Arkansas special education license: the areas, the Praxis tests and the routes

1. Arkansas’s special education licensure areas

DESE’s Educator Licensure Area page lists the “Current Professional Educator’s License Categories Issued by the State of Arkansas.” These are its special education areas, with the code, grades and type DESE prints for each:

The same list has related endorsements: Dyslexia (527, K-12) and Educational Examiner (241, K-12), and, for administrators, Curriculum / Program Admin / Special Education (282, P-12).

“First Time” and “Endorsement.” DESE’s Rules Governing Educator Licensure (6 CAR pt. 180) say an endorsement “means any licensure area or licensure level that may be added only to an existing standard license.” As we read DESE’s table, Special Education K-12 (258) and Early Childhood/Special Education Integration (252) can be a person’s first Arkansas license or be added to one, while the Hearing, Visual, Resource and Pre K Special Education areas are added to a license you already hold.

Older special education titles

Teachers licensed years ago may hold an older title. The AELS Public Site describes ADE’s Professional Licensure Description tool this way: “The Professional Licensure Description tool provides a list of active and in-active licensure code by description with Grade Low and Grade High details.” That tool still lists older special education codes, such as 230 Special Ed Inst Specialist (4th to 12th grade) and 231 Special Ed Ech Inst Specialist (pre-kindergarten to 4th grade), beside today’s 258 Special Education. It does not mark which codes are active, and the pages we read do not say whether an older area renews under its old name. If your license shows an older title, ask DESE’s Office of Educator Licensure; this guide does not treat older titles as invalid.

2. The Praxis tests and passing scores

DESE’s Licensure Assessments page has a table of the tests and passing scores for each license. These are its special education rows. Where an area lists more than one test, it requires all of them.

Each of these areas carries the table’s mark for “Test Out Available with Standard License” (section 3). For Special Education K-12, Hearing, Visual and Resource, the table adds: “Must complete one year of mentoring.” For the Pre K endorsement it says: “Must hold a Pre-K license or a K-12 Special Education license.”

DESE also says: “A previous version of a licensure test may still be accepted.” And: “edTPA may be an option as a substitute for a Praxis content assessment.” For both, it tells candidates to speak to their licensure advisor. The licensure rule accepts a passing score on a test the State Board has since replaced for five years after the replacement, if you passed it before it was replaced.

Fees. Praxis tests are given by ETS. Its pages for 5355 and 5511 listed a fee of $130 for each test when we read them on October 13, 2026. We did not check the fees for the other tests.

The stand-alone reading test

Special Education K-12 includes a science-of-reading test; DESE’s table lists NES Foundations of Reading (890). The licensure rule: “Applicants for an Elementary Education (K-6) or a Special Education (K-12) license shall pass a standalone assessment that examines the acquisition of knowledge of essential components of beginning reading instruction based on the science of reading.” For people finishing a first-time preparation program, the rule adds that completers “cannot receive a standard license if a prescribed pathway for proficiency credential has not been completed.” Section 3 covers the reading test when you add special education to a license.

3. Adding special education to a license you hold

DESE’s Adding to a License page lists three ways to add an area to a standard Arkansas license: testing out, a program of study with the required test, and an 18-hour approved program of study. The licensure rule’s fee list (Appendix A) shows no fee (“N/A”) for adding an area to an existing license.

Testing out

“An educator must hold a Standard License in Arkansas to add a licensure level by testing out.” DESE counts Standard, Ancillary and Technical Permits as standard licenses for this. For special education, the page says: “Educators can test out of special education; however, a one-year mentor special education mentoring plan must be followed.” You apply online with your passing Praxis score report, and: “Special education applicants will be granted an initial license until the one-year mentoring requirement is complete.”

ADE’s Commissioner’s Memo LIC-25-004 (December 3, 2024) lists what else a teacher who tests out must do:

• Complete DESE’s Special Education 101 modules, provided by the Office of Special Education.
• Show awareness of the science of reading in the first year of teaching. On proficiency, the two texts differ: the memo asks for “attaining proficiency before a standard license can be issued,” while the licensure rule (§ 180-209) says “proficiency within three (3) years if applicable to job.” Ask DESE which applies to you.
• Complete the DESE First-Year Special Education Mentoring Plan. The memo says DESE issues each applicant a Statement of Understanding “clarifying they must complete the DESE First-Year Special Education Mentoring Plan after being employed by a district to qualify for a standard license.” The memo adds: “Standard License: The district will recommend the teacher for a standard license upon completion of mentoring.” Mentoring activities “must be completed within one year of employment as a first-year special education teacher.”

