Teacher Certification

On March 13, 1995 , the Teacher Education Council of Michigan State University unanimously approved the College of Social Science 's request that the undergraduate major in Interdisciplinary Studies in Social Science be designated as a major for teacher certification. Subsequent to the council's approval, MSU's Academic Council also approved the IDS major for teacher certification.

Teacher certification for students in the IDS major follows the new "Social Studies (RX)" coding mandated by the State of Michigan 's Department of Education. Those IDS students who are pursuing teacher certification at elementary, middle/junior high, and secondary school levels must complete the following requirements in the major: a minimum combined total of 36 credits in courses in economics, geography, history, and political science including a minimum of two courses in each of those disciplines selected from lists of courses that have been approved for this purpose by the College of Social Science. Students use selections from the lists of approved courses to satisfy the requirements in the "interdisciplinary concentration" and "disciplinary cognate" parts of the IDS major as well as the requirements for teacher certification in Social Studies. Since the IDS major requires a minimum of 42 semester credits, students in the IDS major will automatically exceed the minimum requirements for certification in the major by six credits. Students pursuing teacher certification will also have to complete appropriate course work in an approved teaching minor (for secondary certification) or set of "complementary studies" (for elementary certification) and in undergraduate teacher education professional development.

The teacher certification requirements are significant, and students will have to plan their programs of study carefully. Teacher certification will require that IDS students take at least one additional semester of coursework to complete their bachelor's degrees; some students will need to take more than one additional semester. Also, all students who pursue teacher certification will have to apply for concurrent admission to the College of Education and invest an additional year after graduation to complete their teacher education professional development course work and student teaching requirements.

Please Note: All students who are pursuing post-baccalaureate teaching certification in RX/Social Studies or who are pursuing a post-baccalaureate teaching endorsement in RX/Social Studies are advised exclusively by the teacher education advisors in the College of Education, 134 Erickson Hall, 517/353-9680.

Students who are interested in pursuing teacher certification should meet with their academic advisors as early in their undergraduate programs as possible.