Eligibility
The Philadelphia Teaching Fellows program is designed for outstanding individuals who do not currently hold a teaching certificate.

Eligible candidates must have the following:

• A bachelor's degree
  
  
• A cumulative undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher from an accredited college/university

• Academic background in a field outside of education. Individuals who majored in education, completed a graduate-level certification program, or who already hold a teaching certificate should contact the School District of Philadelphia's Human Resources Department directly to apply for a vacancy in their subject area.
  

• U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status
  

• Passing scores on the required Praxis Exams – standardized tests administered to prospective teachers by the national Educational Testing Service.
  (Interested candidates are encouraged to apply even if they have not yet taken these exams. However, candidates must pass the exams before they will receive full admission to the program. See Testing Requirements for more information.)

• At least 6 credits of undergraduate math and 6 credits of undergraduate English.  This is a Pennsylvania requirement for teacher certification.  Candidates who do not already have these credits upon entering the program may complete them as co-requisites during their certification programs.

• Content Knowledge
  Candidates must have proficiency or skills in one of the high-needs subject areas for which we recruit.  Please note that all Philadelphia Teaching Fellows are expected to teach at the middle or high school level (grades 7-12).  Due to stringent subject area requirements of the Pennsylvania Department of Education, individuals must meet the academic eligibility requirements for their preferred subject area(s) by holding a college/university major or the equivalent in that subject area (Note: a minor is not considered to be an equivalent of a major) or a closely related field. Please refer to the following table for more information on college majors that meet these state requirements for the high-need subject areas for which we recruit:

* In order to be eligible to teach special education, it is preferred for interested individuals to have professional or life experiences working with special-needs populations and/or some academic coursework in fields related to human development and behavioral science.

*** Additional subject areas and their corresponding requirements may be added at a later date according to the district's needs.

**** Due to the large number of applications that we expect to receive for special education, we anticipate that the selection process for positions in these subject areas will be particularly competitive.

Please note that although our program staff are happy to respond to your inquiries, all decisions regarding subject area eligibility are ultimately made by our university partners since they apply to the Pennsylvania Department of Education for intern teaching certificates on our Fellows' behalf.  Please refer to the Certification section of our website for more detail.  Please feel free to contact our office at info@philadelphiateachingfellows.org if you have any further questions regarding your subject area eligibility, especially if your academic major does not directly correspond to your preferred subject area but you do have a significant number of credits in that area nearly equivalent to a major.

Because the Philadelphia Teaching Fellows is an alternative certification program charged with recruiting individuals from a variety of disciplines in order to increase the number of highly-qualified individuals entering the teaching field, certified teachers are not eligible for the program. Individuals currently enrolled in a certification program who have completed all of their education coursework and only have to complete student teaching or pass the Praxis tests are also ineligible for the program. Certified and nearly certified teachers are strongly encouraged to contact the School District of Philadelphia Human Resources Department (http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/e/ee) at 215-400-4610 and to proceed with the traditional application process.