Rule 505-2-.25 - Experience Requirements(1)Summary: Work experience as an educator or in another occupation may be required as a qualification for certification in the following situations: (a) To meet eligibility requirements for specified fields in Career, Technical and Agricultural Education as outlined in GaPSC Rules 505-2-.87 HEALTHCARE SCIENCE, and 505-2-.90 CAREER AND TECHNICAL SPECIALIZATIONS;(b) To meet eligibility requirements for selected permit fields, and the certificate field of Educational Leadership, as outlined in the appropriate field rule;(c) To exempt selected Special Georgia Requirements with successful out-of-state educator experience; and(d) To meet eligibility or renewal requirements for the Standard Professional, Performance-Based Professional, Lead Professional and Advanced Professional certificates.(2)Verification of Experience. The GaPSC shall verify satisfactory experience for certification purposes. Employing local units of administration (LUAs) are responsible for verifying and evaluating satisfactory experience for salary purposes in accordance with State Board of Education rules.(3)Successful Educator Experience.(a) Experience must be accompanied by satisfactory ratings on annual performance evaluations.(b) Only full-time experience will be accepted.1. One (1)-year of full-time experience in a Birth through grade 12 (B-12) setting is defined as a minimum of one hundred twenty (120) days working full time in a GaPSC-accepted educational setting. No computations for partial-year experience will apply.2. One (1)-year of full-time experience in a government agency is defined as twelve (12) full months of employment, working forty (40) hours per week with the exception of standard leave or holidays. Non-consecutive full months of employment may be combined to constitute a full year of experience in a government agency, but no partial years of this type of experience may be combined with experience in a B-12 setting.(c) Experience must have been earned while holding a government-issued educator certificate/license in the field in which the experience was earned, and the experience and certificate must be from the same state/country. Experience earned while holding a non-professional educator certificate/license is acceptable as long as a professional educator certificate/license was subsequently earned in the same state/country and field.(d) Unless otherwise specified, full years of educator experience in different settings may be combined. The following are GaPSC-accepted educational settings: 1. A U.S. P-12 public school;2. A U.S. P-12 private school accredited by a GaPSC-accepted P-12 accrediting organization when the experience was earned (See GaPSC Rule 505-2-.31 GaPSC-ACCEPTED ACCREDITATION);3. A government agency or educator preparation provider (EPP) while working in an education position that required maintenance of a valid professional educator certificate;4. A school administered by a jurisdiction that has signed the NASDTEC Interstate Agreement, such as the District of Columbia, Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), etc., as identified on the NASDTEC web site at www.nasdtec.org;5. A kindergarten, pre-kindergarten, Head Start Program or early care center that met one of the following qualifications at the time the experience was earned:(i) Under the legal authority of a U.S. public school board of education or a jurisdiction that has signed the NASDTEC Interstate Agreement as outlined in Section 4 above;(ii) Licensed by the state or country in which it was located;(iii) Certified by the U.S. Department of Defense;(iv) Accredited by a GaPSC-accepted P-12 accrediting organization (See GaPSC Rule 505-2-.31 GaPSC-ACCEPTED ACCREDITATION); or(v) Accredited by a GaPSC-accepted early care accrediting organization (See GaPSC Rule 505-2-.31 GaPSC-ACCEPTED ACCREDITATION).6. A P-12 school setting in a foreign country, as long as: (i) The individual held the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's degree prior to the time the experience was earned;(ii) The individual held a valid professional certificate issued by the appropriate governing body in the field and subject taught at the time the experience was earned; and(iii) The school was organized and conducted with educational curriculum similar to that found in U.S. public schools. This determination will be made by GaPSC Certification Division staff.(e) Experience as a supply/substitute, a paraprofessional or as a member of a board of education does not apply toward educator experience for certification purposes.(f) Acceptable educator experience must be evaluated by a school, district or agency approved performance evaluation system. 