Department of Defense Education Activity

Application Requirements

Application Requirements

If you need to update an existing application please visit the DoDEA Employment Application System (EAS).

Please read all information in this section before beginning your online application. In order to be considered for employment at DoDEA, teaching applicants must meet the general criteria below. Please also read the information under Position Categories and Requirements to find out more about specific requirements for the various DoDEA subjects/teaching fields.

DoDEA does not post vacancy lists for open teaching positions.

  1. United States (U.S.) citizenship.

  2. Physical ability to perform the duties efficiently and without hazard to self or others. Applicants must be free of any debilitating physical or mental illness that would prevent the individual from successfully traveling, living, and working in an overseas environment. Because medical care in most overseas areas is limited, applicants requiring medical care or treatment must ensure that such care or treatment is available at the overseas location for themselves and their family members. Although some military medical facilities may be available, applicants should expect to receive their medical and dental care from the local economy. Mental health care professionals are generally not available in the overseas military communities and care by foreign national doctors is not effective due to cultural and language differences.

  3. Availability. Applicants can indicate geographic location preferences and will only be considered for the locations selected. Applicants should be available for immediate in-processing as soon as an employment offer is made, has been accepted, and the background security check has been favorably adjudicated. If you decline a Full-time, Permanent offer of employment, you will be removed from consideration for employment as an educator for the remainder of the school year, unless there is a critical need for services as determined by DoDEA.

  4. Minimum Academic Preparation and Requirements. A baccalaureate degree from an institution accredited by a regional accrediting association is required. Academic preparation of at least 40 semester hours in general education course work distributed over such fields as English, history, social studies, mathematics, fine arts, languages, science, philosophy, and psychology is required. In addition, a minimum of 18 semester hours of professional teacher education course work in such areas as learning process, measurement, philosophy, psychology, social foundations, methods of teaching and curriculum applicable to the type and level of the position for which applying is required. (Note: Communications Impaired Teachers, School Nurses, School Psychologists, JROTC Instructors, and non-certified Training Instructors are excluded from the minimum academic preparation requirement.)

  5. Student Teaching or an Internship. Student teaching or an internship as part of an approved teacher education program in an accredited U.S. institution is required. In the absence of an approved student teaching or internship program, applicants may be given credit for one year of successful full-time employment as an educator. Since that one year of employment substitutes for a course, no credit may be given for pay purposes. (Note: Communications Impaired Teachers, School Nurses, Guidance Counselors, School Psychologists, JROTC Instructors and non-certified Training Instructors are excluded from the student teaching requirement.)

  6. Foreign Degrees and Course Work from Non-accredited Institutions. Credits or degrees earned from a foreign college or university must be evaluated prior to acceptance. Three evaluation procedures are acceptable:

    1. The work may be evaluated and interpreted by the International Education Research Foundation, Inc., Credential Evaluation Service, Post Office Box 3665, Culver City, CA 90231-3665 or www.ierf.org/ or 310-258-9451.
       
    2. The foreign institution that awarded the degree is on a list endorsed by a regionally accredited university, or on a list endorsed by a state department of education for the purpose of teacher certification in that state (this procedure will require an English translation of the transcript and a copy of the document awarding the degree, together with an authenticated list produced by an American university or a state department of education).
       
    3. The work may be evaluated by the graduate division of a regionally accredited university and declared the equivalent of similar undergraduate or graduate work in a U.S. institution.
       

    Graduates of non-accredited institutions may have their undergraduate work validated by admittance to graduate school and completion of a minimum of 5 semester hours of credit in a regionally accredited graduate college.

  7. State or Territory Certification/License. The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) accepts state educator professional certificates issued from the state departments of education in the United States and its territories. Minimum Academic Preparation and Requirements and Information, to include State endorsements (as DoDEA determines comparable to DoDEA's teacher categories), AND official transcripts reflecting 50% of the course work in the content area, must be considered with each position, where applicable. 

  8. DoDDS Licensure. There are three types of licenses issued to DoDDS employees:

    1. Emergency License. This license is issued only when a fully qualified, licensed applicant is not available for the position, and the position is essential to the instructional program. It is valid for one school year but is seldom used.
       
    2. Provisional License. Newly hired educators (other than those who are issued an emergency license) will be issued a Provisional License. The Provisional License is valid for two school years. Requirements for the Professional License must be completed no later than the second school year of employment.
       
    3. Professional License. Educators who have completed two years of successful teaching experience with DoDDS and meet all qualification requirements as stated in this brochure will be issued a DoDEA Professional License.
       

