Point Park program allows those with other degrees to pursue teaching career

Over the course of Craig Johns­ton’s 20-year engineering career, the thought of becoming a teacher often crossed his mind.

But it wasn’t until 2020 — months before the covid-19 pandemic would shut down most aspects of day-to-day life — that Johnston took the leap.

In January of that year, Johnston enrolled in Point Park University’s American Board for the Certification of Teacher Excellence program. The roughly one-year program allows anybody with an undergraduate degree from an accredited college or university to obtain their teaching certificate in various content areas.

Point Park is the only school in the state recognized by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to offer the American Board for the Certification of Teacher Excellence program, giving students an alternative to pursuing a second bachelor’s or master’s degree.

“I thought I could make a difference teaching, and I thought it’d be important to try to influence young people, because they’re the future leaders,” said Johnston, a physics teacher at Ringgold High School in Washington County. “And you get to interface with a lot more people teaching than you would in, say, engineering. I just thought that was a way to make my contribution to society.”

The state Department of Education first approved the program in 2003. Darlene Marnich, founding dean of Point Park’s School of Education, said the coursework started after the university and the Atlanta-based nonprofit American Board — which works to put qualified teachers in the classroom — petitioned the education department to offer the certification in the state.

Today, Pennsylvania students can obtain a certificate in special education preK-12; preK-4; or secondary education specializing in biology, chemistry, English, math, physics and science.

“This is the starting point for their teaching career,” Marnich said.

Once Johnston decided to enroll in the program, he took two online graduate classes through Point Park. Students in the program are required to complete the two eight-week courses, which vary based on whether they are pursuing a certificate in elementary or secondary education. They must earn at least a 3.0 GPA to move on.

Johnston then had to pass the American Board exams, as well as content exams and the Professional Teaching Knowledge exam.

After completing those steps, Johnston was able to apply for a temporary teaching permit, which is valid for one year.

He then began applying for teaching jobs that would allow him to complete the required 60-day teaching placement. The placement must consist of full-time, full-day teaching in the candidate’s certification area. During that mentoring process, the student is assigned a university supervisor and must attend a virtual orientation.

According to Marnich, during that step a candidate can either work as a student teacher or substitute or be hired by a school district needing to fill a vacant position.

After the 60 days, the candidate then applies for their Instructional I Certification.

Last year, almost 50 teachers were certified through the program. So far this year, almost 30 candidates are preparing for the mentoring portion of the program.

“That’s a lot of people that were given a different chance,” Marnich said.

Local impacts

Locally, some school districts have used the program to help fill vacancies.

Autumn Turk, director of curriculum and development at Burrell School District, said they recently hired a special education teacher who completed the certification program.

“We found that a lot of people who have gone through that nontraditional means and come in and start working with kids, they found that they love it,” Turk said. “They love teaching, they want to be with kids, they want to get their certification, so Point Park’s program is a great opportunity for them.”

She noted that the program is a way for districts to get to know possible teaching candidates who work as nontraditional substitutes before receiving all of their certifications.

“When we work with them through the program, (we) kind of get to know them as a person and as an employee as they’re learning to become a teacher,” Turk said. “(The program) allows people … to do it in a way that’s conducive to teachers that will substitute during the day or work another job during the day and take the certification classes online.”

Burrell School District has seen an uptick in candidates completing the American Board program over the past few years, Turk said, something also seen at Point Park.

“I think we have more visibility. … I absolutely believe success breeds success, so when we put out 49 teachers in a year … and they’re working out well in the school districts, they’re talking about this,” Marnich said.

Despite those numbers, Marnich noted the program is not key to solving the teacher shortage, something she said largely started in the early to mid-2010s.

At that time, Pennsylvania was producing over 15,000 teachers per year. By 2017, however, that number dropped to 5,000.

“We’re filling our needs in Pennsylvania and have some (teachers) left over, but we are not able to export nearly the numbers we were years ago,” Marnich said.

Still, as the program continues to succeed, it offers candidates a chance to pursue a new career while having the added experience of their previous endeavor.

“I definitely get excited about work more so than I did before,” Johnston said. “I just feel a bit more at ease and a little more relaxed now. … I’m doing something that just has more meaning to me, so I think, overall, it’s been definitely a positive change for me personally.”