1. Each successful year of out-of-state educator experience must have been rated "Satisfactory" or equivalent on an annual evaluation. This may be documented in one of the following ways: (i) On the Experience Verification Form, as outlined in section (h) below;(ii) On official performance evaluations; or(iii) In a letter from an administrator who supervised the educator during the years reported.(g) If an individual is a member of the military Reserve or National Guard and is called to active duty, one (1) full year of active duty status will be accepted as a satisfactory year of educator experience. No more than two (2) full years of experience within the last five (5) years may result from military active duty. Military experience as described above must be documented on a DD214 form, Member Copy #4.(h) Unless otherwise noted, successful experience must be documented on the GaPSC Experience Verification Form, found on the GaPSC web site, www.gapsc.com. It must be completed by the Superintendent, Headmaster, Agency Director or designated personnel officer of the current or previous employing LUA. Principals are not authorized to complete the Experience Verification Form unless they are the designated personnel officer. The form should be completed in its entirety; if a current or former employer is unable or unwilling to complete all parts of the Experience Verification Form, supplemental documentation provided by the applicant may be accepted at the discretion of the GaPSC.(4)Occupational Experience.(a) Individuals applying for certification in Healthcare Science or certain Career and Technical Specialization fields, or applicants for Permits may be required to submit occupational experience in order to qualify. (See GaPSC Rules 505-2-.87 HEALTHCARE SCIENCE, 505-2-.90 CAREER AND TECHNICAL SPECIALIZATIONS, and 505-2-.10 PERMIT CERTIFICATE.) This experience may be documented in one of the following ways: 1. Correspondence on official organization letterhead, signed by the individual's supervisor at the time the experience was earned, outlining dates of employment, job title and job duties.2. If self-employed, copies of business or personal tax records that reflect self-employment work experience in the field being requested.(5)Out-of-State Experience Exemption.(a) Veteran out-of-state educators moving into Georgia may be eligible to exempt all Special Georgia Requirements except the standards of conduct. To be eligible, the individual must have a minimum of five (5) full years of successful educator experience earned outside of Georgia, as defined in section (3) above, which also meets the following requirement:1. Earned in a single field (subject area) that is comparable to the Georgia certificate field being sought. For example, to exempt the mathematics assessment, the experience must be in teaching mathematics; to exempt the school counseling assessment the experience must be in school guidance counseling, etc. Out-of-state educators certified in multiple fields will be eligible to exempt the content knowledge assessment only for the field in which the acceptable experience was earned. Other fields will be subject to the assessment requirement, but will be exempt from all other applicable Special Georgia Requirements with the exception of the standards of conduct.Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 505-2-.25
O.C.G.A. § 20-2-200.
Original Rule entitled "Miscellaneous Application Forms" adopted. F. Dec. 18, 1991; eff. Jan. 7, 1992.Repealed: Rule reserved. F. Dec. 16, 1992; eff. July 1, 1993, as specified by the Agency.Amended: New Rule entitled "Add a Field to an Existing Certificate" adopted. F. Feb. 20, 2004; eff. Mar. 15, 2004, as specified by the Agency.Amended: F. Dec. 14, 2004; eff. Jan. 15, 2005, as specified by the Agency.Amended: F. Feb. 10, 2006; eff. Mar. 15, 2006, as specified by the Agency.Amended: F. Nov. 9, 2006; eff. Dec. 15, 2006, as specified by the Agency.Amended: F. June 18, 2007; eff. July 15, 2007, as specified by the Agency.Amended: F. Apr. 20, 2009; eff. May 15, 2009, as specified by the Agency.Amended: F. Sept. 10, 2009; eff. Oct. 1, 2009, as specified by the Agency.Amended: F. May 24, 2013; eff. June 15, 2013, as specified by the Agency.Repealed: New Rule entitled "Experience Requirements" adopted. F. Jun. 11, 2014; eff. July 1, 2014, as specified by the Agency.Amended: F. Sep. 24, 2015; eff. Oct. 15, 2015, as specified by the Agency.Amended: F. June 8, 2017; eff. July 1, 2017, as specified by the Agency.Repealed: New Rule of same title adopted. F. Dec. 13, 2019; eff. Jan. 1, 2020, as specified by the Agency.