Teaching License from Washington to Pennsylvania: Does It Transfer? (2026)

Last verified: 2026-09-01 · source: Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) — Bureau of School Leadership and Teacher Quality ↗

A teaching certificate transfers from Washington to Pennsylvania by endorsement — there is no automatic reciprocity, but you do not start over. Apply to the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) — Bureau of School Leadership and Teacher Quality, verify your Washington license, and meet Pennsylvania's endorsement requirements. Pennsylvania requires its own content test(s) (Praxis / PECT) as posted in PDE's Certification Test and Score Requirements; out-of-state tests are accepted only when the test provider, test name, and test code match Pennsylvania's list, and no substitutions are permitted. Applicants with two or more years of satisfactory out-of-state teaching experience may instead document that experience on Form PDE338V.

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Verdict

Licensure by endorsement

Moving from Washington to Pennsylvania is an application, not a transfer: Pennsylvania reviews your Washington certificate and issues a Pennsylvania certificate of its own. The tests and requirements below are what Pennsylvania still asks — gather them before you apply, because gaps are what slow a review.

What changes, Washington → Pennsylvania

Side-by-side: Washington vs Pennsylvania (Teaching (K-12)), verified 2026-09-01
	Washington (current)	Pennsylvania (destination)
Application fee	$93 (93 USD for the Residency Teacher first issue per the OSPI Professional Certification Fee Schedule; that total includes the 51 USD OSPI processing fee plus the PESB certification fee. The Professional Teacher certificate is 81 USD. Fingerprint and background-check costs are paid separately to the vendor.)	$150 ($150 total for an out-of-state applicant's new credential (program completed outside PA: Instructional, Career and Technical, Educational Specialist, Administrative/Supervisory, LOE, CQL) per PDE's Fees and Forms schedule effective 11/12/25 — a $50 standard certification fee (capped at $50 by Act 47 of 2025) plus the separate $100 Professional Educator Discipline fee, which Act 47 did not waive. Charged inside TIMS at submission. Veterans and their spouses are exempt from both fees. Separate from this: Praxis/PECT test fees paid to the testing provider, transcript costs, and background-check clearances. Adding an endorsement is billed separately ($100). On the same PDE schedule, experience-based credentials and their add-ons are $0, but testing add-ons (Instructional I/II, Career and Technical Instructional I/II, Administrative) are $150 — add-ons are not uniformly free, so check which kind yours is.)
Processing time	OSPI publishes no fixed week range; it maintains a live Application Processing Status page showing the current pending-application count and the month of applications under review, and districts may submit rush requests through E-Certification	NOT VERIFIED — PDE publishes no processing timeframe for out-of-state certification applications on the reviewed page
Licensing authority	Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) - Certification (standards set by PESB)	Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) — Bureau of School Leadership and Teacher Quality

The destination column is what you must satisfy — Pennsylvania sets the rules for this move.

Step by step

Confirm Pennsylvania's current requirements on the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) — Bureau of School Leadership and Teacher Quality website (linked below) — rules change.
Submit the endorsement application to the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) — Bureau of School Leadership and Teacher Quality (application linked below).
Arrange license verification from your current state.
Complete and submit the application through TIMS (Teacher Information Management System).
Send official transcripts for the bachelor's degree and all subsequent study.
Have required content-area test scores reported to PDE directly by the testing provider.
Submit a photocopy of the valid out-of-state certificate.
Submit the Verification of Experience Form (PDE338V) with two or more years of experience, or the Educator Preparation Program Verification Form (PDE338A) where an approved program was completed.
Be a U.S. citizen or otherwise legally authorized to work in the United States.
Pay the fees ($150 ($150 total for an out-of-state applicant's new credential (program completed outside PA: Instructional, Career and Technical, Educational Specialist, Administrative/Supervisory, LOE, CQL) per PDE's Fees and Forms schedule effective 11/12/25 — a $50 standard certification fee (capped at $50 by Act 47 of 2025) plus the separate $100 Professional Educator Discipline fee, which Act 47 did not waive. Charged inside TIMS at submission. Veterans and their spouses are exempt from both fees. Separate from this: Praxis/PECT test fees paid to the testing provider, transcript costs, and background-check clearances. Adding an endorsement is billed separately ($100). On the same PDE schedule, experience-based credentials and their add-ons are $0, but testing add-ons (Instructional I/II, Career and Technical Instructional I/II, Administrative) are $150 — add-ons are not uniformly free, so check which kind yours is.)). Processing time: NOT VERIFIED — PDE publishes no processing timeframe for out-of-state certification applications on the reviewed page.

Official links

Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) — Bureau of School Leadership and Teacher Quality ↗Pennsylvania application ↗

Frequently asked questions

Does Pennsylvania accept a Washington teaching license?

Will I have to retake tests moving from Washington to Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania requires its own content test(s) (Praxis / PECT) as posted in PDE's Certification Test and Score Requirements; out-of-state tests are accepted only when the test provider, test name, and test code match Pennsylvania's list, and no substitutions are permitted. Applicants with two or more years of satisfactory out-of-state teaching experience may instead document that experience on Form PDE338V.

Can I teach in Pennsylvania right away?

Not until the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) — Bureau of School Leadership and Teacher Quality issues your Pennsylvania certificate, so build its processing time into your start date.

What does the Washington-to-Pennsylvania transfer cost and how long does it take?

$150 ($150 total for an out-of-state applicant's new credential (program completed outside PA: Instructional, Career and Technical, Educational Specialist, Administrative/Supervisory, LOE, CQL) per PDE's Fees and Forms schedule effective 11/12/25 — a $50 standard certification fee (capped at $50 by Act 47 of 2025) plus the separate $100 Professional Educator Discipline fee, which Act 47 did not waive. Charged inside TIMS at submission. Veterans and their spouses are exempt from both fees. Separate from this: Praxis/PECT test fees paid to the testing provider, transcript costs, and background-check clearances. Adding an endorsement is billed separately ($100). On the same PDE schedule, experience-based credentials and their add-ons are $0, but testing add-ons (Instructional I/II, Career and Technical Instructional I/II, Administrative) are $150 — add-ons are not uniformly free, so check which kind yours is.) Processing time: NOT VERIFIED — PDE publishes no processing timeframe for out-of-state certification applications on the reviewed page.

Sources

Primary sources only — official boards and compact commissions. Data last verified 2026-09-01.

Reviewed by the License Reciprocity Editorial Team · verified against primary sources 2026-09-01

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