Teacher Certification Requirements

The School of Education offers a course of study that qualifies a student for a Standard Teaching License in the District of Columbia, which has certification reciprocity with 35 states. Students must meet the following general requirements to qualify for teacher certification:

  • Hold a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution. Course work must include:
    • 48 credits of general education (liberal arts)
    • 33-36 credits in field of specialization
  • Earn passing scores on the Praxis I and Praxis II examinations
  • Complete 42-48 credits of graduate courses in education
  • Complete supervised field experience/student teaching
Bachelor's Degree and Undergraduate Course Work Requirements

In order to receive state certification with reciprocity across 35 states, individuals must hold a baccalaureate degree (B.A., B.S., or equivalent) from a regionally accredited institution. Additionally, individuals must have completed at least 33-36 semester hours in their subject of specialization (e.g. English, mathematics) and 48 semester hours of general education distributed among the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and mathematics, and health and physical education. Students receive an assessment of prior course work after being admitted to the program. The undergraduate course work distributions are as follows:

 

  1. Humanities (at least one course in each area) 12 semester hours
    • English grammar and composition (including vocabulary development and reading comprehension)
    • Literature, art, music, philosophy
    • Foreign language
  2. Social Sciences (at least one course in each area) 12 semester hours
    • American history
    • History, anthropology, sociology, economics, political science, geography, psychology, world studies, or contemporary world cultures
  3. Natural Sciences and Mathematics 12 semester hours
    • Laboratory science
    • Mathematics
  4. Health and Physical Education 4 semester hours
    (including coursework in Substance Abuse Education)
  5. An additional 8 semester hours in Humanities, Social Sciences, and/or Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

Praxis I and Praxis II Examinations

The Praxis examinations, administered by the Educational Testing Service, are used by a number of states as part of their teacher certification process. The Praxis I examination measures reading, writing, and mathematics skills vital to all teacher candidates. Successful completion of this exam with passing scores is a prerequisite for admission to the M.A.T. Program. The Praxis II examinations measure prospective teachers' knowledge of the subjects they will teach, as well as how much they know about teaching that subject and is usually taken in the last semester of course work. Students are responsible for arranging to take these tests and have their scores reported to Trinity College as well as appropriate certification agencies. Further information is available from ETS, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 or online at http://www.ets.org.

Graduate Course Work and Student Teaching

A student must complete 42-48 credits of graduate courses in education. These credits must fulfill the minimum requirements of the student's specialization in early childhood education, elementary education, special education, secondary education, or ESOL. Specific requirements for each specialization are listed in the Teacher Education (M.A.T.) section of this catalog.