Education - Chapter 354

Chapter 354 --The Pennsylvania Department of Education

In accord with the regulations set forth in Chapter 354, General Standards for the Institutional Preparation of Professional Educators, the following criteria must be met by all candidates who seek teacher certification at Lebanon Valley College:

I. Admission to teacher certification candidacy is neither automatic nor synonymous with admission to the College or to the major.

II. All teacher candidates must be admitted to teacher certification candidacy by a formal and clearly delineated process that is distinct from admission to the College and/or to the major.

III. Admission to teacher certification candidacy is contingent upon the completion of these criteria:

completion of a minimum of 48 college credits;
an overall GPA, after having completed 48 or more college credits, of at least 3.0
completion of at least one English composition course;
completion of one English or American literature course;
completion of two college level mathematics courses;
passing scores on these PRAXIS Tests: PPST Reading; PPST: Writing; PPST: Mathematics.
completion of the Application for Admission to Teacher Certification Candidacy form, available from the major adviser.

IV. Those students who do not meet the above criteria may continue to pursue teacher certification, even though they are not and cannot be considered candidates for teacher certification until all of the above requirements have been met.

V. Once all of the above requirements have been met, the student must see his or her advisor to complete the Application for Admission to Teacher Certification Candidacy form,

VI. 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.

VII. Students who have been formally admitted to teacher certification candidacy, but who afterward fall below the required overall GPA of 3.0, may continue in the program; however, they may not student teach unless and until they have achieved the required overall GPA of 3.0.

VIII. Students must have the required overall GPA of 3.0 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.