University of Virginia Library

CHANGES IN REGULATIONS AFFECTING FIRST GRADE AND
PROVISIONAL FIRST GRADE CERTIFICATES

The State Board of Education, on November 16, 1926, authorized the Department
of Education to raise standards for the teaching profession, in order that
by 1931 the Elementary Certificate, requiring at least one year of professional
training of college grade, will constitute the minimum legal license for teachers
in the elementary grades.

The division of teacher-training is anxious to encourage the raising of the
requirements as rapidly as is compatible with the interests of many experienced
and satisfactory teachers who happen not to hold the Elementary Certificate.
The following schedule, therefore, is adopted in order to meet as rapidly as possible
the minimum standards set up by the State Board of Education.

1. Holders of the Provisional First Grade Certificate issued during the summer
of 1926, on the completion of one-third (five college session-hours' credit) of
the course required for the Elementary Certificate, were expected to complete the
second third of this course during the summer of 1927; and on completion of the
second third (ten college session-hours' credit) of the course, will be granted a
Provisional Elementary Certificate. This certificate will be good for two years;
but in view of the fact that some applicants may have begun this work in the
summer of 1926 with the notion of receiving in 1927 a First Grade Certificate
good for five years, the division of teacher-training will extend this provisional
certificate to 1931, in any case where the applicant may show her inability to complete
the requirements for the Elementary Certificate within the two-year period.

2. High school graduates who enter teacher-training institutions in the summer
of 1927 and complete one-third (five college session hours' credit) of the
work leading to the Elementary Certificate, will not receive certificates; but on
the completion of the second third (ten college session-hours' credit) of the course
in the summer of 1928 or before, will be granted Provisional Elementary Certificates
good for one year.

3. Holders of First Grade Certificates issued on State examinations, or on
completion of two-thirds (ten session-hours' credit) of the work for the Elementary
Certificate, may have their certificates, upon expiration, renewed as Provisional
Elementary Certificates and maintained in force until 1931. All such holders
of First Grade Certificates, however, are urged to complete the requirements for
the Elementary Certificate at the very earliest possible moment; it being the
purpose of the division of teacher-training to bring about the minimum requirement
for the Elementary Certificate at the earliest possible date without having
seriously handicapped those applicants who may of necessity take the full five
years for adjustment to the new requirements.