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Certification Overview
General | Certification Levels | Pathways to Certification
Why is certification so important?
In Maine, as with most states, people hired to teach children in public schools are required by law to hold valid teaching certificates. Ultimately, the reason behind the laws requiring teacher certification is to ensure that every child in Maine has the best chance to learn from individuals who are knowledgeable about their field and skilled in the methods of teaching. No system of certification requirements is guaranteed to produce excellent teachers, just as it is possible to be an excellent teacher without being state certified. However, these requirements are based on a large body of research on what it takes to succeed as a beginning teacher. It is important to remember that these state requirements are intended to provide minimum standards for entering the profession – not a comprehensive listing of everything one will ever need to know to be competent in the classroom. Every practicing professional will embark upon a pathway of professional development, taking additional courses that suit his or her advanced needs once in the classroom.
Certification requirements vary from one subject to the next, and can be summarized into four categories:
- Academic requirements: a bachelor’s degree, including college level courses relevant to the subject (“endorsement area” or “content area”) you will be certified to teach. Specific academic requirements for science and math teachers are detailed here.
- Professional requirements: theoretical and practical coursework and experiences in education to provide the
foundation for how to teach, including courses such as human development, psychology of learning, instructional techniques, curriculum development, methods of teaching your specific subject, and student teaching (or “internship”). - Test requirements: Maine currently requires a basic skills test in reading, writing, and math (Praxis I: PPST), as well as a subject-specific exam for each area you will be certified to teach (Praxis II).
- Fingerprinting: every individual must undergo a criminal history background check before working with children in
school settings.
Levels of certification
Provisional
The provisional level certificate is the beginning teaching certificate issued to individuals who have completed all the requirements for full initial certification. If you graduate from an approved teacher preparation program at USM or another institution, including completion of the necessary academic and professional courses and passing the required tests, you will be eligible for initial certification.
Professional
After teaching for two years under a Provisional certificate and receiving a recommendation from a committee of teachers and administrators familiar with their teaching, individuals are eligible for Professional certificates.
In cases where school districts are unable to find a suitable provisionally or professionally certified candidate, they may need to extend their search to the following categories of certification. These certificates are issued one year at a time, and individuals must continue to work toward full certification in order to get renewals.
Conditional: individuals who have completed all of the academic coursework required for their intended subject, but are missing education courses or Praxis tests, can be hired under Conditional certification.
Targeted Needs: individuals who hold a bachelor’s degree and have completed a minimum of 6 credits of coursework in their intended subject area, but are missing any or all of the other requirements for certification in a high needs subject area (currently science, mathematics, technology, foreign language, and special education) are eligible for a targeted needs certificate.
Transitional: teachers who hold full certification in one subject can be hired to teach a different subject, even though they lack academic or professional requirements, under transitional certification.
Pathways to Maine Certification
In Maine, there are two distinct routes for completing the requirements for initial teacher certification: state approved
programs and transcript analysis.
State approved programs
The most comprehensive and traditional route for obtaining a teaching certificate is to complete a college program that has already been evaluated and approved by the Maine Department of Education. By successfully completing the program requirements and tests for your intended certification area and receiving the institution’s recommendation, you can be assured that you will meet the Maine standards. A description of the state-approved programs at USM is included here.
Transcript analysis
In this route, individuals complete the same minimum academic and professional requirements for certification as those established for state-approved programs, but by pursuing a selection of state-approved courses and student teaching from various eligible colleges and universities. In this “design-your-own-program” approach, the individual takes on the responsibility for working directly with the State Department of Education to ensure that they complete the necessary courses for their certificate. Individuals pursuing the transcript analysis route to certification must pass an additional Praxis test, the Principles of Learning and Teaching exam, that graduates of approved programs are not required to take.
Comparison
The EducateME project enthusiastically recommends completion of a state approved program as the best means for obtaining teacher certification. This will ensure that you receive a cohesive and comprehensive preparation program, and unlikely to experience the gaps in information that can come with a piecemeal approach. You will also benefit from the relationships you develop with program faculty and advisors, who can continue to serve as mentors once you are in the field teaching.
However, the transcript analysis approach serves individuals who, because of a shortage of fully certified applicants, find themselves hired to teach under conditional or targeted needs certificates. These teachers must learn their educational techniques “on the job,” and are required to take courses toward their certification requirements during the evenings or weekends. This is often a stressful situation, and these teachers are at increased of attrition – they are less likely than traditional program graduates to remain working as teachers. Thus, USM supports conditionally certified teachers by allowing them to enroll in our advanced teaching methods courses, which are otherwise available only to individuals enrolled in our teacher preparation programs. USM does not offer student teaching to persons who are not enrolled in our programs.