General State Requirements

Swarthmore Teacher Certification Program

  • Typically, candidates must meet the basic minimum ACT/SAT scores requirements or pass the CORE or PAPA, but Basic Skills testing is waived for PA candidates applying for certification between July 8, 2022 through July 8, 2025 (PA Act 55).
  • To apply for certification, candidates must have either an overall grade point average of 3.0 or an overall grade point average of 2.8 and a qualifying score on the appropriate PRAXIS exam.
  • Candidates must have 3 general distribution requirements, in Math and English (2), which are often met by Swarthmore's own requirements for graduation. The following outline presents the ways in which certification candidates might meet these Math and English state requirements:

1. Mathematics: 6 credit hours. This may be fulfilled by any combination of the following:

 

Credit Hour Equivalent

Swarthmore 1-credit Math/Statistics course

4

Score of 4 or 5 on AP Calculus AB

4

Score of 4 or 5 on AP Calculus AB/BC

4

Score of 4 or 5 on AP Statistics

4

Score or 6 or 7 on the Higher Level IB Exam

4

Swarthmore NSE courses including BIOL 001 and 002; CPSC 021; ASTR 001, 014 and 016; ENVS 070; ENGR 035; PSYC 025

2

CLEP Math Test (http://clep.collegeboard.org/clep-exams)

4

2. English Literature: 3 credit hours. This may be fulfilled by any combination of the following:

 

Credit Hour Equivalent

Swarthmore 1-credit English Literature Department course

4

Score of 4 or 5 on AP English Literature

4

Score of 6 or 7 on the Higher Level IB Literature Exam

4

CLEP Literature Test ( http://clep.collegeboard.org/clep-exams)

4

3. English Composition: 3 credit hours. This requirement is met by the College's requirement of 3 Writing courses for all majors.

Certification Options

Swarthmore offers the following teacher certification options:

*Certification granted through Eastern University, in partnership with Swarthmore.