Outside a school district. The memo’s steps run through a hiring district: “An initially licensed special education teacher employed by a public school district or charter school in a special education position is required to complete the DESE First Year Special Education Mentoring Plan.” As we read these texts, they give no other way to finish the mentoring year, and tutoring for a private company such as SpecialEdResource is not that kind of job. Until the mentoring is done, the special education area stays on an initial license.

A program of study

“Whenever an area of licensure/endorsement cannot be added by testing out, the educator shall document on an official college transcript the successful completion of all coursework that is required for adding the new area of licensure.” You also send a passing Praxis score report, and an approved Arkansas university licensure officer must recommend the application. DESE adds: “An applicant whose coursework was completed more than 10 years prior to the date of application shall complete the current requirements.” If you took the courses in another state: “When coursework has been completed through an out-of-state university, the area must first be applied to the out-of-state license.”

The reading test when you add special education. DESE’s page says an applicant adding Special Education (K-12) by a program of study who began it in or after the Fall 2017 semester “shall pass the Foundations of Reading Test.” The licensure rule (§ 180-602(d)) covers everyone who adds the endorsement: it asks applicants for a Special Education (K-12) endorsement (and for Special Education Resource (K-6), for those entering a program after Fall 2023) for passing scores on the stand-alone reading assessment, “unless already proficient through an approved, prescribed pathway.”

The 18-hour option: DESE’s page and the rule differ

DESE’s page also lists an “18-hour Approved Program of Study and 3.0 GPA” option, recommended by an approved Arkansas university licensure officer, and says: “No licensure assessment is required for this option.” The licensure rule has an 18-hour route too (18 hours in the content area with a GPA of 3.00 or higher, completed within the previous ten years), but its reading-test paragraph above still applies to a Special Education (K-12) endorsement. As we read them, the two texts do not agree for special education, so ask DESE’s Office of Educator Licensure before you rely on this option.

Special Education Resource by a program of study

The licensure rule (§ 180-602(e)) sets a program-of-study route to a Special Education Resource endorsement (Elementary K-6, or grades 7-12 English Language Arts, Mathematics or Science). It is for teachers who hold a standard Elementary Education (K-6) or grades 4-8 license, or a standard grades 7-12 license in English Language Arts, Mathematics or Science. They complete an approved program of study in special education that includes the SPED 101 Academy (in the rule’s definition, a three-credit-hour course) or a course aligned to its competencies, and pass the special education content tests the State Board approves. The rule says that training must include, at a minimum, multisensory reading instruction and classroom management for special education.

4. Alternative and provisional routes

A degree comes first. The licensure rule says special education qualifications “may be demonstrated by a candidate that holds at least a bachelor’s degree” and meets one of the routes it lists (§ 180-209(a)(2)).

DESE’s Pathways to Licensure: Alternate Routes page lists routes for people with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Most of them do not lead to Special Education K-12. For the Arkansas Professional Educator Pathway (ArPEP), the Arkansas Teacher Corps and Teach for America, it says each is “A pathway leading to Arkansas licensure in any first-time licensure area with the exception of Special Education K-12, Adult Education, and Guidance and School Counseling.” iTeach and the Provisional Professional Teaching License (PPTL) also leave out Special Education K-12, and Elementary Education K-6.

Routes that include special education. A master’s degree leading to a first-time license (MAT, MEd or MTLL) is “A DESE approved program of study leading to Arkansas Licensure in all first-time licensure areas with the exception of Guidance and School Counseling.” Before a provisional license is issued to a student in a special education MAT, M.Ed. or MTLL program, the licensure rule (§ 180-203(b)(2)(I)) requires the SPED 101 Academy or an aligned course, three credit hours in special education, and the special education content tests. DESE’s Highly Qualified Professor route, for applicants with a master’s degree or higher and three years as teacher of record in the licensure content area at an accredited college or university, leads to “any first-time licensure area”; the licensure rule asks its special education applicants for the reading test too.

Provisional licenses that need an Arkansas school job

• The one-year provisional license for an applicant who is missing only the Arkansas history requirement, the stand-alone reading test or the pedagogy test goes to an applicant “who submits proof of employment with an Arkansas educational entity in a position that requires an educator license” (§ 180-206(b)(9)). The rule defines an educational entity as “a public school district, a charter school, an education service cooperative, or other public entity” with a local education agency number from DESE.
• The PPTL requires an offer of employment to teach in an Arkansas educational entity, and special education is one of the areas it excludes (§ 180-204).
• For teachers licensed in another state, DESE’s reciprocity page says: “The Provisional license will be issued upon receipt of the signed VOPLE from the employing superintendent.”

As we read these rules, a job with a private company such as SpecialEdResource is not employment with an educational entity, so it does not open these provisional routes.

