On November 26, 2025, in efforts to strengthen the Commonwealth’s pipeline of qualified K-12 educators, the Shapiro Administration announced updates to the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s (PDE) website that will make it easier than ever for aspiring educators to become a certified teacher in Pennsylvania, while still earning a paycheck. Thus, PDE and the Commonwealth Office of Digital Experience Pennsylvania (CODE PA) have redesigned multiple pages on PDE’s website to provide step-by-step guides on:
- How to get certified to teach in Pennsylvania schools; Â
- How to get certified when already credentialed in another state;
- How to get a permit to substitute teach in Pennsylvania; and,
- How to return to teaching after time away.
The updated pages also include a standardized format and commonly used terms for prospective teachers to more easily find and understand information to get successfully certified.
Pennsylvania is facing a teacher shortage, making it more critical than ever to remove barriers to entering and staying in the profession. Under the leadership of Governor Shapiro, PDE and other Commonwealth agencies have been laser-focused on strategic initiatives to recruit and retain high-quality teachers in Pennsylvania classrooms.
These efforts are working. In 2024-25, the number of experience-based certifications issued to aspiring educators increased by more than 45 percent – up from 382 in 2023-24 to 555 in 2024-25. and provide new teachers with both mentorship and a pathway to a highly valuable permanent teaching credential. Previously known as intern certificates, experience-based certificates were renamed by Act 47 of 2025.
Individuals with an experience-based certificate have passed the content test demonstrating that they have the knowledge to teach in a content area and must only complete their professional core education work and student teaching before becoming fully certified. Rather than re-applying every year for emergency permits, these new teachers have five-year certificates, giving them the chance to complete their student teaching while working and getting paid as a teacher of record. PDE has approved 54 additional experience-based preparation programs in the past 18 months.
Since the 2021-22 school year, PDE has seen a steady increase in the number of Instructional 1 certificates issued every year. PDE issued a total of 6,612 in-state and out-of-state Instructional 1 certificates in 2023-24. The Act 82 Report compiled and published each year by PDE also showed an increase of 793 newly certified PK-4 educators, 85 more health and physical PK-12 educators, and 762 PK-12 special educators over the past two years.