Chapter 354-PDE
Act 354 of the Pennsylvania School Code requires that:
• All students be admitted to teacher certification candidacy before the student teaching semester.
• Admission to teacher certification candidacy is contingent upon:
1. completion of a minimum of 48 college credits;
2. an overall, calculated, cumulative GPA of no lower than 2.8 after having completed the minimum 48 credits;
3. completion of one English composition course;
4. completion of one English or American literature course;
5. completion of two college level mathematics courses;
6. completion of the Application for Admission to Teacher Certification Candidacy Form;
7. successful passing of the PRAXIS PPST: Reading; PPST: Writing; and PPST: Mathematics exams as required by LVC. State regulations require that any student with a cumulative, calculated GPA between 2.800 and 3.000 must take and pass these exams to be eligible to student teach. Students with a calculated, cumulated GPA of greater than 3.000 must complete these exams prior to receiving certification.
• Those students who do not meet the above criteria may continue to pursue teacher certification, but cannot be considered candidates for teacher certification until all of the above requirements have been met.
• When all of the above requirements have been met, the student must see his/her adviser to complete the Application for Admission to Teacher Certification Candidacy Form.
• Students who are not formally admitted to teacher certification candidacy cannot student teach nor will they be able to be recommended for teacher certification upon graduation.
• Students who have been formally admitted to teacher certification candidacy, but who afterward fall below the required overall GPA of 2.8, may continue in the program; however, they may not student teach unless and until they have achieved the required GPA of 2.8 or above.
• Students must have the required overall GPA of 2.8 at the time of graduation in order to be eligible for recommendation by the college for teacher certification.
Note 1:
To access all of the requirements imposed by Ch. 354, go to the PDE web site at http://www.pde.psu.edu. Click on Teacher Certification, scroll down to
Certificates and Programs, click on Professional Education Program Approval Guidelines, etc. The Ch. 354 General
Standards fill the bulk of the page and the individual program Specific Standards are included in the column on the
left side of the page.
Note 2:
To get more information about the PRAXIS tests, go to the ETS web site located at http://www.ets.org/teachingandlearning/index.html.