Our teacher certification and degree programs are built upon the premise that teachers must simultaneously be subject matter experts and highly skilled at helping others’ understand the content as well. Good teachers know enough about the subject to be sensitive to those aspects that will be especially hard for new students to master and are able to adapt the design of their instruction accordingly. In other words, we believe expert teaching occurs at the intersection of discipline-specific knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. For this reason --and unlike other four-year undergraduate education programs-- our teacher education coursework is in addition to (not in place of) the depth and breadth of coursework required to get a complete bachelor’s degree in a discipline-specific area.

We are accredited by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to offer Teacher Certification Programs in the following areas:

• Elementary PreK-4
• Environmental Education K-12
• Secondary Biology 7-12
• Secondary Chemistry 7-12
• Secondary Citizenship Education 7-12
• Secondary Earth and Space Science 7-12
• Secondary English 7-12
• Secondary General Science 7-12
• Secondary Mathematics 7-12
• Secondary Physics 7-12
• Secondary Social Sciences 7-12
• Secondary Social Studies 7-12
• Special Education (cannot be initial certification)

Those interested in becoming a teacher can begin education coursework as part of a post-bachelor's or start earlier while pursuing their Lehigh bachelor's degree. We also offer a post-certification master's for current teachers who want further professional development. Click the blue links, below, for a .PDF with additional program details:

• The Post-Bachelor's Teacher Education Master's Plus PA Certification: Post-bachelor’s teacher intern program in either elementary or secondary education.


• Teacher Intern Certificate Program: The Teacher Intern Certificate is a valid professional certificate that entitles the holder to hold a full-time professional teaching position after 12 credits of academic coursework in a TLT teaching certification program, a job offer in writing from a PA school district, and passing of hte PRAXIS exam.


• The Five-Year Bachelor's + Master of Education and Teacher Certification Program: Four-year bachelor’s in content area plus an additional year for the education master’s degree and Pennsylvania certification in either elementary or secondary education.


• The Education Minor: A 15-credit undergraduate minor offered jointly with the College of Arts and Sciences and aimed at helping Lehigh undergraduates learn more about teaching and learning.


• Post-Certification Master's in Teaching and Learning: A 30-credit master's only degree program for professionally oriented practicing classroom teachers aimed at helping them enhance the design of classroom learning environments, develop innovative curricula, and conduct research in classroom settings.


• Teaching, Learning,and Technology Doctoral Program: A 48-credit (post master's) Ph.D. program with concentrations in either Learning and Instruction or Instructional Design and Technology. Students work closely with research faculty to generate new theories and classification systems, innovative curricula that make the most of promising technologies, authentic approaches to assessing learning, and a wide range of creative methods of teaching and learning in a global world highly interconnected by technology.[NOTE: This program was formerly titled "Learning Sciences and Technology."]

PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (PDE) REQUIREMENTS FOR TEACHER CERTIFICATION

It is important for those considering teaching as a career to be aware of the fairly rigorous academic, health, and personal character requirements for teacher certification that are required by the Pennsylvania Department of Education for teacher candidates statewide:

• A cumulative undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0.


• An undergraduate course work audit by content area specialist in the certification area.


• Passing scores on the PRAXIS (NTE) Tests (Level I and Intern certificates) in all subject areas prior to student teaching.


• Clearances: Submission upon matriculation and yearly renewal of all of the following clearances:
  
  * Mantoux Tuberculosis Screening or chest X-ray
  * FBI Federal Criminal History Record (Act 114)
  * Pennsylvania State Police Criminal Records Check (Act 34)
  * Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearance (Act 151)
  
  Before any student will be permitted to register for any course with a field experience component or initiate a research activity that involves school-based contact with children, they must have updated clearances on file with the Office of Teacher Certification (OTC, Iacocca B208). If anything other than "negative" or "no record exists" is reported on a student's documentation, the exact nature of the reported health or criminal record issue will be reviewed by the OTC Director in accordance with the College of Education Policy on Clearances. For more information about our clearances policy, click here.

To learn more about our academic programs in Teaching, Learning, and Technology, click the links in the dark blue area on the right or contact the TLT Program Director (TLTProgram@Lehigh.edu, 610-758-3230).