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    Certification

    ​​​Certification Staffing

    It is imperative that the superintendent or chief school administrator make certain that every professional employee serving students has a valid, active certificate and is appropriately certified or properly permitted for the position they hold. This includes any individual who serves students in a professional capacity (requiring certification) whether directly employed or contracted through a third party. This page provides information to support public school entities in employing appropriately certified educators with valid certificates. Certification and staffing policy guidelines and other policy information is available here to assist all local education agencies (LEAs) to ensure they employ appropriately certified professional employees.

    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.

    Educators who hold Level I certificates must complete requirements, apply for, and obtain Level II (permanent) certification before the Level I certificate lapses.  Level I certificates lapse based on actual service in Pennsylvania, not calendar years (see CSPG 3 and CSPG 7).  Either the employing school entity or the certificate holder may request a validity determination for a Pennsylvania Level I certificate, which determines if the Level I certificate is lapsed, by submitting the Documentation Worksheet for Determining Certificate Validity (Word).

    The links below provide 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.