The Commission on Professional Standards in Education adopted Regulation 011-24 and it became effective December 20, 2024. The regulation updates the Interim Route to Certification (IRC) pathway for licensed educators who wish to add a special education endorsement to their license.

Existing educators with a valid standard or professional teaching license (Early Childhood, Elementary, Middle School, Secondary, Special Education, and Special teaching licenses):

• May apply for an endorsement in Special Education (Adaptive Physical Education*, Autism, Deaf & Hard of Hearing, Early Childhood Developmental Delay, Generalist, Intellectual Disability, and Visual Impairment), and if the endorsement is issued
• Be placed in a Special Education assignment area while they are completing the coursework requirements for that endorsement area, and
• Is valid for three years.
• IRC initial application instructions
• *See application instructions for an additional requirement for APE

To convert the IRC endorsement to a standard or professional endorsement, the educator must:

• Complete at least two years of teaching in the IRC endorsed assignment,
• Obtain two annual effective or highly effective evaluations,
• Complete all of their coursework for the IRC endorsement area, and
• Apply for the conversion of the endorsement.
• IRC conversion instructions