For Pennsylvania parents, the teacher shortage seen across the state, and nation, is concerning when you consider how strained teachers already are, not to mention the importance of having a good student to teacher ratio.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro created a program in the 2024-25 school year to help address the problem by allowing aspiring teachers to receive an intern certificate free of charge, which permits them to teach for up to three years while obtaining their full certification.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) reports that the state has seen a precipitous dropoff in the teaching profession in just the last decade. From the 2012-13 school year through the 2021-22 school year, the number of people entering the profession in the state declined by 73%. For this reason, Shapiro’s administration looked to solutions that would create a larger stock of teachers in Pennsylvania.
Acquiring an intern certificate requires the teacher to pass a content test in the specific area they want to teach, as well as professional core education and student teaching requirements. Intern certificates are valid for three years.
PDE has taken other measures to streamline the process for bolstering their roster of qualified teachers. This includes reducing teacher certification processing times, creating a career and technical education program for high school students, awarding $1.5 million in grant funding to universities across the commonwealth, eliminating a previously used assessment and creating and expanding a student teacher support program that provides a stipend to student teachers, according to a news release.
This program is intended to be an alternative to the emergency permit program, which does not require as strict of qualifications to obtain and also lacks a path to full-time certification. Currently, more than 8,000 teachers across the state are operating under an emergency permit.
