Teacher Certification Requirements
Once admitted to your teacher certification program, you will need a pre-service certificate for field placements associated with your program. Immediately after admission, you will receive an email from the Office of Academic Assistance and Graduate Admissions (OAA) instructing you to apply for your pre-service certificate. OAA must submit your application for the pre-service certificate to the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC).
You will complete the GaPSC pre-service certificate application (which includes an affidavit that must be notarized) and submit it, including a copy of a secure and verifiable lawful presence document, to OAA. Scan all paperwork (in order listed) as one single PDF file and email to cehdcert@gsu.edu with “Pre-Service Certificate” in the subject line.
Important notes:
- Do not place a security lock on your PDF file. The easiest way to avoid this is to print the application, manually complete it, and then scan and save as one PDF file.
- You can omit the second page of the application materials (entitled, “Instructions for Completing Verification of Lawful Presence Affidavit”).
Once received, OAA will verify your paperwork and submit it to the GaPSC, who will notify you when your certificate is ready.
A requirement for initial certification in Georgia is completion of teacher education requirements. This may be accomplished in one of the following ways at Georgia State University (options vary by program):
- Students may complete an approved educator preparation degree program as described in the College of Arts & Sciences or the College of Education & Human Development chapters of the Georgia State undergraduate catalog.
- Students may complete or present a non-educator preparation bachelor’s degree and all additional components of an approved educator preparation degree program.
Students who complete a Georgia State University educator preparation program and who present a passing score or scores on the appropriate Georgia Assessments for the Certification of Educators (GACE) Content Assessments may be eligible for the Georgia State recommendation for teacher certification. The College of Education & Human Development’s Office of Academic Assistance and Graduate Admissions can issue the recommendation to the prospective teacher shortly after commencement, following the term of completion of requirements.
Undergraduate candidates for certification may not take GACE content assessments prior to meeting eligibility requirements for their program. Those students in undergraduate teaching fields – or in educational leadership, media, school psychology or counseling – must select Reason for Testing #2 when establishing their GaPSC account prior to registering for the test. In addition, the candidate’s program providers must also grant eligibility to test before the Educational Testing Service will allow registration for the GACE. For more information, contact your program coordinator.
Students wishing to teach in other states can contact the office at any point in their career for this verification for any other state’s certification board that accepts Georgia standards.
If you have recently completed an approved certification program at Georgia State, the following are instructions for applying for your certificate.
There are three ways to apply for certification in Georgia: You are seeking initial certification, adding a new field or endorsement to an existing certification or upgrading an existing certificate.
If you are seeking an initial certificate or adding a new field or endorsement to an existing certificate, follow these steps:
- Fill out Section 1 of this form and submit to Basja Tibbs by email (btibbs1@gsu.edu), in person (College of Education & Human Development, Suite 300) or by mail (Georgia State University, Attn: Certification Officer, Office of Academic Assistance & Graduate Admissions, P.O. Box 3977, Atlanta, GA 30302-3977).
- Log in to your MyPSC account, click on the “Applications” tab and complete the online application.
- Upload required forms, such as the Verification of Lawful Presence and Affidavit, and submit photocopies of exemption scores if you’re exempting the GACE Program Admission Assessment. More information about the GACE requirements can be found here.
- Request official transcripts from every college or university you have attended, including Georgia State, and have them sent to the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC). Instructions for requesting Georgia State transcripts can be found here. Transcripts from other institutions should be sent to the GaPSC by email (mail@gapsc.com) or by mail (Georgia Professional Standards Commission, 200 Piedmont Ave. SW, Suite 1702, West Tower, Atlanta, GA 30334-9032).
If you are upgrading an existing certificate and you are employed by a Georgia public or private school system, we recommend that your employer submit your materials to the GaPSC. Only your employer can verify completion of course requirements (by signing the Employer Assurance form) so that any pay raise may immediately take effect. Some school systems pay the fee for a new certificate.
You must complete the following forms, obtain an official copy of your Georgia State transcript and submit all of this information to your school system office.
- GaPSC Certification Update Application
- Employer Assurance Form
- Verification of Lawful Presence and Affidavit
If you are upgrading an existing certificate and you are not employed by a Georgia public or private school system, or you choose to submit your paperwork directly to the GaPSC, you must complete the following forms and obtain an official copy of your Georgia State transcript.
If you have either completed or are nearing completion of a program that leads to certification in the College of Education & Human Development or the College of Arts & Sciences and you have a question about your recommendation for certification, you may contact the university’s certification officer:
Basja Tibbs
btibbs1@gsu.edu
404-413-8161
Fax: 404-413-8003