Licensure
Certification Partners
Certification Partners are the certifying bodies for your teacher license. They also play a key roll in your ongoing development as a teacher-leader. Enrolling and remaining in good standing with your graduate program is a requirement both for certification and Teach For America.
Relay Graduate School of Education
All 2026 Illinois Corps Members will attend Relay Graduate School of Education
All 2026 Northwest Indiana Corps Members will have the choice of either pursuing the Charter license or Transition to Teach (T2T) license pathway. The T2T pathway requires enrollment in a state-approved graduate school program. TFA staff will work with you to determine which grad school program is the best fit for you.
Pre-Service University Partner Courses
For all Corps Members who are not already certified traditionally trained teachers, you’re required to take your first grad school courses with your University Partner over the summer. These courses are required in order to receive your teaching license by the first day of school. These courses will set up your foundation for further grad school courses and provide you with the skills and knowledge needed to create a strong classroom culture for the first day of school.
Your class times will be built into your summer Practicum schedule. We will release a full summer 2026 schedule closer to the summer.
Next Steps
When you’re done reading the process and timeline, learn more about the content exam(s) you’re required to pass.