  9. Testing Requirements. Applicants must submit proof of achieving DoDEA minimum scores for the required PRAXIS test(s) as stated below.

    DoDEA COMPETENCY TESTS AND QUALIFYING

    PRAXIS I NEW Competency Test Name Test Code Qualifying Scores
    Core Academic Skills for Educators: Reading 5713 156
    Core Academic Skills for Educators: Writing 5723 162
    Core Academic Skills for Educators: Mathematics.
    (On-screen four-function calculator provided.)    		 5733 150
    If you wish to take all three computer-delivered Praxis Core exams (5713, 5723, 5733) at the same time, select Core Academic Skills for Educators: Combined Test (5752) when registering. Scores will be reported by individual test (5713, 5723, 5733).

    SCORES EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 1, 2019:

    PRAXIS II Principles of Learning and Teaching (PLT) Test Code Qualifying Scores
    Principles of Learning and Teaching: Grades K–6 5622 160
    Principles of Learning and Teaching: Grades 5–9 5623 160
    Principles of Learning and Teaching: Grades 7–12 5624 158

    Applicants may take any one grade level of the PLT

    Applicants should contact the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in Princeton, New Jersey, directly at (609) 771-7395, for a registration bulletin.The designated code number for DoDEA is 7077.

    Exemptions to the testing requirement:

    • Applicants who are fully certified by a state.
    • Applicants who have completed seven (7) years or more of full-time professional teaching experience.
    • JROTC Instructors.
    • Applicants for the positions of Guidance Counselor, School Psychologist, Speech-Language Pathologist, and Vocational Training Instructor are only required to take the PRAXIS l tests.
    • School nurses are exempt from the PRAXIS tests, with the exception of those nurses who also have teaching endorsements.
       

  10. Extracurricular Activities. In addition to meeting the academic requirements, most positions require participation in extracurricular activities.

  11. Selective Service Requirement. Males born after December 31, 1959, must (subject to certain exceptions) be registered with the Selective Service System.

  12. Interview. Interviews are normally conducted by telephone.  The selecting official will contact candidates by e-mail or telephone to schedule interviews.

  13. Local Candidates. Applicants who will be locally available may submit their applications before traveling to the overseas area. However, upon arrival they are required to update the application immediately with new contact information and a list of the specific schools for which employment consideration is requested. 

    Family member applicants receive preference in employment. A family member is a spouse or unmarried child (under 23 years of age) of a member of a uniformed service, a Federal civilian employee, or a non-appropriated fund employee officially assigned to an overseas area. This preference is afforded only in the commuting area of the sponsor's duty station, and does not apply to family members of retired sponsors or U.S. employees of private firms. This preference does not assure selection over non-family members who are otherwise better qualified. Candidates claiming family member preference must include a copy of the sponsor's orders with their applications.

  14. Veterans' Preference. Preference in hiring will be afforded to former members of the Military Services who meet the requirements for veterans' preference. Specific information regarding eligibility for veterans' preference is available from the Office of Personnel Management's website.

  15. DoDEA Overseas Employees. Employees. Individuals who are currently employed with DoDEA in the overseas area are not eligible to apply for overseas positions in EAS. Overseas DoDEA employees can apply in EAS for the Americas, Guam and the Virtual Schools.  Former DoDEA employees must reside in the United States and have a break in employment of at least one school year from the date of separation to be eligible for reappointment as a CONUS hire educator. Overseas employees on Leave Without Pay (LWOP) who return to the United States are also required to have one school year break in employment from the date the employee enters LWOP Status.

  16. Evaluation and Selection. DoDEA employs the best-qualified professional staff to implement its program of learning. Some of the special selection factors applied to determine the best-qualified and suitable applicants are below.

    • Academic preparation.
    • Information secured through employment references and sources.
    • Recommendation from interviewer.
    • Recent experience as an educator.
    • Possession of personal qualifications and traits, such as stability and ability to adapt to unusual and sometimes stressful situations, which are essential for successful performance in an overseas assignment.
    • Academic preparation to teach more than one subject or grade level. (Note: This flexibility is critical to meet the needs of the ever-changing population of students.)
    • Special achievements or awards related to the position(s) for which being considered.
    • Special skills, abilities, training and experience.
       

  17. When to Apply. EAS is continually open for applicants to apply and update applications. The hiring timeline begins in March and runs through the end of August. Educators who are not selected for the current school year will receive an e-mail notification in the January/February timeframe to update their application in order to be considered for the upcoming school year. All applicants will be considered without regard to political, religious, or labor organization affiliation or non-affiliation, marital status, race, color, creed, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation or non-disqualifying physical or mental handicap or any other non-merit factor.