Pennsylvania Teacher Certification

How to Earn Your Pennsylvania Level II (Instructional II) Certification

What it takes to convert your Instructional I into a permanent Level II certificate — the credits, the service, the induction, and where every document goes — verified against the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s own pages.

This guide is published by For Teachers By Teachers, an online professional development company for PreK–12 teachers, founded in 2015, with graduate-credit courses offered through university partners UMass Global and CSU Pueblo. It’s written for Pennsylvania teachers working toward Level II — whether you’re just starting the six-year service clock or racing the end of it. Everything below is drawn from the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s published requirements, with links to the source pages at the bottom.

The short version

To convert a Level I (Instructional I) to a Level II (Instructional II) permanent certificate, Pennsylvania requires four things: 24 post-baccalaureate credits (6 of them in your content area or in courses that improve your professional practice), three years of satisfactory Pennsylvania service, a completed PDE-approved induction program, and a satisfactory Level I to Level II evaluation (Form PDE-427). You apply through TIMS before your Instructional I reaches six years of service. Miss that window and the certificate lapses — you can’t teach in a Pennsylvania public school on a lapsed certificate. Complete it, and your Level II is permanent.

What “Level II” actually means

Pennsylvania uses a few different names for the same thing. Level II, Instructional II, and permanent certificate all refer to the certificate you earn when you convert your initial Instructional I. Teachers also call it “going permanent.” (Educational Specialists follow a parallel path to an Educational Specialist II; this guide focuses on the Instructional certificate, which covers classroom teachers.) The upgrade matters because it’s the difference between a certificate that expires and one that doesn’t: once you convert to Level II, it’s permanently valid.

The six-year clock (and why it’s easy to miss)

Here’s the part that catches teachers off guard. Your Instructional I is valid for six years of service — not six calendar years. Service years count only the time you’re actually working on the certificate in Pennsylvania; time you’re not teaching doesn’t burn the clock.

The catch: the Department of Education does not track your service years for you, and it does not warn you when you’re running low. PDE states plainly that tracking your years of service is your responsibility. If you complete six years of service without converting, your Instructional I lapses and becomes invalid for teaching — and you can’t be employed in a Pennsylvania public school on a lapsed certificate.

The good news: the requirements are straightforward, and every one of them is something you can start on now.

One more distinction worth knowing, because it confuses a lot of people: your certificate has two separate status tracks. One is validity (Valid vs. Lapsed) — that’s the Level I‑to‑Level II certification clock this guide is about, handled by PDE’s Division of Certification Services. The other is your Act 48 continuing-education status (Active vs. Inactive), handled by a different PDE division. They’re related but separate, and converting to Level II and staying current on Act 48 are two different jobs.

The four requirements, one at a time

1 24 post-baccalaureate credits

You need 24 semester credits earned after your initial bachelor’s degree. At least 6 of the 24 must be in the content area of your Level I certificate or in courses designed to improve your professional practice. The credits can be graduate or undergraduate, and they have to come from a regionally or nationally accredited (or state-approved) degree-granting college or university, completed with a passing grade and documented on an official transcript. Fully online coursework qualifies. (More on how this works — and what doesn’t count — below.)

2 Three years of satisfactory Pennsylvania service

You need three years of satisfactory teaching service on your Instructional I, in Pennsylvania, in the area of your certificate. Like the validity clock, this is measured in actual service years, not calendar years. Your employer verifies your service electronically through TIMS.

3 A PDE-approved induction program

Pennsylvania requires you to complete a PDE-approved induction program — the structured, mentored support program that public-school employers are required to provide for newly employed educators. Induction completed in another state can’t be substituted. If you’re not sure whether you’ve completed one, your employer can confirm it and reports it through TIMS.

4 A satisfactory Level I to Level II evaluation (Form PDE-427)

Your superintendent or chief school administrator recommends you for Level II based on a satisfactory evaluation, recorded on Form PDE-427 (the Instructional version is PDE-427 A). This is verified electronically through TIMS — you don’t mail the assessment form in yourself.

How the 24 credits work (the part teachers ask about most)

The credit requirement is where most of the choices live, so here’s the detail.

What counts:

Graduate or undergraduate credits from a regionally or nationally accredited, degree-granting institution
Earned after your bachelor’s degree, with a passing grade on an official transcript
Fully online coursework, and community-college credits
Eight standard 3-credit graduate courses, which add up to the full 24

What doesn’t count:

Act 48 hours. This trips people up, because Act 48 is the other big Pennsylvania requirement — but PDE is explicit that Act 48 continuing-education hours (CEUs) do not count toward the 24 Level II credits. Only actual college credits do.
Credits in law, medicine, real estate, and theology — unless you can show they relate directly to your certification.

The 6-of-24 rule: at least six of your credits need to be in your certificate’s content area or in courses “designed to improve professional practice” — which is PDE’s own language for professional-development coursework. Your employer or PDE makes the final call on whether a specific course applies, so if you’re counting on a particular course for the content-area six, it’s worth a quick confirmation.

