Certification

T = Teaching: Teaching fields are divided into five basic categories. Within each of these five categories are specific teaching fields, for example; Early Childhood Education and Middle Grades Education fall under the Elementary Fields category. Interrelated Special Education is in the  Special Education (P-12) category. Specific content certificates such as Biology, History and Math are Secondary Fields. Also included in the teaching fields are the ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Endorsement and the Reading Endorsement.

• Elementary Fields [P-5] (Elementary)
• Middle Grades [4-8])
• Secondary Fields (6-12)
• French, Spanish (P-12)
• Special Education (P-12)
• Music, Art, HPE (P-12)

S = Service: Library Media Specialist (P-12) and Instructional Technology (P-12)

L = Leadership: Performance-Based Educational Leadership (P-12)

Certificate Levels are based on the highest degree held:

• 4 = Bachelor's Level (B.S.): Minimum of a bachelor's degree
• 5 = Master's Level (M.Ed.) or ( M.A.T.): Minimum of a master's degree
• 6 = Specialist Level (Ed.S.): Minimum of an education specialist's degree
• 7 = Doctorate Level (Ph.D. or Ed.D.): Minimum of a doctoral degree

Upon completion of the approved program, certification must be applied for from the Georgia Professional Standards Commission. The applicant will be recommended to the PSC for certification by the Certification Office when all certification requirements are met. Applications for certification are available online from the PSC. Information on the process may be obtained by calling the Certification Office at GC, 478-445-2514 or 1-800-342-0471 extension 2514 [toll free in Georgia] from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. weekdays.

Your recommendation for certification depends on the teacher preparation program you have completed as described below.

A Georgia PSC Application offers seven possible transactions relating to various types of certification. Four of those transactions are available through GCSU.

1. Induction Certificate for a Teaching (T) field- (Initial Certification)
2. Add a New Certificate Field
3. Convert Non-Renewable Certificate to Professional Certificate or Induction Certificate 
4. Upgrade to a Higher Certificate Level

Note: The Approved Program Completion Form (pdf) is one part of a complete Application Package. Every certification transaction does not require the Approved Program Completion Form, but every transaction request requires an application.

In addition, please see the section Transcript Requirements below.

If this is your first teaching certificate you must apply through the GCSU Certification Office. Below are the major areas for initial certification at GCSU.

1. Candidates must have a minimum GPA of 2.75 for undergraduate candidates and 3.0 for graduate candidates. This is a Georgia College & State University completion requirement. The GaPSC requires a 2.5 GPA minimum for certification. 
2. Candidates completing an undergraduate program in Special Education, Early Childhood Education, or Middle Grades Education, will be recommended for Induction Certification at Level 4, which is valid for three years.
3. Candidates completing an M.A.T. (Master of Arts in Teaching) program in Special Education, Middle Grades Education, or Secondary Education will be recommended for a T-5 teaching induction certificate, valid for three years.
4. Candidates completing the M.Ed. program in Educational Technology / Library Media, will be recommended for an S-5 teaching certificate. This is a Professional certificate and is valid for five years.
5. Candidates completing the Ed.S. program in Educational Leadership, will be recommended for a PL6 educator professional certificate, valid for five years.
6. For candidates holding a Provisional or Conditional teaching certificate issued by the state of Georgia, their certificate is converting that certificate to an Induction certificate.
7. If you complete an endorsement, you will be recommended for those endorsements without taking a GACE assessment.

The Professional Standards Commission requires transcripts for all transactions available through GCSU. When you request transcripts from GCSU you will be asked to provide:

• Address to send the transcript
• Processing Information (depending on when you want the transcript request processed)

Your answers to both of these questions depend on several factors unique to your certification type. Please contact the Certification Office for directions on requesting transcripts from GCSU. By obtaining accurate information from the Certification Office before requesting transcripts you will facilitate the certification process.

As of Fall 2006, Georgia requires the Georgia Assessments for the Certification of Educators (GACE) for certification. The Georgia Professional Standards Commission (PSC) has contracted with Education Testing Service (ETS®), to assist in the development and administration of the Georgia Assessments for the Certification of Educators® (GACE™). The purpose of the GACE is to assess the knowledge and skills of prospective Georgia public school educators. Information on the GACE testing may be found on the GACE web site. The GACE are criterion-referenced, objective-based assessments designed to measure a candidate's knowledge and skills in relation to an established standard rather than in relation to the performance of other candidates. The tests were developed in consultation with committees of Georgia educators, educator preparation faculty, and other content and assessment specialists. Test questions were reviewed and approved by committees of Georgia educators.

Georgia Ethics Assessment

“This assessment focuses on professionalism in education – in relationships with students, schools, colleagues, and communities – as well as on ethical understandings to guide decision making, and the specific regulations and expectations that teaches and educational leaders face in Georgia (https://gace.ets.org/ethics/about)”. Passing this assessment is required for admission into teacher preparation programs in Georgia, thus also required for certification.

GACE Assessments

GACE Program Admission Assessment (or exemption)

• required for initial certification
• tests knowledge in reading, math and writing. 
• Individuals who hold or have held professional certification, are not required to take GACE Program Admission Assessment.
• Candidates are exempt from this requirement if they have earned qualifying scores on any of these tests:
  • SAT: Total Score of 1000 (Math and Verbal), through June 30th, 2019, thereafter 1080
  • GRE: Total Score of 1030 (Verbal and Quantitative before Aug. 2011 and 297 after Aug. 1, 2011), or
  • ACT: Total Score of 43 (English and Math)
• If an individual seeking certification wishes to exempt the GACE Program Admission Assessment, the qualifying standardized test scores must be part of the student's GC records.

GACE Content Assessment

• All applicants for initial State of Georgia Teacher Certification or certified teachers wishing to add areas to their current State of Georgia Teacher Certification must attain a satisfactory score on the GACE Content Assessment in their chosen field.
• All GACE tests have a minimum passing scaled score of 220 and are reported as Pass or Fail.
• For most of the teaching fields, two tests are required. However, each middle grades assessment is a single test that consists of selected-response questions and constructed-response assignments. All other content assessments are composed of two tests - each test consists of selected-response questions and one or more constructed-response assignments.
• Each test is administered and scored independently. 
• If an examinee is required to take two tests, and one test is passed and the other is failed, only the test that is failed must be retaken. Each test stands alone.

GCSU graduates who apply for National Board certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards™ must submit an Education Verification Form to the Certification Office. Please contact the Certification Office for details.

GCSU graduates seeking teacher certification in states other than Georgia are often required to have a College Verification Form completed by the Certification Officer. Please contact the Certification Office for details.