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CERTIFICATION

Mentoring Requirement for the NYS Professional Certificate for Charter School Teachers

 

• Teachers employed in a charter school during their first year of employment with a NYS Initial certificate are exempt from the mentoring requirement for their professional certificate.
• Teachers with two years of paid, full-time satisfactory teaching service PRIOR to the issuance of the NYS Initial certificates are also exempt (this experience includes out-of-state teaching).
• Non- exempt teachers must download the Superintendent Verification of Mentoring form, have it signed by their former school principal/superintendent and mail the completed form to the SED.  The form is available on the TEACH web site:                                 http://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/pdf/otmentoredexp.pdf

NYS Charter School Law and Uncertified Teachers

 

• According to NYS Charter School Law, at least 70% of a charter school’s teaching staff must be certified by the New York State Education Department (SED).
• Thirty Percent (30) of the teaching staff or five teachers (whichever is less) may be employed as uncertified teachers if they meet one of the criteria below:

• Have at least three years of elementary, middle or secondary classroom teaching experience
• Are tenured or tenure track college faculty
• Have two years of teaching experience through Teach for America
• Possess exceptional business, professional, artistic, athletic or military experience

 

A charter school teacher who is certified in one area but teaching in another is still considered certified via definition and is not part of the uncertified count.

 

All classroom teachers of NCLB core subjects must demonstrate that they are highly qualified for their teaching assignment(s). 

 

 

NYS Certification Deadlines for Transcript Evaluation

 

• As you know, the SED stopped accepting applications for the individual evaluation pathway to obtain the Initial certificate in Childhood Ed, grades 1-6 on February 1, 2007.  Those who chose this pathway had to have applied and met the requirements by that date.

 

• The SED will only accept applications from candidates applying for the Initial certificate in all other classroom titles via individual transcript evaluation if they both qualify and apply by February 1, 2009.

 

• These deadlines do not apply to applicants for additional certificates, reciprocity, Professional certificates, Supplementary certificates, Teaching Assistant certificates or extensions.

 

• After the deadline, candidates will be required to complete a teacher preparation program for their first Initial certificate.

 

Please contact Caryl Cohen, our certification consultant, if you have any questions.