This Fact Sheet reflects updates to Substitute Teaching regulations and TESOL Supplementary Certificate requirements adopted by the Board of Regents at their September 2023 meeting.
In response to the on-going teacher shortage, the State Education Department has made several revisions to existing regulations to provide flexibility regarding hiring individuals for positions that would otherwise go unfilled. This Fact Sheet provides a summary of these changes, a recap of other certification flexibility options, as well as an overview of the residency certificate/residency program, and apprenticeship programs.
Incidental Teaching:
SED has extended through the 2023-2024 school year, the increased hours of 10 hours/week that a teacher can perform incidental teaching when no certified or
qualified teacher is available after an extensive and documented recruitment.
Note that teachers who do not hold special education certification cannot have incidental teaching assignments where special education certification is required.
Employment Authorizations – Incidental Teaching (OTI:NYSED)
Time Extensions:
Time extensions will no longer be available to Initial or Provisional certificate holders. They will use the reissuance option as of August 2, 2023.
Time extensions will be available for Internship, Residency, and Transitional certificate holders. Transitional A (CTE teachers) and Transitional G (experience teaching in higher education) certificate holders will need a commitment of employment for at least one year to obtain the time extension.
Transitional B, Transitional C, Transitional H, Internship, and Residency certificate holders will need to submit evidence of continued matriculation in their SED-approved teacher education program to obtain the time extension.
Re-Issuance of Initial Certificates:
As of August 2, 2023, teachers and school leaders can apply for two (2) 5-year Reissuances of their initial certificates. The state had previously removed the CTLE hours’ requirement for a reissuance and this latest change has also removed the requirement for the applicant to retake the Content Specialty Test.
The requirements for the first reissuance are that the applicant has met all the requirements for the professional EXCEPT the education (master’s degree) and/or the experience requirement. Members apply on TEACH and submit an Attestation form to the state at tcert@nyssed.gov.
The requirements for the second reissuance are that the applicant has met all the requirements for the professional EXCEPT the education (master’s degree) OR the experience requirement.
Educator Permit for Military Personnel:
In response to federal law that require a receiving state to consider the professional license or educator certificate of a servicemember or their spouse to be valid in the new jurisdiction for the duration of a military order or orders, SED has created an Emergency Permit for eligible servicemembers.
Full-time teachers employed under the Educator Permit are subject to Part 30 rules regarding appointments and tenure and current education law regarding annual evaluations. If employed for five or more years under an Emergency Permit, the teacher must complete CTLE requirements.
SED is currently creating the application in TEACH and expect it to be available to servicemembers and their spouses by the end of August 2023.
Substitute Teaching:
For the 2023-2024 school year and beyond, SED will continue its policy of allowing uncertified individuals to substitute teach beyond the 40-day maximum up to 90 days in a school year in situations where the district or BOCES certifies that it has conducted a good faith recruitment search for a qualified candidate yet could not find a certified teacher for the position. In rare circumstances, districts/BOCES can extend beyond the 90-day period if a superintendent attests to another good faith recruitment search that failed to identify a certified teacher and that a particular substitute is needed until the end of the school year.
Substitute Teaching (OTI:NYSED)
Existing Certification Flexibility:
Supplementary Certificates:
Currently certified teachers can obtain a supplementary certificate by completing 9 or 12 credits in the certificate title sought, passing of the Content Specialty Test, and receiving a commitment of employment from the district. The teacher would then have 5 additional years to complete any missing requirements for the new certificate.
In response to a recent influx of English language learners, SED has changed the requirements for the supplementary certificate for (a) certified teachers applying for a supplementary certificate in ESOL and (b) certified ESOL teachers applying for a supplementary certificate in another area. For the period between September 12, 2023, and August 31, 2024, the requirements will be completion of either the exam requirement or the course requirements (from appropriate college programs).
SED is also changing the requirements for the Supplementary Bilingual Education extension. For the period between September 12, 2023, and August 31, 2024, certified teachers and pupil personnel services professionals can obtain this credential by passing the Bilingual Education Assessment (BEA) in lieu of completing required coursework. This credential is valid only for three years.
For those individuals who obtain this credential between September 12, 2023, and August 31, 2024, SED will allow the credential to be renewed once for three additional years if the holder of the credential has since matriculated into a NYS-approved program and completed a course in Bilingual Education that addresses study in theories of bilingual education and multicultural perspectives.
SED entered this option to the list of available certificates on TEACH under "Other School Service" in the Area of Interest drop down menu - Requirement Lookup (nysed.gov).
Internship Certificates:
A candidate in a NYS-approved graduate level teacher education program who has completed at least one-half of the required credits for the program may, at the request of the institution, be issued an internship certificate. An internship certificate is valid for up to two years and the holder of the certificate can be a teacher of record. An internship certificate is no longer valid if the candidate leaves or completes the teacher education program.
Additional Science Certificates:
Certified science teachers who seek an additional science certificate can obtain the additional science certificate by completing 18 credits (not 30) in the content core of the additional science certificate and passing the Content Specialty Test in the additional science discipline.
Transitional Certificates:
Transitional certificates are designed as pathways into teaching that enable applicants to start teaching prior to or instead of completion of a traditional teacher education program. Transitional certificate holders still complete requirements to move to initial certificates and then to professional certificates.
Transitional A certificates target CTE teachers.
Transitional B certificates target classroom teachers – see Transitional B Alternative Teacher Preparation Program (NYSED).
Transitional G certificates target educators with higher education teaching experience.
Transitional J certificates target spouses of individuals serving in the Armed Forces.
Residency Certificate:
A residency certificate can be issued to a candidate in a SED-approved teacher preparation program that has a state-approved residency component. The ‘residency’ is a structured, college-supervised experience connected to program learning goals that is at least one academic year long and includes at least 1,000 hours of clinical experiences. Mentors for residents are required to have the same certificate area as the resident, have at least 3 years of FT teaching experience in that subject area, and be designated by the district as a school-based teacher educator or be rated as effective or highly effective in the most recent evaluation.
An individual with a residency certificate cannot be a teacher of record.
Governor Hochul’s Teacher Residency Program (TRP) provides $30 million to subsidize the costs of NYS teacher education programs for holders of a residency certificate. How the money can be used to support the resident can be found at Teacher Residency Program (TRP) Request for Applications (RFA) Questions and Answers (Q&A) (NY Dept of Labor).
Apprenticeships:
Apprenticeship programs must have a higher education partner with a state-approved residency program. The apprenticeship model uses a gradual release of responsibility model, where the apprentice gradually takes over the role of the teacher. The apprenticeship model provides a living stipend for program candidates while they complete their program of study with the partnering college.
Apprentices cannot be teachers of record; apprentices are students. Apprenticeship programs provide for a stipend for mentors (locally negotiated) and are COSER-eligible. Information on apprenticeship programs is available from ED HUB NY.
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