Substitute Teaching 

The State of Missouri has two routes for earning a substitute teacher certificate.  The first option is for the candidate to earn 36 semester hours at an accredited institution of higher education.  (The required number of hours dropped from 60 in June of 2022 as a result of Governor Parson’s signing of SB 681.) The second option is to complete a high school degree and a DESE-approved 20-hour training program. 

• Currently approved substitute training programs can be found here.
• Individuals interested in pursuing a Substitute Teaching Certificate can find more information here.

Becoming an Approved Substitute Training Provider

Educator Preparation Programs

Currently approved Educator Preparation Programs (EPP) wishing to offer a substitute teacher training program should submit the application below to eqprep@dese.mo.gov.

• Substitute Teacher Training Application for EPPs

At the completion of each training session, EPPs must submit the template below with information about all new training completers.  Contact eqprep@dese.mo.gov for additional information about the Substitute Completer Template submission process.

• Substitute Completer Template for EPPs
  • List all that complete the training on the template and if no Educator ID is provide please place an "NA" is that cell.  Encourage those completing the training to provide this information if possible by the end of training.
  • Substitute Completers can send in pdfs of their high school diploma, high school transcripts, and certificate of completion from the substitute training.
• Substitute Training Certificate Template (provided courtesy of Missouri S&T)

Non-Educator Preparation Programs

Interested entities that have not previously been approved to prepare teachers in Missouri should contact DESE Educator Preparation at eqprep@dese.mo.gov regarding the process for submitting an application.