How to Get a Teaching License in Iowa Through an Online Program: What I Learned Comparing Alternative Pathways
It’s 8:17 pm on a Tuesday in January, and my laptop is balanced on a kitchen table still sticky with the mac and cheese my 7-year-old spilled for dinner. He’s passed out on the couch under a Minecraft blanket, and I’m scrolling through the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners website for the third time that week, trying to make sense of all the different ways to get a teaching license. I’ve worked as a paraeducator at my local central Iowa elementary for four years, and the principal has been asking me since last fall to take over the open 4th grade position—if I can get my license fast enough. I already have a bachelor’s degree in communications from Iowa State, so traditional four-year education programs were out of the question. I couldn’t quit my job, pay for full-time tuition, and leave my kid with a babysitter every night for in-person classes. I just needed to know: can I actually do this through an online program?
I met my friend Lila for coffee at the local Hy-Vee a few days later. She got her 2nd grade license through an online alternative pathway two years ago, so I picked her brain over burnt drip coffee and pre-wrapped cookies. She told me the first thing I needed to know: “Online doesn’t mean no in-person work, but it’s way more flexible than any other option if you already work in a school.” That checked out with what I’d seen so far.
I narrowed down my options after a week of research, comparing every alternative pathway Iowa offers. The district-run apprenticeship route required in-person classes every Wednesday night in Des Moines, 45 minutes from my house outside Ames. With my son’s soccer practice and my husband’s rotating schedule at the John Deere plant, that just wasn’t going to work. Troops to Teachers was out, since neither of us are veterans. That left online alternative licensure programs, which I’d heard mixed things about, but it seemed like the only fit for my life.
I ended up comparing two approved online programs, and the differences were surprisingly clear. One was through an in-state public university, priced at around $5,800 total for Iowa residents. The catch was it required 9 months of coursework before you could apply for a provisional license to teach full time. The second was a national alternative program approved for Iowa, priced at around $9,700 total. It let you apply for a provisional license after just 3 months of core coursework, which was a game-changer for me. I could start earning a full-time teacher salary three months earlier, which made up for the extra cost pretty quickly when I ran the numbers.
The most important practical tip I can share comes from a mistake I almost made: always confirm your program is on the BOEE’s official approved list. I almost clicked “enroll” on a random online program that looked great in ads, but when I checked the BOEE site, it wasn’t approved for Iowa. Any coursework I did would have been useless for getting a license here. The BOEE’s list is sorted by program type, so you can filter for alternative and online options in five minutes. That’s five minutes that saves you thousands of dollars and months of wasted work.
It’s also important to go in knowing that all alternative routes in Iowa require you to already hold a bachelor’s degree. That’s non-negotiable, no way around it. If you don’t have a bachelor’s yet, an online alternative licensure program isn’t for you—you’ll need to get your degree first.
A lot of people ask me if you really need to do in-person student teaching for an online program, and the answer is yes. You need 12 weeks of full-time student teaching in an Iowa K-12 classroom to get your full license. But the huge benefit for people already working in schools is that most online programs will let you do your student teaching right in the building you already work in. I didn’t have to drive to a new district, I didn’t have to get to know a whole new group of kids and staff, I just started leading the 4th grade class a few days a week alongside the retiring teacher I’m replacing. My district even lets me keep getting paid my para wage while I student teach, which is almost unheard of with traditional in-person programs, where student teaching is usually unpaid.
It’s not perfect, of course. I do most of my coursework between 8:30 and 10 pm after my kid goes to bed, and some nights I’m so tired after a full day of work that I fall asleep mid-lecture and have to rewatch it the next night. Online discussion boards feel kind of forced sometimes, most people just post the minimum to get the grade. I joined a Facebook group for Iowa alternative online licensure students a few months back, and that’s helped a lot—we swap tips for filling out confusing BOEE paperwork, share free lesson plan templates, and vent when the coursework feels like too much. It’s a small thing that makes a big difference.
I’m halfway through my program now. I just submitted my application for my provisional license last week, and I’m waiting to hear back. I’m on track to get my full teaching license next spring, in time to take over the 4th grade position next fall. Last week I led the whole reading block for three days when my cooperating teacher was out sick, and no one cried, no one got sent to the office, and we even finished our read-aloud of Because of Winn-Dixie a day early. It felt good.
Some nights I get behind on assignments, and I still haven’t figured out how to fit all the paperwork into my already full week. It’s not the fast, easy solution some websites advertise it as, but it fits my life, which none of the other pathways I looked at did. I don’t know what it’ll be like to have my own classroom full time next year, but right now, that’s okay. I’m taking it one assignment at a time.
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