Master Teacher Program

The Master Teacher Program was developed by the Ohio Educator Standards Board (ESB) in response to Senate Bill 2 which created the ESB and mandated that they create a definition for “master teacher” and the criteria being designated a master teacher.
The Master Teacher Program is aligned with both the Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession and the Ohio Standards for Professional Development .
The Master Teacher Program is designed to work as part of the Career Ladder (Lattice) Program also mandated by SB 2, which is a “performance-based multilevel system of teaching positions or compensation levels within a school district or district building.”
Master Teacher designation is required for the Senior Professional Educator License and one of the pathways to the Lead Professional Educator License.

The ESB has created processes and procedures for districts to use to implement the Master Teacher Program .

Districts are required to:

Assemble a Master Teacher Committee of at least five total members (majority teachers) to review and score Master Teacher applications . OEA encourages locals NOT to use the LPDC for this purpose and to keep these two committee functions separate;
Establish local formatting, assembling and submitting requirements;
Educator all teachers about the requirements, processes and procedures for the Master Teacher Program.

Note: The work of the Master Teacher Committee is subject to the Open Meetings Act/Sunshine Law.

All Master Teacher Program documents are available online at the ODE Website.

For members only: OEA’s Contract Language Development Guide for Master Teacher