University of Virginia Library

ANNOUNCEMENT OF CHANGES IN REGULATIONS GOVERNING
CERTIFICATION OF VIRGINIA TEACHERS

At the last meeting of the State Board of Education, the Department
of Education was authorized 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,
are expected to complete the second third of this course during
the summer of 1927; and on the completion of the second third (ten
college session-hours' credit) of the course, they 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 last summer 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 the First Grade Certificate 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 requirements
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.