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Thursday, December 9, 2010

U.S. State Teacher Licensure Offices

 

      Oh, hallelujah! I have just passed the praxis test! What a relief. I've been working on my certification for a couple of years in my spare time and now I will start student teaching this Spring. For those of you who know me as a painter this may sound a little confusing. Yes, I do teach art, but not in public schools. Although I have a Masters Degree, in the fine arts, I thought it necessary to return to collage to get certified to teach small children before entering to the job market. I've included here links to the praxis people and all of the State Licensure web pages for those of you who would like to do the same.

A Certified Art Teacher is a teacher who has earned credentials from an authoritative source, such as the government, a higher education institution or a private source. These certifications allow teachers to teach in schools that require authorization in general, as well as allowing educators to teach in particular content areas and across the curriculum. While many authorizing entities require student teaching before earning teacher certification, routes vary from country to country.
      Teachers in almost all states must have a Bachelor's degree with the appropriate teacher preparation course and complete either a content-based or teaching-based Master's degree within a stated number of years. Additionally, to be permanently certified, many states require that teachers pass exams on pedagogy, general knowledge and knowledge of a content area. Some states require teacher candidates to be fingerprinted prior to certification.
      The two companies responsible for developing and administering the majority of teacher certification tests in the United States are Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the Evaluation Systems group of Pearson Education (formerly National Evaluation Systems, Inc.). ETS offers the Praxis tests, which are standardized across the nation ("off-the-shelf tests"), while Pearson customizes each testing program for the individual state in which it is offered. In general, it is easier to transfer certification between two states that both use the Praxis test, as the retaking of tests is usually not required in those instances. Contracts to manage state testing procedures are usually put out for bidding from different testing companies every 4-6 years. (wikipedia.org)

The following updated links Feb. 10th 2024.

Links to U.S. State Teacher Licensure Offices:

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