Maryland Certification Information

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Who must hold a certificate?
Teachers, specialists, and administrators working in Maryland public schools must hold a Maryland Teaching Certificate.  A Maryland teaching certificate is a license to teach in an accredited public school in the state of Maryland.
What Maryland certificates are available?
Professional Eligibility Certificate:  initial certificate; valid for 5 years; issued to an applicant who meets all certification requirements but is not employed

Standard Professional Certificate I:   valid for 5 years; issued to an applicant who meets all certification requirements and is employed by a MD local school system

Standard Professional Certificate II:  valid for 5 years; issued to an applicant who completes the SPC 1 and submits verification of 3 years of satisfactory professional experience; submits 6 semester hours of acceptable credit and a professional development plan for the Advanced Professional Certificate

Advanced Professional Certificate:   valid for 5 years; issued to an applicant who submits verification of 3 years of full-time professional school-related experience, and a master's degree or a minimum of 36 semester hours of post-baccalaureate course work (must include 21 semester hours of graduate credit)

Conditional Certificate:  a 2 year certificate; issued to an employed applicant who has not met full certification requirements for a professional certificate

What reading courses are required?

Early Childhood, Elementary Education and Elementary Special Education teachers are required by the State of Maryland to take 12 semester hours in the following reading content:

Processing/Acquisition of Reading Skills
Methods of Reading Instruction
Materials for Teaching Reading
Reading Assessment

Note:  If you hold a teaching certificate in any of the above areas, you may "test out" of the reading requirement by taking the Praxis II called "Reading Across the Curriculum: Elementary," test identification number 20201.  A MD qualifying score of 173 or higher must be obtained.

Secondary Content Area, Trades & Industry, and Secondary Special Education teachers are required by the State of Maryland to take 6 semester hours in the following reading content:

Methods of Teachaing Reading in the Secondary Content Area, Part I
Methods of Teaching Reading in the Secondary Content Area, Part II

What tests must I take?
All candidates applying for an initial Maryland teaching certificate, except those coming in via the experience route, are required to present qualifying scores on the following required tests:

Praxis I Academic Skills Assessments consist of a reading component, a writing component and a mathematics component.

Praxis II Content Area Assessments consist of testing the knowledge in the content area and content pedagogy.

Notes:  Visit ETS's website at www.ets.org/praxis for registration procedures, fees, and forms as well as test dates and locations.

When taking tests, please designate MSDE(#7403) as a score recipient.   Send a copy of your results to FCPS Audit Officer, Nancy Slovikowsky in the Departmant of Human Resources.

NTE tests taken prior to June 30, 2000 will be accepted from in-state and out-of-state teacher candidates for certification.