Choosing the Right Certificate

Making the Right Choice

The first step in deciding which certificate is most appropriate for you is to first identify what subjects you teach and the age group of your students. This is especially important as you will be responsible for demonstrating content and pedagogical knowledge across the full age range of the certificate you pursue.

Next, we encourage you to carefully review the overview and standards for each certificate field to ensure that you will be able to demonstrate your accomplishments and confidently satisfy the defined expectations. All standards and portfolio instructions are available in  Certificate Areas.

For each standard, you should consider:

1. What do you know and what are you able to do with respect to this standard? Be very specific.
2. How might you demonstrate proficiency with respect to this standard? How could you demonstrate to colleagues that you are meeting this standard?
3. How might you demonstrate interaction of two or more standards in aspects of your teaching or school counseling (i.e. planning, managing, or assessing instruction)?

Overview of Certificates

Select the subject area, and then the developmental area using the drop-down menus. The following documents are in PDF format. If you are unable to read them, please download the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.