Teacher Certification Requirements History

Teacher Certification Requirements History

The first training facility for teachers dates back to 1785. Many others came about between 1785 and the early 1800’s. It was not until the mid 1830’s that these teacher preparation schools became state subsidized. In the year 1839 the first state normal school was established, two others would follow the next year. Also, during the 1830’s and 1840’s, there was a movement to replace tuition schools with common schools. This created two different types of schools: rural, one room school houses, and city schools (Angus).

Teacher certification became a requirement in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The process of certifying teachers began primitively. Prospective teachers were required to take oral examinations conducted by local officials, usually the principal. The purpose of these examinations was mainly to ensure that the prospective teacher was more highly educated than the oldest student attending the school was. Due to the shortage of teachers, the proctor of these exams made sure that almost everyone qualified. Urban boards of education had the liberty to dictate the difficulty of the entrance exams depending upon the current demand for teachers (Angus). An account from Martha Russel’s journal in 1868 regarding these examinations reads “I feel wretched this evening and a good deal relieved as the teachers examinations came off today and I came through alive, as you see. Did better than I expected…there were six in the class” (Macneal). This goes to show that all of the examinations were not as simple where teachers were in less of a demand.

In 1897 teacher certification was granted to those who graduated from college without taking any further exams in twenty-eight of the states. Due to the fact that one did not have to have their degree in education to teach, only about a dozen out of the 400 colleges and universities offered teaching degrees. During this time 114 colleges and universities only offered specific courses for teachers. At the close of the nineteenth century the state supported teacher schools, or as they were more commonly called, normal schools became popular ways for teachers to be certified.