Massachusetts Educator Licensure Requirements

Educator Licensure and Renewal (ELAR) Account

ELAR is the state's online portal for completing most licensure-related transactions. Through ELAR, candidates apply for or advance a license online, renew a Professional license, check the status of a license/application, make a payment, upload transcripts, view what documents are scanned into the file, review Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure (MTEL) history, request a hard copy license, update contact information, view correspondence from the MA Office of Educator Licensure, and print unofficial license information.

Required Immediately: Upon starting a program leading to a license, each candidate creates a personal password-protected ELAR account at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and receives a unique Massachusetts Educator Personnel ID number, or MEPID, which must be reported immediately and accurately to Lesley University through Lesley's Online Information Service (LOIS). For more detailed information about how to set up the required electronic account, obtain a MEPID, and submit it to Lesley, visit Lesley's Certification and Educator Licensure website.

Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) Endorsement

Because candidates for Initial teacher and reading specialist licenses are required to have an SEI endorsement, all of Lesley's Initial licensure programs include a MA ESE approved Sheltered English Instruction course. 

Professional license renewals require at least 15 Professional Development Points (PDPs) related to SEI or English as a second language and at least 15 PDPs related to training strategies for effective schooling for students with disabilities and instruction of students with diverse learning styles. Remaining PDPs may be earned through a combination of subject-related activities.

Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL)

Candidates seeking Initial license as a teacher, specialist, or counselor are required by the state to pass Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL), a series of pass/fail tests designed to measure readiness for educator licensure. All MTEL exams are computer-based. The Communication and Literacy Skills MTEL, required for all educator licenses, has a reading subtest and writing subtest, and is offered year round. Candidates can opt to take both subtests in the same test administration (4 hours), or each subtest can be taken in a separate 4-hour administration. In addition, subject matter tests are required for teaching and specialist licenses (not for counseling, digital literacy and computer science, or instructional technology), and some licenses require the Foundations of Reading MTEL. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website contains a list of required MTEL exams for each license area, as does Lesley’s MTEL Student Guide, which can be found on the MTEL page.