Education (EDUC) General Program Requirements
Admission to Teacher Education
Education students are admitted to the college as pre-education majors. Subsequently, students will then apply for formal Admission to Teacher Education. The application for Admission to Teacher Education is available online and can be accessed from the SOE Student Bulletin Board. Once admitted to Teacher Education, all candidates will be required to apply for a Georgia Pre-Service Certificate, which will involve a state background check.
Eventually the following requirements must be met for full admission to the teaching program:
- A grade of P in EDUC 2251 Professional Practice I, which includes a pre-service certificate.
- Evidence of adequate scholastic ability, demonstrated by a 2.5 “C+” or higher cumulative GPA or 2.75 for Secondary Education majors.
- Evidence of meeting expectations for professional conduct and ethics as documented by completion of Compliance Director Code of Ethics and Mandated Reporting Modules and by taking the Georgia Ethics Assessment (entry level).
- Passing score on the GACE Program Admission Assessment (PAA) unless exemption filed according to the following criteria: SAT exemption (1000 or better on combined verbal and Math) for score reports dated before July 1, 2019; for score reports dated July 1, 2019 the SAT exemption (1080 or better on combined Reading/Writing and Math); ACT exemption (43 total by adding English and Math); GRE exemption (1030 total with no minimum verbal and quantitative or 297 if taken after 8/1/11). Students must pass the GACE Program Admissions Assessments and be admitted to Teacher Education in order to take professional courses in the major.
- Passing required interview and written assessment, completed in EDUC 2151.
When all of the above requirements have been met the candidate will receive a letter confirming his or her full admission to the education program.
See School of Education Portal on PilgrimNet for more information.
Fees
Although Piedmont College does not assess student fees, candidates for degrees and programs leading to teacher certification will incur costs associated with state certification requirements.
| Membership – Student Professional Association of Georgia Educators (SPAGE) or National Education Association (NEA) – Liability Insurance (3 years) – required of all candidates for field experience, Internship I and Internship II |
$15 |
Georgia Assessments for the Certification of Educators (GACE)
| Program Admissions Assessment |
$128 |
| †If all three parts are taken together; otherwise, the cost is $103 for two tests; $78 for a single test |
| Ethics Assessment (Entry level) |
$30 |
| Content Assessments |
$193 |
| †If taking a combined test (2 assessments); a single content test is $123 |
| Ethics Assessment (Exit level at end of program) |
$30 |
*Fees were accurate at the time of printing, but are subject to change.
Professional Practice Courses
All candidates in undergraduate programs in teacher education must complete three, one-credit Professional Practice courses. These courses are designed to position education students for the Georgia pre-service certificate, and to prepare candidates for the various GACE (Georgia Assessments for the Certification of Educators) Content Assessments. Candidates who come to Piedmont from other states and who do not wish to remain in Georgia must also complete these courses, as they are linked to field experiences and internship requirements.
Field Experiences
Field Experience requirements are established by each department. Teacher Candidates should consult the School of Education portal on PilgrimNet for detailed information concerning their program of study. Field Experiences include documented hours built into individual courses and internships. Education majors should be aware that they must have the pre-service certificate prior to completing any required P-12 public school field experiences.
Continuation and completion of all field experiences is contingent upon demonstration of the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to help all students learn as described in the School of Education Conceptual Framework and Candidate Program Learning Outcomes. Piedmont College reserves the right to withdraw or change the placement of a teacher candidate for failure to meet these outcomes or at the request of the host school.
Compass Program: Experiential Learning
Students enrolled at Piedmont for all four of the undergraduate years (96-120 credit hours) are required to complete one experiential learning project. Transfer students are also required to complete one experiential learning project. Students enrolled in a degree program requiring an internship, observation hours or clinical rotations, satisfy the experiential learning graduation requirement through those degree-embedded activities. Certain degree attainment and work experiences may also satisfy the graduation requirement; please see the Piedmont College Compass Program portion of the catalog for details.
Technology Requirements
As technology continues to evolve in P-12 and in the college classroom, students and faculty of teacher preparation programs are challenged to stay current in the “tools of the day.” This need is reinforced by recent changes in accreditation requirements where the skillset in instructional technology use by teacher candidates is required.
School of Education candidates will no longer be required to purchase, or bring to class, mobile technology, laptops, or other relevant instructional technology tools. However, the School of Education strongly encourages teacher candidates to come prepared with any tools that demonstrate their abilities to apply student engagement activities through related educational Apps, educational games, and educational websites, and other software. Many of these skills are provided in EDUC 2250/EDUC 6601 Media and Technology for Educators, but Candidates are also charged with the ability to prepare with varied technology-based tools and a working knowledge of a need for compatibility with tablets and laptops from varied platforms. Optimizing student engagement through the use and support of current technologies and online systems is the primary focus of School of Education faculty to enrich education classes and to further make our graduates competitive in the educational arena.