English Secondary Education

Certain courses required for an English Secondary Education major must be taken during certain college years.

Sophomore Year (2 Units)

EFN 299 – Schools & Communities
SED 224 – Adolescent Learning and Development

Junior or Senior Year (2 Units)

EFN 398 – Historical & Political Contexts of Schools
EED 400 – Teaching Writing (preferrably after the Junior Experience)

Junior Year (3 Units)

These three courses include a shared field experience and should be taken together

EED 390 – Methods of Teaching Secondary English
SED 399 – Pedagogy in Secondary Schools
SPE 323 – Secondary Content Literacy in Inclusive Classrooms

Senior Year (3 Units)

EED 490 — Student Teaching (2 units)
SED 498 — Collaborative Capstone Seminar

It is strongly recommended that the student not enroll in any additional courses during his or her student teaching seminar.

Program Grade Requirements
Students must earn a grade of C+ or better in SED 224 and EFN 299.
Students must have a minimum GPA of 2.5 to enroll in SED 399.
Students must have earned a grade of B or better in SED 399, a B- in EED 390, a B- in EED 400 and have an overall GPA of 2.75 to enroll in student teaching.

For further guidance, you may consult this possible sequence for ENGT students.

1 Health Requirement

You must meet the State of New Jersey health requirement in order to be certified in New Jersey. The requirement may be met in the following ways:

Basic US Military Training
Any college course in biology, nutrition, anatomy & physiology, health& wellness issues, or personal/family/community health
TCNJ course SCI 104
Health and hygiene test taken in the TCNJ Certification Office (117 Forcina Hall)*

*The test takes approximately 40 minutes and covers general health & fitness, illness & disease, smoking, and drug and substance use & abuse. All questions are taken from a study guide available below. Students should contact the Certification Office to schedule a time to take the test (117 Forcina Hall, ext. 2396).

Click here for Health and hygiene test study guide

For more questions, please contact Emily Meixner, Director of the English Secondary Education Program or view the English T website.

PRAXIS/NTE Tests

During the final year of your program, you should arrange to take the PRAXIS/NTE test. The only test required for New Jersey secondary certification in English is “English Language, Literature, and Composition: Content Knowledge.” Pennsylvania certification requires the same subject area test, plus the PPST Reading, Writing, and Mathematics tests as well as the “Principles of Learning and Teaching, Grades 7-12.”

Information and registration forms for the Praxis tests are available in the STEP office, 154 or 157 Forcina.

Certification

Apply for certification early in the semester of your graduation in the STEP office, 157 Forcina. Note that you cannot be certified until after you have graduated. If you “walk” in the May graduation ceremony but take any courses over the summer, you are considered an August graduate and cannot be certified until late August, which may prevent you from being hired in many school districts.

For further information on certification, contact Roberta Conjura in the STEP office, 771-2318.

English