If your special education license is from another state

The licensure rule says DESE “shall grant reciprocity to a person who holds a current or expired standard license or standard license equivalent from another state,” if that license has been in good standing during the most recent three years of teaching. DESE’s reciprocity packet also asks for official transcripts, a background check and documentation of required professional development, among other items. Only the areas listed on your out-of-state license are recognized. If you have taught fewer than three years under that license, you also send passing scores, which for Special Education (K-12) include the stand-alone reading test. If your out-of-state license has expired, the rule asks for passing scores on the tests Arkansas requires, again including the stand-alone reading test for Special Education (K-12), however long you have taught (§ 180-206(b)(14)). DESE’s reciprocity page lists “Foundations of Reading test required if licensing in K-6 Elementary, K-12 Special Education, or P-4 Early Childhood” without either condition. As we read them, the two texts differ, so ask DESE whether you need the reading test. Our Arkansas teaching license guide covers reciprocity.

No emergency permit and no waiver for special education

The licensure rule says: “The emergency teaching permit cannot be issued for special education” (§ 180-702(b)(5)). It also says: “The effective teacher licensure exception shall not be used for teaching special education” (§ 180-703(a)(2)). The Arkansas Qualified Teacher Requirements rule (6 CAR pt. 182) adds: “This part does not permit a waiver from the requirements for licensure in special education.” Since Act 304 of 2025, the Arkansas Department of Education says licensure waivers and emergency teaching permits are being replaced by Teacher Licensure Plans that a district requests (LIC-25-011); our teaching license guide explains them.

5. Is special education short of teachers in Arkansas?

The answer depends on whose list you read, and this guide gives both.

• The federal listing. Arkansas’s federal Teacher Shortage Area listing for 2026-27 does not include special education. The U.S. Department of Education’s listing showed Arkansas special education for 2018-19 through 2021-22, and not since. The listing has stated limits. Its About page says: “States are not required to report all teacher shortage areas.” It also says: “This website only displays the top 5 percent of teacher shortage areas.”
• Arkansas’s own list. Arkansas’s Department of Education lists special education as a moderate-need teacher shortage subject for 2025-26, as it did for 2024-25. DESE makes the lists with the University of Arkansas Office for Education Policy (Educator Workforce Data), and the two offices’ 2025-26 slides explain: “The state list is used for teacher incentive programs and to monitor workforce needs.” In their analysis (three-year averages for the 2021-22 to 2023-24 school years), special education’s percentage need was 16.9%, inside the moderate band (15% or more, below the 20% that marks high need).

Why the lists differed for 2025-26. The slides say: “Federal shortage areas are the subjects with the most need up to the point where the cumulative number of needed positions equals 5% of total teaching positions.” As we read the 2025-26 analysis table, special education sat just past that cutoff (5.9% cumulative), so it was on the 2025-26 state list but not on the list the slides proposed to the U.S. Department of Education for 2025-26. We found no analysis for 2026-27, so we cannot say why the 2026-27 federal listing does not include special education. The slides also note: “Individual teachers may appear in multiple subject areas.”

When we read DESE’s Educator Workforce Data page on October 13, 2026, its current list was for 2025-26; we found no 2026-27 state list.

Help with tuition. Arkansas law gives first priority for Teacher Opportunity Program awards for additional education in five areas, and special education is one of them (Arkansas Code § 6-81-605, as amended by Act 340 of 2025). That is help with tuition, not pay. We did not read the current award amount, the deadline or who qualifies.

6. SpecialEdResource’s requirement, in its own words

SpecialEdResource hires special education teachers of any subject and grade level. Its hiring site states the requirement this way: “Special education certification and a current teaching license from any US state.” For SpecialEdResource, Arkansas licenses in Special Education Resource (K-6 or 7-12), Pre K Special Education, Early Childhood/Special Education Integration (B-K), Special Education Hearing and Special Education Visual count as special education certification.

Where you live is a separate question on the application. Arkansas is one of the 14 states where SpecialEdResource can currently employ tutors, so Arkansas residents can apply.

If your license has expired or is inactive, the application’s license question says: “Answer Yes if your license is current, or if it has expired or is inactive and you’ll renew it before you start.” It adds: “We check licenses before the first interview.” Renewal steps are in our Arkansas teaching license guide.

The hiring site also describes the students: “Some students are nonspeaking and communicate with AAC or other supports, and some have multiple or more significant disabilities.”

The job’s other requirements are on the job page. For questions about an Arkansas license, DESE’s Office of Educator Licensure lists phone 501-682-4342 and email ade.educatorlicensure@ade.arkansas.gov.