Certification


Certified staff members should submit all Professional Standards Commission applications directly to the PSC through their MYPSC account.  

  • To apply for a certificate upgrade you must submit an application through your MYPSC account. Submit official transcripts reflecting the degree conferred to the PSC by sending them to:  [email protected]. The PSC will reject any transcript faxed or emailed by the applicant. The Human Resources department will receive a notification to complete the Employer Assurance Form on your behalf. (The $20 processing fee for an upgrade will not be required.) The Human Resources department receives weekly notifications concerning certificate upgrades. Employees will receive email notification when the upgrade has been processed.
  • To add a field to your certificate you must submit the complete PSC application along with official transcripts and the Approved Program Recommendation form completed by your university. Note: if the field is added through GACE testing only, you must login to your MYPSC account and answer the personal affirmation questions. The PSC will update the certificate once scores are posted.
  • Most importantly, be sure to register on MyPSC located at http://www.gapsc.com/ The PSC no longer mails certification information and the educator must retrieve the correspondence and new certificate through this link.

Certificate Upgrades

Effective December 15, 2010, the Georgia Professional Standards Commission issued a new Certificate Upgrade rule. The purpose of the new rule is to define a connection between the degree major along with the educator's work in the school and student achievement and also to assure the rigor and quality standards met by GaPSC approved institutions or top-tier research institutions. Basically the new rule creates two options for advanced degrees:

  • Option 1: In-Field, the advanced degree must be in a Georgia certificate field already held by the educator

  • Option 2: New Field, the advanced degree must result in the addition of a new field on the educator's certificate (having met all program and GACE requirements to add a field).

  • The new rule also requires the educator to select a university that is either GaPSC approved, or NCATE accredited, or TEAC accredited, or has a Carnegie Classification of RU/VH (research university very high research activity) or RU/H (research university high research activity).

To assist educators with assuring that the program and institution they have selected does indeed meet these guidelines, the Professional Standards Commission has developed a Certificate Upgrade link on the http://www.gapsc.com/ website. Implementation tools include: Certificate Fields for Upgrades and U.S. Institutions for Certificate Upgrades. (Hint: In this document if ONE of the columns has a Yes the institution meets the requirement. The complete set of guidelines may be found at Certificate Upgrade. Remember that these are tools only- it is in your best interest to have a conversation with the potential university to make sure that it meets the guidelines. The PSC has also set up a special email for questions regarding upgrades. You may email the PSC in regard to upgrade questions at [email protected]. Be sure to include your certification ID# and all program details including university, program description, start and approximate completion dates.


Educational Leadership

If the field or upgrade you are interested is involves an advanced Leadership degree, it is most important that you familiarize yourself with the new Educational Leadership rule effective December 15, 2010. Educational Leadership now involves a partnership between the school system and the university. The PL-6 Information link on our Human Resources page will direct you in the process for applying for a PL-6. The PSC has a guidance document regarding Payment for Advanced Leadership Degrees in response to House Bill 923 which limits salary increases paid for advanced degrees in leadership by requiring the degree-holder to be employed in a leadership position.


Certification Renewal

For certificates expiring the current year, Human Resources will email the educator/paraprofessional an application packet around the first of December of that year. While we do attempt to assist you with reminders, each educator is ultimately responsible for holding a valid Georgia teaching certificate.


Contact Information:

Chandell Johnson 770-651-2322 or [email protected]

Georgia Professional Standards Commission at [email protected] or [email protected] or 404-232-2500.

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