Application for Teacher Licensure

Application materials are due by January 7 of your junior year, even if you are planning to student teach during a ninth semester.

Application materials

In the introduction to her work entitled Why We Teach, multicultural theorist and educator, Dr. Sonia Nieto raises important issues about what drives individuals toward a career in teaching and the related challenges that face those entering the teaching profession. Reflecting on your pre-practicum and other field-based experiences, readings and activities from your coursework, and other related learning opportunities, respond to the issues Dr. Nieto raises, explaining why you have chosen to pursue a career in education. Responses should be approximately two to three double-spaced typed pages in length.

“Why do people choose teaching as a career? What it is that entices them to spend their days engaged in learning with other people’s children? Why do they decide to go into what are frequently demanding situations, sometimes in poorly funded and rundown schools? Why do they choose teaching rather than other professions that would give them better compensation, higher status and more respect?

Today, these questions take on greater urgency than ever. The rapid turnover of new teachers, the changing demographics in U.S. classrooms, the widely touted “achievement gap” between White students and students of color, and the national insistence on “highly qualified teachers” all contribute to a situation where retaining the best teachers and encouraging others to enter the profession are essential. In the end, the answers to these questions say a lot about who we are as a nation, what we value and believe in, and how we educate our young people.” (Nieto, 2005, p.1)

The following materials are required:

  1. Completed Teacher Licensure Application Form (pdf)
  2. Resume.
  3. A current unofficial Transcript reflecting a cumulative GPA of 2.85 or higher.
  4. A current Degree Audit from the my.mtholyoke website.
  5. Record of your field-based experience/CBL hours. For field-based courses taken at MHC for which you completed and turned in to the Education Office your Documentation of Hours form, the Education Division will automatically supply a list of your field-based experience/CBL hours to your application file. If you took a course(s) at MHC and did not complete your Pre-Practicum Report Form, please complete it now and include it with your application materials. If you took field-based experience/CBL courses off campus please complete the linked form above to receive credit for those hours.
  6. Completed reference forms from two professors:
    1. a professor from one of the Education minor core courses which you have completed, and
    2. a professor in your major department.

    You must have completed course work with the professor giving you a reference. Please sign the waiver section, and then give one form to each faculty member who agrees to write the recommendation for you.

  7. A written response to the statement on this page.
  8. Written record demonstrating your successful completion of the Communication and Literacy test of the Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure (MTEL). (Paper copies of your test results/copies of emails are acceptable.) You must register for, take and pass this test before February of your junior year. You may obtain registration materials for the MTEL online. Please note: full acceptance into the practicum segment of the teacher licensure programs necessitates a passing score on all tests of the MTEL (i.e., subject matter test, the Literacy and Communication tests, and for the early childhood and elementary students, Foundations of Reading test). Therefore, check the current MTEL Registration Booklet for test dates and confer with the program director to make sure you will have taken and passed all tests before your practicum semester.
  9. An Interview. The Director of the program to which you are applying will contact you to set up an appointment prior to a decision on your application.

All application materials are due by January 7 of your junior year, even if you are planning to student teach during a ninth semester.

Paper copies of the completed application can be hand delivered to Cheryl McGraw in the Psychology & Education Office (Reese 303) or mailed to Cheryl McGraw, Mount Holyoke College, Psychology & Education, 50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 01075. Students wishing to submit their application electronically should compile all materials into one pdf file, with the exception of faculty references which should come directly from faculty members themselves, and email the file to Cheryl McGraw.

The following materials are required:

  1. Completed the Teacher Licensure Application form (pdf)
  2. Resume
  3. A printed current Academic History from the HUB.
  4. Completed Pre-practicum course compilation form.
  5. Your Division II contract and 2 evaluations from relevant courses.
  6. Completed recommendation forms from two professors:
    1. a professor from one of the Education minor core courses which you have completed, and
    2. the chair or a member of your Division II Committee.

      You must have completed course work with the professor giving you a reference. Please sign the waiver section, and then give one form to each faculty member who agrees to write the recommendation for you.

  7. A written response to the statement on this page.
  8. Written record demonstrating your successful completion of the Communication and Literacy test of the Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure (MTEL). (Paper copies of your test results/copies of emails are acceptable.) You must register for, take and pass this test before February of your junior year. You may obtain registration materials for the MTEL online. Please note: full acceptance into the practicum segment of the teacher licensure programs necessitates a passing score on all required tests of the MTEL (i.e., subject matter test, the Literacy and Communication tests, and for the early childhood and elementary students, Foundations of Reading test). Therefore, check the current MTEL Registration Booklet for test dates and confer with the program director to make sure you will have taken and passed all tests before your practicum semester.
  9. An Interview. The Director of the program to which you are applying will contact you to set up an appointment prior to a decision on your application.

All application materials are due by January 7 of your junior year, even if you are planning to student teach during a ninth semester.

Paper copies of the completed application can be hand delivered to Cheryl McGraw in the Psychology & Education Office (Reese 303) or mailed to Cheryl McGraw, Mount Holyoke College, Psychology & Education, 50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 01075. Students wishing to submit their application electronically should compile all materials into one pdf file, with the exception of faculty references which should come directly from faculty members themselves, and email the file to Cheryl McGraw.

Please note: A representative from the Mount Holyoke College Education Division will become a third party member of your Division III Committee upon acceptance into the Teacher Licensure Program.

The following materials are required:

  1. Completed Teacher Licensure Application Form (pdf)
  2. Resume
  3. A printed current unofficial Transcript reflecting a cumulative GPA of 2.85 or higher. For an unofficial transcript log into ACDATA. Copy the data on the screen and paste it into MS Word.
  4. Completed Pre-practicum course compilation form.
  5. Completed reference forms from two professors:
    1. a professor from one of the Education minor core courses which you have completed, and
    2. a professor in your major department.

      You must have completed course work with the professor giving you a reference. Please sign the waiver section, and then give one form to each faculty member who agrees to write the recommendation for you.

  6. A written response to the statement on this page.
  7. Written record demonstrating your successful completion of the Communication and Literacy test of the Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure (MTEL). (Paper copies of your test results/copies of emails are acceptable.) You must register for, take and pass this test before February of your junior year. You may obtain registration materials for the MTEL online. Please note: full acceptance into the practicum segment of the teacher licensure programs necessitates a passing score on all required tests of the MTEL (i.e., subject matter test, the Literacy and Communication tests, and for the early childhood and elementary students, Foundations of Reading test). Therefore, check the current MTEL Registration Booklet for test dates and confer with the program director to make sure you will have taken and passed all tests before your practicum semester.
  8. An Interview. The Director of the program to which you are applying will contact you to set up an appointment prior to a decision on your application.

All application materials are due by January 7 of your junior year, even if you are planning to student teach during a ninth semester.

Paper copies of the completed application can be hand delivered to Cheryl McGraw in the Psychology & Education Office (Reese 303) or mailed to Cheryl McGraw, Mount Holyoke College, Psychology & Education, 50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 01075. Students wishing to submit their application electronically should compile all materials into one pdf file, with the exception of faculty references which should come directly from faculty members themselves, and email the file to Cheryl McGraw.

Submit materials to

The Teacher Licensure program staff helps guide students through teacher education programs leading towards an initial teacher license at the baccalaureate level.

Cheryl McGraw
  • Academic Department Coordinator