NorthEast Washington ESD 101

CTE Plan 2 Certification

NEWESD 101's Online Professional Learning Academy offers a fully accredited CTE teacher certification program. This teacher certification program is designed to help industry professionals and current teachers earn an Initial Career and Technical Education Teacher Certificate.

If you are considering a career change to move from your current industry into becoming a teacher, please visit our Career Change Page or see our Career Change Flyer to get an overview of why you should consider becoming a teacher.

Contact Information:
Adam Smith - 509-863-3052

Contact Request:

Complete This Form

Instruction for program candidates is entirely on-line Candidates may request in-person instruction as needed.

For more information, please continue to read below or refer to this downloadable program documentation:
Program at a Glance (pdf) | Program Overview (pdf)

 

Looking to make a difference in the lives of young people? Your industry work experience and/or teaching experience counts toward earning a Washington State CTE teaching certificate with the completion of a CTE Plan 2 certification program. The Online Professional Learning Academy Plan 2 Program instructs candidates on how to use their professional experiences to create a quality classroom environment where students' learning is enhanced by these experiences.

 

To help you bring your full teaching potential into the classroom, the OPLA program is committed to creating a quality learning experience for you. As a program, here are our commitments to you.
Program Commitments

In order to be qualified for CTE Certification, a candidate must have at least 6,000* hours of documented experience (work or volunteer, but must be documented) in an industry**. Candidates certification will allow them to only teach classes that are associated with their documented experience.

Areas that candidates would be eligible to teach in are called V-Codes. Use this chart from OSPI to find V-Codes relevant to your experience.

*Candidates can use up to 4,000 hours of experience in teaching in the content area they are wanting to get CTE certified if needed, but at least 2,000 hours must come from industry.

EXPERIENCE NOTE:

A total of three years (6,000 hours) of occupational experience needs to be verified. One year of occupational industry experience (2,000 hours) in the subject area other than teaching must be verified. If all or part of the 2,000 hours is more than ten years old, candidates must complete an additional 300 hours of recent (occurring in the last two years) occupational experience, which can be volunteer hours in the CTE subject area. Volunteer hours can only be used for the 300 hours of current industry experience.

The applicant may use up to 4,000 hours of teaching experience in the CTE subject area along with the 2,000 hours of occupational experience (non-teaching).

BIOMEDICAL AND BIOTECHNOLOGY HOURS NOTE: May use all 6,000 hours of teaching experience in biology.

**There is an exception for current math and science teachers who can use their experience in the classroom to count as STEM hours for earning a STEM CTE certification.

***  NOTE  ***
OSPI sets the requirements for certification. Requirements can be found on the OSPI web site.
Completion of any Plan 2 program does not guarantee certification. OSPI Certification office makes final decisions on certification and V-Codes based on candidates documented experience.

As of March 24, 2025, OPLA is not accepting applications to our program. We are very sorry for the inconvenience this may cause.

Meet Our Instructors
Ashley Burford
Noelle Carstens
Karen Hay
Teri Melone
Adam Smith
Kevin Smith
Venetia Willis-Holbrook
Becca L'Amour

Instructor Information

The CTE Plan 2 program is made up of the following classes:

• CTE Classroom Strategies
• CTE Classroom Management
• CTE Fundamentals
• CTE Philosophy
• Administration of Worksite Learning
• CTE Portfolio
• CTE Practicum

If you currently hold a Washington State teaching certificate*, you only need to take:

• CTE Fundamentals
• CTE Philosophy
• Administration of Worksite Learning
• CTE Portfolio
• CTE Practicum

If you have previously taken classes that match up to the standards learned in these classes, you may apply for a class to be transferred. Please review the list of standards covered in each class to determine which classes you are going to ask to be transferred. Then contact Adam Smith with your transcript to request which classes you are seeking to have waived.

* NEITHER a CTE Conditional Certificate nor a Substitute Certificate are considered a valid Washington State teaching certificate for the purpose of getting classes waived.

