Non-Degree District Leadership (Superintendent) Endorsement

Non-Degree District Leadership (Superintendent) Endorsement

•  Master's degree and Building Leadership (Principal) Endorsement.
•  A total of 18 credit hours outlined below
•  Minimum 3.25 cumulative GPA in all graduate course work.
• Verification of successful completion of a school leadership assessment as determined by the state board (register at https://www.ets.org/sls/states/ks)
• Verification of at least one year of recent accredited experience or at least eight semester hours of recent credit;
• An application for initial school leadership license;
• The licensure fee; and
• Verification of five years of experience in a state-accredited school while holding a professional teaching license, a professional clinical license, or a full vocational-technical certificate

Please allow 6-8 weeks for processing the application by KSDE.

Steps for Obtaining an Initial Professional School Leadership License

A. District Administered Mentoring Program

Candidates must complete the year long district administered mentoring program as a superintendent or assistant superintendent. *NOTE: You must be in a position as a superintendent or assistant superintendent in order to complete the District Administered Mentoring Program. You are no longer required to register in and complete internship credit through a university.

B. Policies and Requirements District Administered Mentoring Program

Mentoring and supervision for a one-year period must be provided by the district during the term of the initial license. The assigned mentor must be an appropriately licensed school leader within the district or from another district. Candidates (you) are no longer required to register in and complete internship credit through the higher education institution. The higher educational institution where the program was completed is no longer required to provide supervision. The district providing the mentoring/supervision will be required to complete a verification form as part of the upgrade application process for the professional license.    

C. Each applicant (you) for a professional school leadership license shall submit to the state board the following:

• Verification of successful completion of the school leadership performance assessment prescribed by the state board while employed in a school accredited by the state board or by a national or regional accrediting agency recognized by the state board;
• Verification of at least one year of recent accredited experience or at least eight semester hours of recent credit;
• An application for a professional school leadership license;
• And the licensure fee.

D. Candidate (you) applies for a "Professional School Leadership License." 

This is KSDE Form 21, "Upgrade and Initial School Leadership License to a Professional License based on Mentoring" and is available from KSDE at http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=153. 

The license will be available for printing from the KSDE License Lookup page: https://appspublic.ksde.org/TLL/SearchLicense.aspx/SearchLicense.aspx

Please allow 6-8 weeks for processing the application by KSDE.

Endorsement in District Leadership (Superintendent) Course Requirements 

Program of Study

For more information on this program, and how it might benefit your career, please contact Mrs. Amanda Frank at adfrank@fhsu.edu.