Screeners check your permit, license or college hours before anything else, so name the credential, who issued it and where it's valid, and show your fingerprinting or background check as done.
The examples below cover California, Texas and Ohio, with day-to-day, long-term and agency work, a route without a degree, and special education, bilingual, science and trade classes.
Day-to-day sub with three years in one Texas district
Santiago's resume leads with days worked, campuses covered and the 11 teachers who request him, because a district pool reads for dependability before subject knowledge. Texas issues no substitute certificate, so his credential line is the fingerprint-based national criminal history review the Texas Education Agency runs on every substitute, and his history degree meets the district's education rule.
His museum job stays short and points at the same skill: moving groups of students through a planned lesson on time.
Ten more examples by state, route into subbing and classroom
Pick the example that matches your permit or license first, then the classes you cover. A Texas reader with college hours and no degree will get more from Adrian's resume than from a California permit holder's, even if their past jobs differ.
New graduate with a California 30-day permit
Mai has no classroom job yet, so her Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit and its CTC issuer sit in the credentials section, and her summary says fingerprinting is cleared. Tutoring comes first because it shows one-on-one reading and math with grades 2 to 6. Camp counseling shows she can supervise 12 children and check them out safely. Use it if you just finished a bachelor's degree and are joining a district eligibility pool.
CTC permit named with its year
Tutoring results counted by reading level
Hmong and English listed as skills
Texas college hours without a bachelor's degree
Adrian's summary puts his 62 college credit hours next to the district's 48-hour rule, so a screener can confirm he qualifies in one line. His education entry lists the hours and coursework, not an unfinished degree. Coaching and library work show group control and homework help with students in grades 3 to 8. Use it if your district counts college hours and your work with children comes from sports, libraries or youth programs.
Credit hours stated against the district rule
Fingerprint review listed as a credential
Coaching and homework help as classroom proof
Fourteen-week leave with grading and parent conferences
Kristen gives her 14-week fifth grade maternity leave its own entry, separate from day-to-day work, with class size, PowerSchool grade entry, 22 parent conferences and a written handover. Her Ohio license line gives the full type (Education Degree, Unlimited) and the five-year term. Use it if you have held one class for a quarter or longer and want your next application to read like a classroom teacher's.
Long-term leave listed as its own job
Report cards and conferences counted
Ohio license type and term spelled out
Agency sub placed across three Houston-area districts
Jamal lists the staffing agency as his employer and names the 3 districts and 9 schools in his first bullet, so the reader sees one steady job instead of nine. He gives the share of same-morning fills and the front-office check-in he does before first period. A fitness club job shows early starts and teaching large groups. Use it if an agency books your days and sends you to different campuses each week.
Agency named as employer, districts in the bullet
Same-morning fill rate given as a percentage
Special education coverage under a California permit
Oksana names the class types she covers: resource rooms, mild to moderate support and extensive support needs, with class sizes and how many paraeducators she directs. Bullets show her using accommodation sheets, break cards from behavior plans and IEP goal trackers. Her behavior technician job adds ABA data collection. Use it if you sub mostly in special education and want screeners to see you can run the room with the staff already there.
Class types and sizes named
Paraeducator coordination counted
Behavior technician job tied to the classroom
Secondary science sub with a chemistry degree
Samir's license line shows the Ohio Subject Area Degree type in Integrated Science, and his summary ties it to his B.S. in chemistry. Bullets name the labs he runs, the goggles and spill-kit check before each one, and what he teaches when the plans end early. Four years as a coatings lab technician back up those safety habits. Use it if you hold a degree in a subject and want middle and high school calls in that subject.
Subject Area Degree license matched to the degree
Named labs with the safety check before each
Industry lab work kept to three bullets
Bilingual sub for dual-language campuses
Yesenia puts Spanish and English in the first line of her summary and shows that she follows each campus's language allocation plan, teaching Spanish blocks in Spanish and English blocks in English. She describes her newcomer ESL groups and counts the parent conferences she interprets. A bilingual call center job adds daily work with adults in both languages. Use it if you want calls to dual-language or ESL classrooms.
Language allocation plan named
Conference interpreting counted per year
Retired English teacher back as a three-day sub
Margaret keeps 28 years of teaching to four bullets and leads with her current schedule: Monday, Wednesday and Friday in three buildings. Her credentials show the five-year Ohio substitute license and background checks on file. Bullets show her grading essays during longer coverage and mentoring newly hired subs. Use it if you retired from teaching and want districts to see your availability and subjects before your career history.
Set weekly days stated in the first bullet
Long teaching career cut to four bullets
Mentoring new subs counted
IT support worker trying teaching before certification
Ethan names his two set days and the grades he takes, so the reader knows his availability at once. His help desk bullets give ticket counts, knowledge base articles and new-hire setups, and his classroom bullets show the same habits with Chromebooks and period-by-period notes. Use it if you sub part time while choosing an alternative certification program and need one resume that works for both.
