Program Specialist Certification

Information on how to earn a PA Program Specialist Certification from the Penn State College of Education.

Program Specialist Certificate

A Program Specialist Certificate may be issued for specialized professional-level service in educational programs operated by a public school entity only when the service is not reserved to a specific category of certification. This includes positions in programs operated directly by an IU, AVTS, or school district.

Regulations of the State Board of Education (49.62.1) require a valid Pennsylvania Instructional or Educational Specialist Certificate as a "prerequisite" to issuance of a Program Specialist Certificate.

Penn State offers coursework preparing educators to add The Program Specialist certificate for English as a Second Language (ESL) to their credentials.

The Program Specialist Certificate also may be the appropriate professional credential to qualify a person to:

Teach courses such as general photography or energy resources provided these courses are not designated parts of a specific curriculum such as art or science.
Serve as a tutorial/resource teacher in a multiple-subject learning center in which students receive their assignments, tests, examinations, and grades from regular teachers appropriately certified for each area and grade level of classes to which the student would otherwise normally be assigned. (Example: Gifted programs where the teacher serves in a tutorial/monitoring role with pupils and a coordinating role with other certificated staff.)
Supervise programs operated for the academically gifted and talented.
Teach Bilingual classes and programs.
Teach interdisciplinary psychology (when psychology is not taught exclusively as a social science).

The position description approved by both the employing public school entity and the Department of Education must be attached to each Program Specialist Certificate and becomes the endorsement of the certificate (indicating the specific duties and functions authorized by this certificate and the role relationships among the specialist and other certificated staff with whom he/she interacts.) The Program Specialist Certificate is not transferable from person to person, position to position or school entity to school entity.

NOTE: With the exception of the English as a Second Language (ESL) credential, colleges and universities do not offer the Program Specialist Certificate. A Program Specialist Certificate must be initiated by an employing public school entity.