Where your transcript goes (where the paperwork usually goes wrong)

Getting the credits is one thing; getting them to the right PDE office is another — and there’s a boundary here that’s easy to miss.

For Level II, your college or university sends your official transcript directly to PDE’s certification side. If your school can send electronic transcripts, they email it to ra-teachercert@pa.gov — but only after you’ve generated and submitted your Level II application in TIMS, and the transcript has to be in the same name as your TIMS application. If your school mails paper transcripts instead, they go in the unopened college envelope along with the TIMS application cover sheet you print after submitting.

The boundary that matters: transcripts you send to the Act 48 office are not used for your Level II review — PDE says this directly. The Act 48 side and the certification side are different offices, and a transcript sitting in your Act 48 record does not satisfy the Level II credit requirement. For Level II, the transcript has to reach the certification side (ra-teachercert@pa.gov) after your TIMS application. Send it to the wrong place and your application stalls.

The bonus: one course, two requirements

Because Act 48 and Level II are separate, teachers often assume the same coursework can’t help with both. It can. PDE counts each college semester credit as 30 Act 48 hours. So a single 3-credit graduate course gives you 3 of your 24 Level II credits and 90 Act 48 hours at the same time — and PDE confirms that credits earned for Level II certification can also be applied toward your Act 48 requirement, as long as they were earned during your current five-year Act 48 compliance period. There’s even a simple fix for the paperwork: if you sent a transcript to the certification side for your Level II application and also want those credits on your Act 48 record, you email ra-edact48@pa.gov and ask. (For the full picture on Act 48 — the 180-hour cycle, PERMS, and same-day uploads — see our Pennsylvania Act 48 guide.)

Earning your 24 credits online

Our graduate courses through UMass Global are 100% online, self-paced, and quiz-based — no portfolios, no live meetings. Each 3-credit course counts as 3 of your 24 Level II credits and arrives on an official UMass Global letter-grade transcript (the format most Pennsylvania districts also prefer for salary-lane movement). UMass Global is regionally accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC) and is a degree-granting institution — exactly what Pennsylvania’s Level II credit rule requires.

See UMass Global Courses →

These are graduate-level professional development credits used for certification and salary purposes — they’re not part of a master’s degree program and don’t stack toward a master’s on their own. Salary-lane rules vary by district, so confirm your district’s policy before you enroll. And for Level II itself, you file your own application and send your transcript through TIMS — that step is always between you and PDE. (What we handle automatically is Act 48 reporting to PERMS; Level II is your application to file.)

Frequently asked questions

Does online coursework count toward Pennsylvania Level II credits?

Yes. Pennsylvania accepts fully online graduate or undergraduate credits toward the 24-credit Level II requirement, as long as they’re from a regionally or nationally accredited, degree-granting college or university, completed with a passing grade, and documented on an official transcript. The delivery format doesn’t matter to PDE — the accreditation, the grade, and the transcript do.

How many courses is 24 credits?

If you’re using standard 3-credit graduate courses, 24 credits is eight courses. You don’t have to take them all at once or all from the same place — credits from any qualifying accredited institution count and can be combined, as long as each was earned after your bachelor’s degree with a passing grade on an official transcript.

Do my Act 48 hours count toward Level II?

No. Act 48 continuing-education hours and Level II credits are two different currencies. PDE is explicit that Act 48 hours (CEUs) do not count toward the 24 Level II credits — only actual college credits do. It works in the other direction, though: college credits you earn for Level II can also be applied to your Act 48 requirement if they fall within your current compliance period.

What happens if my Instructional I certificate already lapsed?

A lapsed Instructional I is invalid for teaching in a Pennsylvania public school, but it isn’t the end of the road — you’ll still complete the Level II requirements and apply through TIMS to convert. Because reinstatement situations vary, contact PDE’s certification office (ra-edcertquestions@pa.gov) about your specific record before assuming anything, and check your status in TIMS.

Can I use these credits toward a master’s degree?

Not automatically. The graduate credits teachers use for Level II are professional-development credits — they satisfy Pennsylvania’s Level II credit requirement and are commonly used for district salary-lane movement, but they aren’t part of a degree program and don’t stack toward a master’s on their own. Whether any credit transfers into a specific master’s program is always the receiving university’s decision.

Does For Teachers By Teachers submit my Level II application?

No — and no course provider does. Your Level II application, your service and induction verification, and your transcript all go through TIMS and PDE’s certification office directly; that step is always between you and the state. What we provide is the qualifying graduate coursework (through UMass Global) that meets Pennsylvania’s Level II credit rule. Separately, for Act 48, we do report your hours to PERMS — but Level II is your application to file.

How long does Level II certification take to process once I apply?

PDE processes Level II applications on its own timeline, and it varies, so we don’t publish a specific turnaround — the state controls that step. What you can control is submitting a complete application in TIMS with your service, induction, evaluation, and transcript all accounted for, which is what keeps an application from stalling.

Sources

This guide is based on the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s own published requirements, verified July 2026:

For your specific record, TIMS and PDE’s certification office (ra-edcertquestions@pa.gov) are the final authority.

Questions about earning your credits with us? We’re here to help: info@forteachersbyteachers.org