Undergraduate BSEd Candidates | Post-Baccalaureate Certification | Professional Program Advising | CCSU Graduates

POST-BACCALAUREATE CERTIFICATION

The following information is for students who have already completed an undergraduate degree from an accredited institution. If you hold a bachelor’s degree you may become a certified teacher in Connecticut by completing CCSU’s post-baccalaureate (post-bac) teacher certification program. This program prepares you for state certification, but does not lead to a master’s degree.

(If you are currently certified in another area and want cross-endorsement in History & Social Studies 7-12, you must contact the State of Connecticut Department of Education. All cross-endorsement programs are administered at the state level.)

IMPORTANT NOTE: All post-bac students must have ALREADY PASSED the Praxis II Social Studies: Content Knowledge test (10081) IN ORDER TO APPLY to the Professional Program. This is in addition to other application requirements. Please read this entire page and download the PDF file on Professional Program Application information.

STEP ONE: THE GRADUATE SCHOOL

The first step in the program is to be admitted into the Graduate School at CCSU. You must be admitted into the Graduate School before you can be in the post-bac teacher certification program. (Consult the School of Graduate Studies website for information and forms.) After your acceptance into the Graduate School, and typically after taking some classes at CCSU, you must also apply for and be accepted into the Professional Program (allowing you to take a sequence of Education classes). Acceptance into the Graduate School does not guarantee acceptance into the Professional Program.

TRANSCRIPT REVIEW

After you are accepted into the Graduate School, your academic transcripts will be forwarded to the School of Education and Professional Studies (SEPS) and to the Department of History for review. The SEPS review will determine what general education requirements you may need to fulfill in order to meet CCSU and State of Connecticut requirements for certification. The Department of History will conduct a content area review of your transcript to see what History or Social Science courses you will need to take.

All post-bac teacher certification students must complete the same major course load as our current undergraduate students. You can do this by completing the equivalent of either a BSEd in History or a BSEd in Social Science. Both lead to the same State of Connecticut certification in History & Social Studies, 7-12 (state endorsement code 026). (The Social Science fields are Anthropology, Economics, Geography, Political Science, and Sociology. You will need to have 18 credits in one of these fields to complete the equivalent of a BSEd in Social Science.) During the transcript review in the Department of History we will try to determine which route will be quicker for you, although you may switch to the other degree equivalent and request a new transcript review. Please be aware that the Department will only transfer in classes in which you received a grade of C- or better.

WHAT COURSES WILL I NEED?

If you would like to get a general idea about what content courses you may need to take, please download the following forms and compare them to your undergraduate transcript. (Be advised, however, that these forms do not include the general education requirements you may need to fulfill and the 31 credits required in the Professional Program.)

Post-Bac Review form: History

Post-Bac Review form: Social Science

The non-Western courses accepted by the state are available here. Please note that for CCSU purposes, it must be a class ABOVE the 100 level, even though our 100 level classes are on that list. If you have taken a non-Western course at another institution you will need to provide a course description and complete a course substitution form.

Soon after your acceptance into the Graduate School you will get a Planned Program of Study that will list the general education and content area classes you will need to take. (Graduate students are allowed to take SPED 501 and RDG 506 after acceptance into the Graduate School but before acceptance into the Professional Program.)

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?

There are no set timetables for how long your post-bac certification program will take to complete. You will need to complete all of the general education and content classes on your Planned Program as well as the 31 credits required in the Professional Program. The final 10 of those credits must be completed in your semester of full-time student teaching. It is very unlikely that any student will be able to complete all of the course requirements in less than two years.

APPLYING TO THE PROFESSIONAL PROGRAM

The State of Connecticut requires that students be admitted to programs in teacher education only after they have met certain criteria. Admission to the Graduate School and pursuit of a post-bac teacher certification Planned Program of Study does not guarantee admission to the Professional Program. There is a lot of preparation involved in submitting a successful Professional Program application, including passing exams and securing official transcripts; so the earlier you start the better your chances of meeting the deadlines. The Professional Program applications deadlines are usually 10 September and 10 February. Applications are available online and in the School of Education in Barnard Hall.

BEFORE YOU CAN APPLY to the Professional Program, you must have passed or been exempted from Praxis I and passed the Praxis II Social Studies: Content Knowledge test (10081).

Long before you apply to the Professional Program, download and review this PDF file:

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PROSPECTIVE GRADUATE (POST-BAC) APPLICANTS TO THE PROFESSIONAL PROGRAM

PROFESSIONAL PROGRAM INTERVIEW

All applicants to the program must pass an interview that covers your motivation, content knowledge, skills, and dispositions. In order to pass the interview, your average score must be 12 or above and your average score in each area must be 2 or above.

REVIEW THE INTERVIEW RUBRIC

AFTER ACCEPTANCE INTO THE PROFESSIONAL PROGRAM

If you are accepted into the Professional Program you can begin the final sequence of Education classes that will lead to your semester of full-time student teaching and eventually to certification.

You will take a sequence of courses that will take no less than three semesters and will include theoretical and field experience-based classes.

Important advising and student teaching information is available on the Professional Program Advising page.