About This Collection
The Superintendent of Public Instruction was the head of the old Department of Public Instruction and also served as the Chief Executive Officer of the State Board of Education that was created in 1963 to implement the School District Reorganization Act of 1963 (Act 299) under which the Commonwealth's 2,056 school districts were consolidated into 466 by 1966. In 1969 this post was superseded by that of the Secretary of Education. Applications for permanent, provisional, temporary, special, and temporary special continuation teaching certificates submitted to the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The type of information given varies with the forms utilized. Application forms for provisional college certification provide the name, age, address, county of residence, and college of the candidate; the college courses that he or she studied; the date that the diploma was issued; and the dates that the application was received and the certificate granted. Application forms for permanent certification, on the other hand, usually only indicate the name, address, semesters of teaching experience, and school district of the applicant; the date that the application was received; and the date that certification was granted.