How to Apply

Eligibility

The Maryland State Department of Education has recently made changes to the eligibility requirements for the Resident Teacher Certificate. These requirements are non-negotiable, and set and enforced by the Maryland State Department of Education. Please scroll down to the content area requirements to review this information.

The Baltimore City Teaching Residency is designed for outstanding individuals who do not currently have a professional teaching certificate.

Eligible candidates must have the following:

General Requirements

• A bachelor's degree;
• A 2.75 GPA or higher in the subject area they wish to teach (See below for additional requirements for different subject areas and for information on how to calculate this GPA.);U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status;
• Passing scores on the required Praxis I Exams (or satisfying MD scores on the SAT/GRE/ACT tests)
• Passing scores on the required Praxis II Content Knowledge in your assigned content area 

(Interested candidates are encouraged to apply even if they have not yet taken these exams. However, candidates must pass the exams before they will receive full admission to the program. See Praxis Requirements for more information.)

• Relevant content knowledge in one or more of the subject areas for which the Baltimore City Teaching Residency recruits.
  (See specific content knowledge requirements listed below.)

Subject Area Specific Requirements

Beyond the general eligibility requirements listed above, candidates must have proficiency or skills in one of the high-needs subject areas for which we recruit.

Eligibility is determined according to strict Maryland State Department of Education requirements which stipulate that candidates must have either an undergraduate major or a graduate degree in a subject with a minimum G.P.A of 2.75 in that content area in order to teach a given subject. These requirements are non-negotiable, and set and enforced by the Maryland State Department of Education.

The following are the specific requirements for each subject area:

Early Childhood and Elementary Education

Elementary Special Education

English (Secondary Content Area)

Fine Arts (Art and Music)

Math (Secondary Content Area)

If you do not meet the below math eligibility requirements but wish to teach math, click here to learn about our Math Immersion Program.

Science: Biology (Secondary Content Area)

Science: Chemistry (Secondary Content Area)

Science: Physics (Secondary Content Area)

Social Studies (Secondary Content Area)

Spanish (Secondary Content Area)

Secondary Special Education

If you wish to teach Special Education in one of the secondary subject areas (e.g., English, Math) you must meet the requirement of the secondary content area.

• 24 credits in the content area (please see specific content area for eligibility details).
• 6 related credits.
• A 2.75 GPA average in the above 30 credits.
• Special Education Residents will also take Praxis II: Knowledge-Based Core Principals, after the BCTR training in August.

How to Calculate Your Subject Area GPA

For a convenient way to figure out your content GPA please use the GPA calculator on this website. With this GPA calculator, you simply need to enter the grade and credits that you received for the courses needed to make you eligible to teach a particular content area.

For instance, if someone were applying for a Social Studies position, they would need to check out the eligibility requirements (listed above) necessary to teach Social Studies, and then plug those courses into the GPA calculator.