential Requirements for Teachers Prepared in California (CL-560C) — read 9 September 2026The Multiple Subject Teaching Credential authorizes the holder to teach all subjects in a self-contained classroom, such as the classrooms in most elementary schools, in grades preschool, K-12, or in classes organized primarily for adults.
What is unresolved: every receiving state we have researched asks whether the incoming certificate is "comparable" in subject and grade level. Texas’s Core Subjects is EC-6, Colorado’s Elementary Education is K-6, Florida’s is K-6. California’s is none of those — it is a setting authorisation. How a receiving state maps it is that state’s determination and no published text we have found resolves it.
California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Multiple Subject Teaching Credential (CL-561C) — read 10 September 2026Individuals prepared outside of California who have less than two years of out-of-state full-time teaching experience (see Terms and Definitions) may qualify for a California teaching credential by documenting all of the following in their application packet:
The out-of-state credential does NOT have to be valid at the time of application, and a photocopy front and back is acceptable verification. Both are unusually forgiving.
California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Single Subject Teaching Credential Requirements for Teachers Prepared Out-of-State (CL-560) — read 10 September 2026Letter from the out-of-state employer verifying at least two years of out-of-state full-time teaching experience accompanied by two satisfactory performance evaluations (see Terms and Definitions).
The performance evaluations are the part people cannot retrieve later. Request them before leaving the district.
California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Single Subject Teaching Credential Requirements for Teachers Prepared Out-of-State (CL-560) — read 10 September 2026An individual issued a professional level teaching credential by another state or U.S. territory with a middle school or departmentalized classroom teaching authorization that is not comparable and that does not list a comparable authorization may verify subject matter competence for the Single Subject Credential with a degree major or 32 semester units (or the equivalent in quarter units).
Thirty-two semester units is roughly a full academic year of study. It is the price of a grade-band or subject mismatch.
California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Single Subject Teaching Credential Requirements for Teachers Prepared Out-of-State (CL-560) — read 10 September 2026Earn an authorization to teach English learners by one of the following methods:
A teacher whose home-state credential already carries a full English learner authorisation can submit a copy of it. Whether a particular state’s ESL or bilingual endorsement counts as "full" is not defined in this leaflet.
California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Single Subject Teaching Credential Requirements for Teachers Prepared Out-of-State (CL-560) — read 10 September 2026The endorsement, side by side
| California | Washington | |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate or endorsement | Single Subject Teaching Credential: Mathematics | Mathematics endorsement |
| Grade band | single subject | no mandatory band on the certificate (secondary guideline: grades 5–12) |
| Named examination | <span class="muted">not captured</span> | WEST-E/NES Mathematics, or an approved alternative |
Note the grade-band mismatch. California issues single subject; Washington issues no mandatory band on the certificate (secondary guideline: grades 5–12). Whether that matters depends on whether the destination applies an identity test or a comparability test — and those are different tests with different outcomes.
What works in your favour
Washington accepts a California credential even if it has expired, as long as you have three years of out-of-state teaching.
Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Professional Certification, Teacher (first-time certification: Out-of-State Applicant and Professional Teacher) — read 10 September 2026Your California passing scores may be used toward both of Washington’s tests.
Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Professional Certification, Teacher Assessments — read 10 September 2026$93 for the first Residency Teacher certificate, and it carries no expiry date until you have 1.5 years of full-time Washington teaching.
Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Professional Certification, Professional Certification Fee Schedule — read 10 September 2026With National Board certification you can apply straight for Washington’s second-tier Professional Teacher certificate.
Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Professional Certification, Teacher (first-time certification: Out-of-State Applicant and Professional Teacher) — read 10 September 2026What it costs to get this corridor wrong
Every figure below is set by a rule or published by the agency, and cited on its row. These are not our estimates, and the largest single nonrefundable amount is $93.
Nothing here is a prediction about your file. It is what the published rules say happens, and what the agency charges, if a step is taken in the wrong order or on the wrong document.
Licence classes on this corridor
The requirements above are the ones that apply whatever you teach. These are the classes whose subject-specific requirements we have researched for Washington.
| Licence class | Corridor | Pack |
|---|---|---|
| Secondary mathematics | California → Washington | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
| Elementary | California → Washington | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
| Middle grades | California → Washington | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
| Secondary science | California → Washington | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
| Secondary English language arts | California → Washington | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
| Special education | California → Washington | Facts on this page · pack not written yet |
A class listed without a pack is not a gap in the research — its facts are on this page and on the state pages. It means we have not yet written the step-by-step pack for it.
Where these facts come from
This page cites 11 sources. Every one is named on the card that uses it, with the date we read it. The full register, including what we archived and what we could not retrieve, is at every source we cite.
Everything we have verified about Washington → · About California →