• A candidate cannot apply for the provisional certificate; this certificate is requested by a school district.
• This certificate legalizes employment for a newly hired teacher after the teacher obtains a Certificate of Eligibility (CE).
• This certificate is valid for up to two years and expires on July 31 of the second year.
• The provisional certificate can be renewed one time if standard requirements have not yet been met by the expiration date.

The teacher must first complete a minimum amount of 50 hours of pre-professional experience at a Certificate of Eligibility Program Provider. The candidate must provide the district with documentation of enrollment in an approved Certificate of Eligibility Educator Preparation Program (CE EPP) along with the completed 50-Hour Verification of Completion form showing completion of the 50 hours.

Once employment has been secured, it is the responsibility of the hiring school district to enroll the teacher into the Provisional Teacher Process. A provisional certificate is then issued which is valid for a period of up to two school years.

The PTP is a school-based training and evaluation program provided during the initial years of teaching in New Jersey.

The following must be completed while employed:

• Mentoring
• Evaluation
• Formal Instruction

Mentoring

The provisional teacher must be mentored for a minimum of 30 weeks by a certified teacher in the district/school. Mentoring requirements are located at Educator Mentoring and Induction Support.

Evaluation

The provisional teacher must be evaluated based on the AchieveNJ instrument utilized in the district/school and receive two effective or highly effective final summative ratings, one per school year within a three-year span. Visit AchieveNJ for additional information

Formal Instruction Requirements

Once the 50 hours of formal instruction has been completed the teacher must enroll in remainder of the 350 hours/credits of formal instruction at a Certificate of Eligibility Program Provider.