Secondary Education for BA, BS (secondary teacher certification) minor

UNT is authorized to recommend secondary and all-level teacher certification for students who are completing a bachelor’s degree in the following content areas:

Secondary Content Areas: chemistry; dance; English language arts and reading; family and consumer sciences; history; hospitality, nutrition and food sciences; human development and family studies; journalism; life science; mathematics; physical sciences; physics/mathematics; science; social studies; and speech.
All-Level Content Areas: art, French, German, music, physical education, Spanish and theatre.

Although teacher certification programs share many commonalities, each certificate has unique requirements. What applies to one certificate or grade level is not necessarily applicable to another. Also, additions, deletions and revisions to existing teacher standards, content areas and certificate levels continue to be made by the Texas Education Agency. Many certificates previously available have been or are scheduled to be replaced or deleted. Although overlap provisions exist for some certificates, they are not broadly applicable to all content areas. Special conditions may apply to certain content areas. Therefore, it is impractical to list requirements for individual content areas in this catalog.

Degree requirements

Hours required and general/college requirements

A minimum of 120 semester hours, of which 42 hours must be advanced, and fulfillment of degree requirements for the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree as specified in the “University Core Curriculum ” in the Academics section of this catalog and the College of Education requirements. Students seeking teacher certification in secondary or all-level education must also meet all requirements of the college responsible for awarding the degree program for their selected major.

Major requirements

See individual degree audit.

Other course requirements

See individual degree audit.

Minor requirements

Pedagogy, 12 hours

Reading/English/language arts, 3 hours

EDCI 4060 - Content Area Reading

Internship (student teaching), 6 hours

See “Student Teaching ” in the College of Education general information section of this catalog.

Electives

See individual degree audit.

Other requirements

Admission to Teacher Education. Prior to enrolling in the first education course, students must have:
- Completed a minimum of 60 semester hours, including the University Core Curriculum. (See “General University Requirements” in the Academics section of this catalog.) Programs in teacher education require specific courses contained in parts of the University Core Curriculum to satisfy particular degree requirements. Students should consult program advisors for best choices in the core;
- A 2.75 UNT GPA;
- A 2.75 overall GPA (includes all courses transferred to UNT, plus all courses taken at UNT);
- Appropriate exam scores on either the ACT, SAT or Praxis Core: Academic Skills for Educators; (contact the Student Advising Office in Matthews Hall, Room 105, for further information on the exam requirement); and
- Formally applied and been admitted to Teacher Education through the College of Education Student Advising Office in Matthews Hall, Room 105. For specific admission requirements for each area, see “Admission to Teacher Education” in the following areas in this catalog: Elementary Education and Secondary Education and Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Recreation.
Eligibility for Teacher Certification and Endorsements: Teacher certification is a function of the State Board for Educator Certification. Completion of the bachelor’s degree and the required education courses does not necessarily result in certification by the agency. In order to receive recommendation for teacher certification through the University of North Texas, students must have:
- Successfully completed an approved teacher education program for the preparation of early childhood, middle grades, secondary or all-level teachers;
- Successfully completed student teaching, including attendance at appropriate seminars;
- Passed the Secondary Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities (PPR) and content area sections of the Texas Examinations of Educator Standards (TExES), as applicable. Additional certifications may require satisfactory scores on portions related to those areas.

Access to Texas teacher certification exams (TExES) is granted to students who have been formally admitted to the Teacher Education program at UNT. Some content areas require that students take their content practice exam as part of a course requirement, or prerequisite for Early Field Experience. Only students who have been admitted to the Teacher Education program may sit for the practice exam.

The TExES practice exams are offered four times in the long semesters, twice during the summer. Students should visit with the TExES Advising Office in Matthews Hall, Room 103, for further information about their required exams (940-369-8601).