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Pennsylvania State Senate
06/11/2024 07:53 PM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?SPick=20190&chamber=S&cosponId=31902
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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2019 - 2020 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: June 4, 2020 01:43 PM
From: Senator Wayne Langerholc, Jr.
To: All Senate members
Subject: Temporary Certification Flexibility
 
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many disruptions in various areas of our Commonwealth.  One area that has faced significant challenges is that of teacher certifications.  Accordingly, in the near future I will be introducing legislation to remedy the difficulty our teachers, recent graduates, undergraduate students and paraprofessionals face when attempting to navigate the state required certification process.
 
Specifically, the language would do the following:
  • Allow the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) to issue a temporary certificate to individuals that have completed all of their teacher preparation requirements except their final assessment (i.e. praxis).
  • Allow PDE to issue an exceptional case permit for current educators who are unable to take their assessment to move from an Instructional I certificate to an Instructional II certificate.
  • Allow PDE to issue a temporary certificate under limited circumstances for individuals who were seeking to add on a certification (physical education/health, cooperative education and special education are exempted). Individuals will have to provide proof to PDE that their assessment was cancelled.
  • Waive requirement for undergraduate sophomores to take the basic skills exam.  This test is required for teacher preparation programs.
  • Extends the deadline for paraprofessionals to satisfy staff development requirements.
  • All of these provisions are good for one year or simply expire June 30, 2021.
Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation.
 


Introduced as SB1216