U.S. · Teacher Certification
State teacher license lookup directory.
Teacher licensing in the United States is run by each state. This directory covers five states whose official pages we reviewed, with what each lookup does and does not do.
Short answer: Go to the state education agency’s own lookup. For states not listed here, search for your state’s department of education educator lookup and check the web address is an official state site.
Official state lookups
| State | Agency | What the official page says |
|---|---|---|
| California | Commission on Teacher Credentialing ↗ | Public search by first and last name of credentials, certificates and permits held by public school teachers and educators; the page calls the credential information the official record. Names may return multiple people. A separate secured employer/applicant search needs a Social Security number and date of birth, so use only the official site for that. Changes can take up to three working days to show. |
| Texas | Texas Education Agency ↗ | Enter the educator’s first and last name, which must match the TEA database. TEA says the virtual certificate is the official record of educator certification in Texas. |
| Massachusetts | DESE (via ELAR) ↗ | DESE’s public lookup address redirects to the ELAR public search. Search by first name, last name or license number; returns the first 250 results. The page says school and district administrators should not rely on the public lookup for hiring; use ELAR instead. No results can mean unlicensed, revoked before 2009, a name change or a misspelling. |
| Pennsylvania | Department of Education (TIMS) ↗ | PDE says a Pennsylvania certificate’s validity and active status may only be officially verified in its Teacher Information Management System (TIMS), and tells prospective employers to verify there. The page describes no separate public lookup. |
| Washington | OSPI ↗ | The page we reviewed describes no public certificate lookup. OSPI publishes public discipline notices of educators whose certificates have been suspended, revoked, surrendered or denied. |
Not listed?
This directory is deliberately short: we only list states whose official pages we could read and confirm. Other states run their own lookups. Search your state’s department of education site for an educator or licence lookup, and never enter a Social Security number anywhere except an official state system.
How to use a state lookup
Search the name exactly as on the licence, then try variants. An empty result is not proof of no licence: records may use another legal name, be recently issued, or be outside the lookup’s coverage. For hiring, use the employer route the state offers.
Sources (retrieved October 2026)
Frequently asked questions
How do I check a teacher’s license in the US?
Use the state education agency’s lookup for the state that issued it. Licensing is state-by-state.
Is there a national teacher license database?
This page does not rely on one. Use the issuing state’s official lookup.
Why is my state missing?
We only list states whose official pages we could read and confirm in October 2026; others may be added later.
Should I enter a Social Security number to look someone up?
No, not on this page and not on any unofficial site. Some state employer systems ask for identifiers; use only the official state system.
Guide only — not a verification service
This page is an independent guide to official registers. It does not check anyone’s certification, does not query or copy any register, and nothing you might type here is transmitted anywhere (there is no form on this page). Registers differ in scope and update speed, so treat the official register’s result, or a written statement from the issuing authority, as the answer. Not legal or employment advice.