All certification areas offered by Southern Nazarene University require successful completion of the State Teacher Certification Test(s) before licensure. Registration booklets are available in the Teacher Education Office or from the Oklahoma Commission for Teacher Preparation. This testing requirement applies to all students completing certificate requirements. Current teachers seeking certification in another field must also take the appropriate test(s). Students are eligible to take the test(s) after completing ninety (90)semester hours. Approval of the Director of Teacher Education is required. For specific area tests, the student must have completed specific courses. There is no restriction on the number of times a test may be taken. SNU recommends serious preparation before taking the test(s) and remediation if a test is to be retaken. For information contact the Office of Teacher Education (405) 491-6317.

THE COMPETENCY-BASED ASSESSMENT is a multifaceted system basedupon what the teacher candidate should know and be able to do. The assessmentsystem consists of four components: (1) the Oklahoma General Education Test(OGET); (2) the Oklahoma Subject Area Tests (OSAT); (3) the OklahomaProfessional Teaching Examination (OPTE); and (4) the institutional portfolioassessment process.

The OGET is based upon the general educationcompetencies found in the Handbook. These competencies originated from StateStatute and the OCTP Report: A Report on Educator Preparation and ProfessionalDevelopment. The Buros Institute and NES are working collaboratively to validatethis assessment instrument for both teacher certification and for admissions toteacher preparation. It should be noted that SNU requires the OGET to be takenand passed before a person can be admitted to SNU’s teacher education program.

The OSAT is based upon the SDE Full, Subject Area Competencies and theNCATE Curriculum Folio Guidelines. SDE rules state “the teacher candidate forlicensure and certification shall demonstrate in-depth knowledge of subjectmatter as reflected in the standards of the learned societies recognized by theNational Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). In programsareas in which NCATE has not recognized a learned society, the standards of alearned society appropriate to the subject area shall be used.”

The OPTEis based upon the SDE General Competencies for Licensure and Certification. Thisexamination is developed for four levels: (1) Early Childhood - PK-3; (2)Elementary/Middle Level - Grades 1-9; (3) Middle Level/Secondary - Grades 5-12;and (4) All Levels - PK-12. The all levels test is for certification areas suchas Physical Education, Music, Art, Foreign Language, and Special Education.