OPLA is now year-round, open enrollment with all our courses available for you to register and take at any point you need. You will not have to worry about missing a class offering, being late to register for a course, or having to plan for when a course registration is available*. WE ARE ALWAYS OPEN and ALWAYS AVAILABLE TO GET YOU INTO A COURSE*. Classes will still have a start and end time with a suggested pacing guide in them. We are going to maintain our policy of allowing 365 days to complete a course. However, if you need more time to complete a course, just communicate with your instructor and you will be given more time.

In order to maintain structure and organization to classes and to assist candidates planning for courses, we will continue dividing courses into sessions. Our session windows are listed below and dividing the year into quarters.

 

Classes Start/End for 2023-2024 is: September 1 - November 30 December 1 - February 28 March 1 - May 31 June 1 - August 31

* When you register for a course, you will get access to the curriculum within 24 hours. 
Since the OPLA program is on-line and self-paced, the length of the program can vary depending on the candidates ability to take classes. Below are some sample schedules for course completion.

Fastest	Fast	Good Pace	Reasonable Pace
Advised only if you already have a teaching certificate. Quarter 1 CTE Fundamentals CTE Philosophy Administration of Worksite Learning Quarter 2 CTE Portfolio CTE Practicum	Advised if you do not have a teaching certificate. Quarter 1 CTE Classroom Strategies CTE Classroom Management Quarter 2 CTE Fundamentals CTE Philosophy Administration of Worksite Learning Quarter 3 CTE Portfolio CTE Practicum	Advised only if you already have a teaching certificate. Quarter 1 CTE Fundamentals CTE Philosophy Quarter 2 Administration of Worksite Learning Quarter 3 CTE Portfolio CTE Practicum	Advised if you do not have a teaching certificate. Quarter 1 CTE Classroom Strategies Quarter 2 CTE Classroom Management CTE Fundamentals Quarter 3 CTE Philosophy Administration of Worksite Learning Quarter 4 CTE Portfolio CTE Practicum

These schedules are very generic in nature, to set up your personal schedule, contact the program director Adam Smith and he will help you set up a schedule that reflects your needs.

You will pay for classes as you go. Cost breakdown for the classes are:

Class	Cost*	Clock Hours Offered **	Cost with Clock Hours***
CTE Classroom Strategies	$450.00	40	$570.00
CTE Classroom Management	$450.00	40	$570.00
CTE Fundamentals	$450.00	40	$570.00
CTE Philosophy	$450.00	40	$570.00
Administration of Worksite Learning	$450.00	40	$570.00
CTE Portfolio	$100.00	10	$130.00
CTE Practicum	$450.00	40	$570.00

* There is no financial aid to cover costs of the classes. 

** Clock hours are sold separately by NEWESD 101 and cost $3.00 per clock hour.

*** Clock hours can be claimed within 5 years of completing the course. You do not have to claim them as part of taking the course.

**** Clock hours cannot be purchased before completing the course.

Total program costs:

	W/O Clock Hours	With Clock Hours
Candidates with a Washington teaching certificate:	$1,900.00	$2,410.00
Candidates W/O a Washington teaching certificate:	$2,800.00	$3,550.00

This is a 100% on-line program. All classes and experiences will be on-line. If you need a computer, OPLA will provide a laptop for you to use free of charge. You will have to pay shipping or arrange a pickup location to receive the computer.

You will be able to keep the computer as long as you are in the program. Once you are done with the program, you will need to arrange to return the computer or ship it back to OPLA.

Please contact Adam Smith 509-863-3052 if you would need this resource.

If you need help with translation or understanding content please contact OPLA and arrangements will be made on a person-by-person basis to assist with your individual needs. The OPLA curriculum has multiple resources built into the curriculum to assist candidates with understanding the content. However, certain instances require more than what is built into the program. OPLA is committed to meeting these needs for its candidates.

Please contact Adam Smith 509-863-3052 if you need assistance.


Track your own progress towards certification with our progress tracker form.

This is not an official form for certification, but it will help you know what you need to do to complete the program.

If you need help with course guidance or support with anything regarding your Plan 2 certification, contact Adam Smith - 509-863-3052 or fill out this form and you will be contacted at a time that works for you.