Testing Requirements

Testing Requirements

Certification Testing Requirements / The Praxis Series and PECT

Everyone being issued a certificate in Pennsylvania must pass the required certification tests.

Certification tests are now being offered by two different testing companies.  Please consult the Certification Testing Requirments for your content area for details on the tests required and for registration information.

Registration information is available from the Certification Office and the Test Center.
Registration is available from the Educational Testing Service (ETS) for all Praxis test requirements
Registration booklets and Tests at a Glance study guides are available online.

For additional information go to PA Department of Education and The Praxis Series, ETS or PECT Preparation Website

NOTEWORTHY:

1. Regarding Pre-Service testing requirements:

In accordance with the policy below, candidates who have the required score on either the SAT or ACT at the time of their college matriculation are exempt from taking the PAPA exam in order to be admitted to APS.

Effective September 1, 2013, the Secretary of Education has established an alternative to the Pre-service Academic Performance Assessment (PAPA) tests for candidates seeking educator certification in Pennsylvania in meeting the "basic skills" requirements. Students may now meet the requirement with either:

  • A score of no less than 1550 on the Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT).

The SAT score of 1550 will include no individual section (Critical Reading, Writing, and Mathematics) score of less than 500.

Students may now combine section scores from different test administrations and may use their best score earned from one test administration. 

OR

  • A composite score of 23 on the American College Test Plus Writing

The composite score of 23 shall be accompanied by a combined English/Writing score of 22 and a Math score of 21.

2. Regarding qualifying for certification with the state of PA using "Test Score/GPA Deviation"

The GPA Qualifying Score scale is applied only to applicants for PA certification, and only at the time of application; scaled scores are based on the candidate's final GPA. The candidate for certification must be finished with his/her program of studies and must have a final GPA in order for this scale to have any consideration.

** Applicants may be certified by the state of Pennsylvania with lower certification test scores when accompanied by a final program GPA that is higher than 3.0.  Please reference the GPA Qualifying Test Score chart.  CAUTION: Qualifying for certification with lower test scores and a higher GPA will NOT be reflected in your score report.  If you did not meet the "passing" test score for a specific test, your score report will say "failed" in the pass/fail section of the test results.

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