Certification Overview

Teacher Certification
In order to be recommended for teacher certification candidates must complete a teacher education preparation program at Georgia College. Once the program is complete, candidates must  contact the Certification Officer who is located in the John H. Lounsbury College of Education Dean's office in 220D Kilpatrick. For information call David Ladd at 1-800-342-0471 ext. 2514 (Toll free in Georgia) or 478-445-2514 (local to Milledgeville). E-mail david.ladd@gcsu.edu.

Certification Basics
All teacher certification programs at the John H. Lounsbury College of Education are approved by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (PSC). The PSC grants certificates in three basic "Field" types and at four "Levels."

Three Basic "Field" types: 

T = Teaching: Teaching fields are divided into five basic categories.

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

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.

S = Service--Library Media Specialist  (P-12).

L = Leadership--Educational Leadership (P-12) 

Four Level Codes:
Certificate Levels are based on the highest degree held:

4 = Bachelor's Level (B.S. or B.M.E.): 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 (not available at GC)

DSC

CONNECTING WHAT MATTERS

• david.ladd@gcsu.edu