Two set days and grades 6 to 8 up front
Help desk counts that carry into the classroom
Salon manager covering career technical classes
Marisol qualifies through industry work, not a degree, so her credential line gives the full Emergency Designated Subjects Career Technical Education 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit name, and her experience shows 8 years in salons. Bullets name the hair, skin care and nail labs she supervises and the disinfection checks she runs. Use it if you have three or more years in a trade and want to cover that trade's classes in California.
Full CTE permit name and CTC issuer
Salon years shown in two dated roles
Hands-on lab supervision with student counts
Write the permit or license exactly as your state issues it
Requirements to substitute teach vary by state, and in many states by district, so copy the credential name from your permit or from the posting you're answering. Put the full name, the issuer and the year in your credentials section, and say in your summary that fingerprinting or background checks are done.
If you qualify by college hours, give your number next to the district's threshold, as Adrian does with 62 hours against a 48-hour rule. In California, a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited school has covered both the degree and basic skills requirement for the 30-day permit since 29 June 2024, so a CBEST line isn't needed to qualify.
What to check
California
Texas
Ohio
Who issues it
Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC)
No state substitute certificate. Each district sets its own rule
Ohio State Board of Education, after the hiring employer approves the application
Usual route in
Bachelor's degree for the Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit, or three years of industry work for the Career Technical Education 30-day permit, which names your industry sector
Often a high school diploma or GED plus 30, 48 or 60 college hours, or a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree. License type follows it: Education Degree, Unlimited; a subject area such as Integrated Science; or General Substitute. Without a degree, the hiring district can request a one-year Temporary Non-Bachelor's Substitute License if you meet its own education rules
Clearance to show
Fingerprinting
Fingerprints taken through the Texas Education Agency for a national criminal history review
BCI and FBI background checks on file with the State Board of Education
How long it lasts
One year, renewable
Set by the district
One-year or five-year license, renewed at the hiring employer's request
Fingerprint-based national criminal history review, Texas Education Agency, year, with credit hours in your summary
Substitute Teaching License (Education Degree, Unlimited), five-year, Ohio State Board of Education, 2025
Count days, campuses and repeat requests
A sub shows reliability with numbers a screener can check: days worked per school year, campuses, grades and subjects covered, and teachers who ask for you by name. Put days and campuses in your first bullet, as in "150 days a year across 14 campuses", and name the call-out system you use, such as Frontline Absence Management.
Name grades and subjects as real classes. "Fourth grade reading, eighth grade U.S. history and high school government" tells a principal more than "K-12, all subjects". If you take same-morning calls, give the share, as Jamal does with about 40% booked after 6 a.m.
Finish with the note you leave the absent teacher and what goes in it: lesson finished, absences, behavior and work collected. That note is the part of your day the teacher sees, and it's what gets you requested again.
Coverage a screener can check
Accepts 140 to 160 assignments a year through Frontline Absence Management and holds standing requests from 11 teachers across 14 campuses.
Duties with no count
Responsible for following lesson plans, classroom management and taking attendance at various schools.
Give a long-term leave its own entry and name the agency or pool as employer
List a long-term assignment as a separate job under the same district, because it's the closest thing on a sub's resume to a teaching contract. Title it with the grade or subject, as in "Long-Term Substitute Teacher, Grade 5", and give the weeks, the kind of leave and the class size.
Then list the teacher work you took on: lessons planned from the pacing guide, grades entered and the system you used, report cards, parent conferences and the handover you wrote at the end. Kristen's resume shows each of these for a 14-week fifth grade leave. If you taught from the absent teacher's plans, put that in the verb: "Taught a four-week fractions unit from the teacher's plans" still shows a full unit.
In California, the Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit allows no more than 30 days for any one teacher in a school year, or 20 days in a special education classroom. A California permit holder's bullets should describe many shorter assignments, not one class for a semester.
For agency work, the agency is the employer: "Substitute Teacher (Agency Placement), Bayou Classroom Staffing". Name the districts and the number of schools in the first bullet, and mention orientation and fingerprinting in your summary. District pool subs do the same with the district name and the call-out system, so work at 14 campuses reads as one steady job.
Which substitute teacher resume example fits your experience
What a screener needs first changes with your experience. New subs lead with the credential and their work with children, experienced subs lead with days and repeat requests, and retired teachers lead with the days they'll take.
Keep an earlier career to three or four bullets that show group instruction, written follow-up or safety routines, and put the numbers a school cares about first, such as group size, ages and hours a week.
Your situation
Put first
Summary names
See
No classroom work yet
Credentials, then jobs with children
Permit or license, clearance, ages you've worked with
Mai, Adrian
One to three years of day-to-day subbing
Current sub job with days, campuses and requests
Days a year, grades and subjects, call-out system
Santiago, Yesenia, Oksana
Long-term assignment held
The long-term entry, then day-to-day work
Weeks, grade, grading and parent contact
Kristen
Agency or several districts
One agency entry listing districts and schools
Number of schools, same-morning fills
Jamal
Retired teacher
Current sub schedule, then a short teaching career
Years taught, subjects, days available
Margaret
Career change or trade
Current sub work, then the earlier job with counts
Route to the permit, days available, classes you suit
Ethan, Marisol, Samir
Questions about permits, agencies and first sub jobs
