HARRISBURG, Pa. - Some teachers who aren't certified in a core academic subject will be able to prove they are qualified to teach it without having to pass a certification test under new regulations adopted unanimously by the State Board of Education on Friday.

The new rules will create a "bridge certificate" that will enable teachers of special education, English as a Second Language, alternative education or middle-school students to eventually earn a subject-specific certificate from the Education Department. As many as 20,000 teachers would be eligible for the certificates.

The move is designed to help teachers satisfy a 2-year-old federal education law, which requires that by the end of the 2005-06 school year, all teachers of core academic subjects, such as English, math and science, demonstrate that they are qualified to teach those subjects.

Pennsylvania's regulations require teachers who currently do not meet the standard to pass a certification test in the subject they teach. But the federal law also allows states to adopt alternative routes for teachers to prove their subject knowledge.

The state Education Department would grant bridge certificates based on a combination of various criteria, such as college credit earned in the subject area, a "teacher of the year" award or other special recognition, and successfully tutoring students in the subject area in which the teacher is seeking certification.

Those teachers would be granted full state certification for teaching the subjects in grades seven and higher if they pass an evaluation of their classroom performance and professional development that is conducted while they are using the bridge certificate.

The bridge certificates will be valid for three years, and teachers who want one would have to obtain it by July 1, 2005.

Board member Mollie O'Connell Phillips, a guidance counselor in the Wyoming Valley West School District in Luzerne County, said the alternative route is ideal for veteran teachers who could be considered highly qualified by virtue of their classroom experience, but worry about not passing the Praxis teacher-certification test.

"I don't know if I would be intimidated by the Praxis or not. ... But if I were, I would like another way to continue my teaching career, and I think these are the kind of people we're talking about, not the kind of people who are trying to get under the system," she said.

The Education Law Center, a legal advocacy group in Philadelphia, fears that the new regulations will weaken Pennsylvania's teacher-quality standards because the policy doesn't mandate specific criteria for obtaining the "bridge certificates," said Baruch Kintisch, an attorney for the organization.

"This creates a loophole, and it's not just for a few teachers," Kintisch said.

Representatives from the state's two major teacher's unions, the Pennsylvania State Education Association and the Pennsylvania Federation of Teachers, said they support the new policy.