Entrance Requirements

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Program Entrance Requirements for Clear Renewable Teaching Certificates

Prior to admission in GaTAPP, a candidate must meet ALL of the following:

  • Secure a job offer as a teacher with local school system
  • Earned a bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited college or university
  • Not completed student teaching in undergraduate or graduate work
  • Not previously held a Clear Renewable Teaching or Technical Specialist Certificate
  • Passed the appropriate content GACE, and have a bachelor’s degree or higher with a major, or equivalent, in the teaching field for which the individual is seeking Clear Renewable certification. GACE content scores are accepted at induction level for admission. If changes in this come from PSC during your time in program, you may be subject to passing at the professional level before completing the program
    Important note for SpEd candidates: The content GACE for SpEd candidates in grades K-8 is either: 087 – Special Education: Reading, English Language Arts, and Social Studies OR 088: Special Education – Mathematics and Science. Candidates must pass the content areas test for which they will be teaching. Candidates may take both tests to be Highly Qualified in all areas
    Special Education General Curriculum (081 and 082) is not a content assessment. SpEd candidates must also pass either Special Education General Curriculum (081 and 082) or Special Education Adaptive Curriculum (083 and 084) to complete GaTAPP. SpEd Candidates teaching at the high school level need to pass a content exam in at least 1 area for which they teach before completing the program.
  • Passed the GACE Educator Ethics Exam (sign up through mypsc.gapsc.org)
  • Maintained a GPA of 2.5 or higher on undergraduate degree. *Please note: Exceptions may be made upon completion of a waiver for candidates with a 2.2-2.49 GPA to be placed on a waiting list. However, no exceptions can be made for early childhood (elementary) education nor special education*
  • Provided official copies of transcripts of all colleges and universities attended
  • Obtained a Georgia Criminal History Report and Fingerprinting with your local school system
  • Assume financial responsibility for all tuition and other related costs associated with certification. Tuition and fees are non-refundable. The annual fees cover tuition for all trainings and seminars at Wiregrass, course and program related materials, books, and the Supervisor who will visit to conduct observations and meetings. Additional fees not covered by tuition include but are not limited to:
    • An additional fee of $500 if the candidate’s school campus is more than 30 miles away from a Wiregrass campus; an additional fee of $1000 if the candidate’s school campus is more than 60 miles from a Wiregrass campus.
    • An additional fee of $500 for Special Education candidates to cover additional training costs.
    • If the candidate did not complete/pass any of the online courses during the first year, an additional $500 fee per online course will be added.
    • Any additional trainings required by GaPSC for your certification area, and/or any additional trainings assigned to you by your supervisor to assist you in obtaining proficiency ratings in your observations.
    • Wiregrass Georgia Technical College application fee and tuition/fees for any/all ECCE courses for the GEC1 TCC required by GaPSC for Elementary Education certification.
    • Any state mandated expenses such as application fees for certification ($20); GACE Program Admission ($128-$234); GACE content exams ($193-$246 not including retakes); Educator Ethics ($30); Ethics 360 ($30) and EPIC ($150 not including retakes). These are required by the GaPSC and are paid directly to third party entities. These costs are external to Wiregrass and are subject to change.

Program Entrance Requirements for Technical Specialist Teaching Certificates

Prior to admission in GaTAPP, a candidate must meet ALL of the above EXCEPT following:

  • Earned an associate’s degree or higher from an accredited college or university in the teaching field for which seeking certification
  • Have a passing score on the appropriate professional or industrial assessment as noted in Certification Rule 505-2-.96 Trade & Industrial Ed or Rule 505-2-.70 Healthcare Science Technology Ed for fields in which certification is being sought. If a GACE content exam is available in the teaching field, the GACE content must be taken and passed. GACE content scores are accepted at induction level for admission. . If changes in this come from PSC during your time in program, you may be subject to passing at the professional level before completing the program

Admission requirements are also found in the Professional Standards Rule 505-3-.05 Georgia Teacher Academy for Preparation and Pedagogy (GaTAPP).

***Program and GaPSC policies and requirements are subject to change. The most current information will be provided on the first day of Essentials in mid-July of each year.***