Graduate Teacher Certification Plans

Graduate Teacher Certification Plans

Students who hold at least a bachelor's degree from an accredited university are classified as graduate teacher certification students in the School of Education. They are also considered to be graduate program students and therefore must maintain graduate academic standards and pay graduate tuition and fees. They may choose to enroll either as graduate non-degree-seeking students in order to complete teacher certification requirements only or as graduate degree-seeking students to complete teacher certification requirements as they pursue a master's degree. Students pursuing a second bachelor's degree are considered to be post-baccalaureate students.

To be eligible for admission to the graduate teacher certification plan, students must hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited university with an overall GPA of 2.500 or greater or in the last 60 semester hours. The last 60 hours chronologically include the full semester in which the 60th hour appears, which will be used to calculate the GPA. Students whose overall GPAs are below 2.500 must raise their GPAs to the minimum requirement before being admitted to the graduate teacher certification plan. They may take approved courses to achieve the required overall

2.500 GPA. Once admitted, however, they must maintain a GPA of 3.000 in all course work completed. Students may wish to contact the Office of Academic Advising for additional information.

Although graduate teacher certification students are not required to pursue a second bachelor's degree, those who wish to do so must meet the lower-level requirements of the university in addition to requirements for both teacher certification and the second degree unless such requirements were met in the first bachelor's degree. These lower-level requirements are described in the core section of this catalog.