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    Certification

    ​​​Certification Staffing

    The Department of Education, Bureau of School Leadership and Teacher Quality has two divisions which work together to ensure educators are properly prepared and certified to work in Pennsylvania's schools. The Professional Education and Teacher Quality (Educator Preparation) division and the Certification division both contribute to this initiative by supporting certification and staffing guidelines and policy to assist all local education agencies (LEAs) to ensure they employ appropriately certified professional employees. It is imperative that the superintendent or chief school administrator make certain that every professional employee serving students has a valid, active certification and is appropriately certified or properly permitted for the position they hold. This includes any individual who serves students under your care in a professional capacity (requiring certification) whether directly employed by you or contracted through a 3rd party.

    Permanent Certification

    LEAs are also an integral step in the process of educators achieving permanent certification. It is important to know and understand the process for professional staff to reach permanent certification.

    The information found at the links below provides you important information in ensuring you employ appropriately certified staff and can assist your staff in transitioning to Level 2. 

    ​If you have questions regarding staffing, email them to ra-edcertstaff@pa.gov. Questions regarding Act 48 should be sent to ra-edact48@pa.gov.  Questions regarding Educator Effectiveness should be sent to RA-PDE-Evaluation@pa.gov

    Chapter 49.85(f) Exceptional Case Policy

    Pursuant to 22 Pa. Code § 49.85(f), the Secretary of Education has the authority to approve individual LEA requests for assigning staff to positions outside of the age and grade levels between Early Childhood, Elementary/Middle, Special Education PreK-8, and Special Education 7-12. These policy guidelines describe the process LEAs must follow in order to request an exception.

    Exceptional Case Application Process

    Step 1: A Local Education Agency (LEA) may request an exception of the grade and age levels described above by submitting a formal written request from the Chief Officer of the LEA to the Director of the Bureau of School Leadership and Teacher Quality. The formal request must include a detailed explanation of why the request is necessary and must include the reasons for not using the appropriate certificate. We will review all requests for exceptions on a case-by-case basis relying on all relevant information provided in the application.

    Step 2: The educator for which the exception is being requested must submit an Exceptional Case application through the Teacher Information Management System (TIMS). See Submit an Application Help User Guide

    NOTE: PDE intends to send an official response within 30 days of receiving both the LEA request and TIMS application.

    The official exception letter will be mailed to the requesting LEA and should be kept in the educator’s personnel file. However, official verification of the exception can also be viewed in the educator’s profile on the TIMS Public website.