Admission to Teacher Certification/Candidacy

The Pennsylvania State Department of Education passed new regulations for teacher education in October 2000. The regulations specify that applicants to education programs, "may not be formally admitted to an initial professional educator program before completion of 48 semester credit hours."

What this means for you is that as an undergraduate student, you have been admitted to Temple University and the College of Education; however, Pennsylvania law mandates that students must also be admitted into the Teacher Certification Program. At Temple, this process is referred to as "Candidacy." Advancing to candidacy is an admissions process that is required to progress through the latter stages of your program. No student can continue into upper level courses without being advanced to candidacy.

Requirements for Candidacy

At the present time, Temple University and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have the following requirements to be approved for Candidacy:

1. Completion of 48 semester hours (of which 12 semester hours were completed at Temple University; at least 12 semester hours must also be in education).
2. A cumulative grade point average 3.0.
3. Completion of Education 1322 and Education 2289* or 2489 with a grade of "C+" or higher.
4. Completion of at least six semester hours of college level math.
5. Completion of at least six semester hours of college level English (including English composition and literature).
6. Passing scores on the basic skills test of Praxis I - PPST Reading (minimum passing score of 172); PPST Writing (minimum passing score of 173); PPST Math (minimum passing score of 173).
7. Completion of a speech screening with your academic advisor.
8. Completion of your library skills test.

* NOTE: course requires Clearances.

How to Apply for Candidacy

Print out a copy of the Candidacy Application [pdf] (requires Adobe Reader or other PDF viewer). Return the completed form to the Student Resource Center.