Official Site of The State of New Jersey
Verify Accreditation of a College or University
New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) certification regulations require that college credits are shown on the transcript of an accredited institution of higher education.
“Accreditation” and “accredited” mean a status attained by an institution through voluntarily meeting standards for academic degree programs and/or college credit-bearing courses set by a nongovernmental entity recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education.
Individuals seeking New Jersey educator certification or substitute credentials that require college credits must submit transcripts from an accredited institution of higher education. If a college or university has been accredited by one of these recognized agencies, then credits from their transcripts can be evaluated for certification purposes.
Please note, per below, that accreditation does not provide automatic acceptance of course credits.
Limitations on Accepting Credits:
- All certification titles have specific degree and content/subject requirements that must be met, regardless of which accredited institution an individual has attended.
- Some certification titles require that an individual complete a particular program that is specifically approved by the NJDOE. These include alternate route certificates for Teacher of Students with Disabilities, English as a Second Language, Bilingual/Bicultural Education, and School Library Media Specialist.
- A graduating cumulative grade point average (GPA) cannot be improved by taking just any post-graduation courses at the same institution, nor does the NJDOE recalculate a graduating GPA by considering courses from institutions other than the one(s) from which an individual graduated.
Please refer to Certificate Subject Area/Grade Level and Codes for details on specific certification requirements.