Admission to Teacher Certification/Candidacy

The Pennsylvania State Department of Education passed 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 a process that is required to progress into the latter stages of your program.  No student can continue into upper level teaching methods courses without being approved for Candidacy.

Requirements to Apply for Candidacy

Temple University has the following requirements to be approved for Candidacy:

1. At least 48 credits, 12 of which must be completed at Temple University
2. Minimum grade point average of 3.0.   (Secondary Education and Middle Grades students are also required to have a 2.0 GPA in their content/concentration area.)
3. Completion of all pre-Candidacy courses as stipulated on your curriculum sheet.  (Some of these courses may be "In Progress" at the time of application, this is acceptable)
4. All four clearances
• are current and valid for the entire duration of the next semester (the semester during which you are taking your first methods courses)
• have been uploaded to Ed Portal
• after uploading all clearances, they have been verified by CoE staff
5. Passing scores in all three sections - reading, writing and math - of the first level of the national teacher’s exam.   (Please consult the Teacher Certification Exams page for details about the changes to Level I tests as of April 2012.)
6. Completed six credits of college‐level math and six credits of college‐level English (composition and literature).
7. A speech assessment ‐ conducted by the academic advisor at the time the student submits the application.

How to Apply for Candidacy

Candidacy Application and deadline information can be found on the Undergraduate Community in Blackboard and are sent to students' Temple email accounts.   Students must print, gather necessary supporting materials, and meet with an advisor to submit their applications and review their status.