Certification Requirements: Secondary History and Social Studies (026)
1) A bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution.
2) A minimum of 39 semester hours of college credit in general education including:
- A three-credit survey course in United States history
AND - Coursework in at least five of the following six areas
- natural science (biology, chemistry, earth science, physics)
- English
- social studies (psychology, sociology, economics, political science, anthropology)
- fine arts (visual art, music)
- mathematics
- foreign language
3) A subject area major in history and 19 credits in social studies
OR
A subject area major in political science, economics, geography, anthropology, or sociology and 18 credits in history.
OR
A minimum of 39 credits in history and social studies, including 18 credits in history (including U.S. history, Western Civilization/European history, and Non-Western history) and at least one course in political science, one course in economics, one course in geography, and one course in sociology, psychology, or anthropology
4) A minimum of 18 semester hours of college credit in professional education in a planned program of study, including:
- foundations of education (e.g., philosophy of education, school effectiveness, history of education and comparative education)
- educational psychology (e.g., growth and development children from birth through the life span, psychology of learning, child-adolescent psychology)
- curriculum and methods of teaching (e.g., subject area curriculum and methodology and effective teaching skills)
- student teaching (minimum of six credits)
- an approved three-credit course of study in special education including gifted and talented.
5) A passing score on the Praxis Social Studies test
A printable version of these requirements is also available.