Certification Pathways

Certification Pathways

Career and Technical Education (CTE) is a planned program of courses|classes and learning experiences that begins with exploration of career options, supports basic academic and life skills, and enables achievement of high academic standards, leadership, preparation for industry-defined work, and advanced and continuing education.

In Washington State, CTE teachers are required to hold a CTE Teaching Certificate, issued in one of the specific CTE specialties upon completion of a Washington State Board of Education-approved program as well as documentation of 6,000 hours of paid occupational experience in the specific sub-category or specialty area.

South has two primary pathways for CTE teacher candidates:

  1. Pathway for Experienced Certificated Professionals

  2. Pathway for Professionals Coming from Business and Industry (B+I)

Pathway for Experienced Certificated Professionals

  • A shorter course of study designed for those who already hold a teaching degree or credential from a college or university and have been teaching full-time in a classroom setting. Experienced Certificated students take 6 required classes and Practicum/ Field Experience.

Courses include:

  • Introduction to Career and Technical Teacher Education

  • CTE History and Philosophy

  • CTE Student and Personal Leadership Development

  • Program Development: Implementing CTE Standards

  • Legal Issues: Rights and Responsibilities

  • Advanced CTE Strategies

  • Practicum/Fieldwork: Demonstration of CTE Competencies

  • Work-Based Learning Coordination Techniques (optional, highly recommended)

Interested teacher-candidates for this pathway are requested to submit copies of their WA State Teaching Certificate and a copy of their conditional or probationary CTE Certificate to the CTE Program Administrator. Typically this step can happen during the Introduction to CTE class.


Pathway for Professionals from Business + Industry

  • Designed for those new to teaching who have been working in an industry profession. These students take 10 required classes and Practicum/field experience.

CTE teacher candidates must be able to document 3 years (6,000 hours) of occupational experience in the specific CTE subcategory/specialty area for which certification is sought.

  • A minimum of 2,000 hours must be industry occupational hours.

  • The remaining 4,000 hours may be a combination of occupational hours and teaching hours.

  • If all or part of the 2,000 hours is more than ten years old, candidates much complete an additional 300 hours of recent (occurring in the last two years) occupational experience, which can be volunter hours in the CTE subject area.

When requesting certification, CTE teacher candidates will be asked to provide verification of their occupational experience. Verification can be in the form of letters from past employers (indicating length of employment); pay stubs; W2's and volunteer hours which are verified by the agency/entity where volunteer work was done. If using W2s or pay stubs, please submit a summary of job duties that align with the W2s or pay stubs.

Subjects that you may teach with an initial CTE Certification through Plan 2: Business & Industry Pathway are the broad subcategories under Business & Industry certification:

  • Agriculture

  • Health, Human Services

  • Worksite Learning/Career Choices

  • Marketing

  • Business

  • Skills & Technology (includes STEM)

Within each subcategory are specialty areas which are listed with the CIP (Classification of Instructional Programs) code, consisting of the letter “V” followed by a six-digit number. Click here to see list of specialty areas.

Each CTE class offered at the middle and high school level has a “V” specialty code attached to it.

Upon completion of South CTE program, a student will apply to OPSI for certification in the specific “V”-coded specialty areas for which the student can demonstrate 6,000 hours of occupational experience.

For BIOMEDICAL and BIOTECHNOLOGY specialty areas:

CTE teacher candidates may qualify using all 6,000 hours of teaching experience in Biology. (Teaching hours are calculated at the rate of 180 hours per class period per year and must be verified by a school district.) For STEM specialty area, CTE teacher candidates may qualify using 6,000 hours of teaching experience in Science, Technology, Engineering and/or Math. (Teaching hours are calculated at the rate of 180 hours per class period per year and must be verified by a school district.) Decisions about acceptable occupational experience and number of hours is handled by Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) not South Seattle College. If a CTE teacher candidate has a question or concern about hours, what specialty areas they qualify for and verification documentation, they should contact the OSPI certification office directly at: 360-725-6400 or use their online email form.

CTE Candidates must have 6000 hours of paid occupational experience in the area for which certification is sought. Documentation of this experience will be evaluated by OSPI.