Every school-based professional appointed to the Virgin Islands public school system AFTER the 1991-1992 school year must complete a course in Virgin Islands History within the first year of employment.
Also, every new secondary school teacher or elementary content area teacher (art, music, physical education, etc.) hired AFTER the 1995-1996 school year must take and pass the Praxis I examination, which consists of Reading, Writing, and Mathematics sections. Elementary K-6 teachers must take the Praxis II examination in Elementary Education: Content Knowledge. For more information, or to register for the Praxis exam, click here.
How to Qualify for Certification
For initial certification in the U.S. Virgin Islands, all candidates must:
- Earn a baccalaureate degree.
- Submit appropriate applications.
- Submit official transcripts from all accredited institutions.
- Demonstrate proof of U.S. citizenship, permanent residency or other approved work status.
- Complete a course in Virgin Islands history within the first year of employment.
- Pass the Praxis® tests for their certification area.
According to the V.I. Board of Education's Certification document (available pdf here (129 KB) ), there are also general course requirements for any person who would like to teach in the United States Virgin Islands. Elementary school teachers need 36 Education credits, and Secondary school teachers need 26 education credits.
The areas are:
1. Foundations of Education. (This group includes areas such as philosophy of Education, school effectiveness, history of education, and comparative education);
2. Educational Psychology (This group includes such areas as growth and development of children from birth through life span, psychology of learning, child-adolescent psychology and mental hygiene);
3. Curriculum and Methods (This group includes a minimum of [18 for elementary, 8 for secondary] semester hours of credit in teaching language arts, reading, mathematics, fine arts, science, social studies, and effective teaching skills, classroom management, measurement and evaluation);
4. Educational Technology;
5. Special Education;
6. Student Teaching (supervised observation, participation and full-time responsible teaching in an elementary school, totaling at least 6 but not more than 12 semester hours of credit). Teachers who have taught in the Virgin Islands public school system with satisfactory or better evaluations for five consecutive years do not have to complete a student teaching course. This applies only to teachers hired in 1997 or before.
All teachers must have a minimum of a Bachelor's Degree, and secondary school teacher applicants must possess a minimum of a college major and/or 30 credits in a content area. Secondary school applicants with less than 30 credits in their content area, but more than 15 credits in that area, can take the Praxis II exam in that subject area to show content area competency.
Virgin Islands Board of Education (St. Thomas)
P.O. Box 11900 Dronningens Gade Nos. 60B, 61 and 62
St. Thomas, V.I. 00801
Tel: (340) 774-4546 Fax: (340) 774-3384
Virgin Islands Board of Education (St. Croix)
1123 King Street
Christiansted, St. Croix, USVI 00820
Tel: (340) 772-4144 Fax: (340)772-2895
Website: http://www.myviboe.com/I
Virgin Islands Board for Vocational Education
St. Croix: P.O. Box 5166 Christiansted, St. Croix U.S. Virgin Islands 00823 Telephone: (340) 719-0031 Fax: (340) 719-0025
St. Thomas: P.O. Box 11060 Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands 00801 Telephone: (340) 714-7437 Fax: (340) 714-7927
To view the certification requirements for the Vocational Board, click document here (59 KB) . 44k (PDF)
University of the Virgin Islands
If necessary, the University of the Virgin Islands offers Undergraduate and Graduate level courses to meet the certification requirements. You can get more information by visiting their web site here.
