Amidst a decline in qualified teachers, EMU answers the call

Graduate certificate equips new teachers with the tools needed to better serve their students

Classrooms are in crisis.

The teaching profession is experiencing its lowest levels of employment in 50 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. More and more of those who are teaching have a short-term provisional license in lieu of a standard license and often have little to no actual training as teachers. There’s a growing need in the educational landscape and EMU has responded.

A new graduate certificate program equips provisionally licensed teachers with the skills and tools needed to better serve their students, while preparing them for licensure and helping tackle a nationwide teacher shortage. 

The Teaching and Learning Graduate Certificate, offered through EMU’s Graduate Teacher Education program, is designed for those with a bachelor’s degree and a provisional license.

What is a provisional teaching license? When someone has a bachelor’s degree but has not completed a teacher preparation program or is a career professional looking to transition into teaching, they can apply through their school division for a provisional license from the Virginia Department of Education. This temporary license allows teachers to work while they complete the requirements for a full teaching license. It’s nonrenewable and valid for up to three years (Virginia Administrative Code).

EMU’s Teaching and Learning Graduate Certificate program, which launched during the Spring 2025 semester, consists of five courses totaling 15 credit hours. Those who complete the sequence of courses advance their academic training and fulfill the professional requirements set by the Virginia Department of Education for a full teaching license, while earning graduate credit. The classes can be applied toward a master’s degree in education if students want to continue their studies. The graduate certificate also serves as a standalone credential and can be used to burnish a resume.

The program is fully asynchronous and online, offering flexibility that allows students from across the commonwealth and beyond to complete the coursework on their own schedules. Despite the virtual nature of the program, students can find belonging in a supportive professional learning community, said Paul Yoder, associate professor of teacher education and director of graduate teacher education at EMU.

“Some folks with a provisional license will take programs that are completely autonomous,” he said. “We’re bringing people together to learn and share their experiences with a seasoned educator as well as with others who are in the same boat. Rather than just reading something or watching videos, we want to engage people so that they can support each other.”

Yoder said the graduate certificate offers another way that EMU can meet real needs in the community. 

“While we have existing programs at EMU, including the preservice teacher program for undergraduate students, and that has been the predominant way that teachers have been prepared in the U.S. and Virginia, we see that it’s been shifting in the past decade,” he said. “We want to help meet that significant emerging need for training nontraditionally prepared teachers.”

From addressing social and ethical issues in the classroom to supporting positive classroom behavior and human growth and development, the courses enable new teachers to serve confidently and lead in a global context while making a difference in their classroom. The five courses that form the graduate certificate are: Curriculum and Instructional Strategies, Supporting Positive Classroom Behavior, Assessment of Learners, Social and Ethical Issues in Education, and Human Growth and Development.

One quality that sets EMU’s program apart from its peers is its fundamental emphasis on principles of restorative justice in education, such as building relationships and healthy communities.

“That’s going to be integrated within all of these courses,” Yoder said. 

He said that EMU looks forward to leveraging its existing partnerships with school divisions such as Harrisonburg City Public Schools as well as with others that have relied on quality EMU teachers over the years.

For more information about the Teaching and Learning Graduate Certificate, visit: emu.edu/maed/teaching-learning-certificate