How to Become a NYC Certified Teacher: Part 1: Education Requirements in NYC

Written by: Jacqueline Chinappi • Edited by: Elizabeth Stannard Gromisch
Updated May 16, 2010 • Related Guides: New York | Department Of Education

Here we will look at the education requirements necessary to attain teacher's certification in New York City. While there are various types of degrees leading to certification , they all include pedagogical courses geared towards the ages the teacher would be serving.

Approved Programs

An Approved Teacher Preparation Program is the most common pathway towards teacher certification involving education requirements. These programs in New York are from higher education institutions who all follow a certain outline on what is to be included in the education requirements for a teacher in training. These programs are all different depending on the certificate or the type of licensure the individual is going for.

These different types of certificates range from early childhood education up to high school teacher certification. Schools and programs which are approved to by New York City and lead to certification can be found here. This type of certification is attained on the Bachelor Degree level.

Program Examples

· Childhood Education (BA) College of Staten Island

This program provides the academic course content necessary for New York

State certification as a childhood teacher at the first- through sixth-grade

level (1-6).

Academic Major: 34-36 credits

Education Sequence: 32 credits

Students complete a major in Science, Letters, and Society which involves various courses in mathematics, English, and science. Students also complete 32 credits in the pedagogical sequence which includes:

EDE 200 Social Foundations of Education 4 credits

EDE 260 Psychological Foundations of Education 4 credits

EDE 301 Literacy Development and Language Acquisition in Elementary Education 4 credits

EDE 302 Social Studies, Art, Reading, & language Arts in Elementary Education 6 credits

EDE 303 Mathematics, Science, and Music in Elementary Education 6 credits

EDE 400 Student Teaching in Elementary Education 6 credits

EDE 402 Reflection and Analysis in Student Teaching in Elementary Education 2 credits

· Adolescence Education (BA) College of Staten Island

Students must complete the requirements of a major in the field in which

they plan to teach. These include English, Spanish, mathematics, biology,

chemistry, and social studies disciplines. Adolescence Education Sequence: 24 credits

EDS 201 Social Foundations of Secondary Education 4 credits

EDS 202 Psychological Foundations of Secondary Education 4 credits

One of the following four-credit courses:

EDS 301 The Teaching of Secondary School Curriculum in Social Studies

EDS 302 The Teaching of Secondary School Curriculum in English

EDS 303 The Teaching of Secondary School Curriculum in Mathematics

EDS 304 The Teaching of Secondary School Curriculum in Science

EDS 305 The Teaching of Secondary School Curriculum in Foreign Language

And

EDS 307 Discovery Learning and Interdisciplinary Instruction 4 credits

EDS 400 Student Teaching in Secondary Education 6 credits

EDS 401 Reflection and Analysis in Student Teaching in Secondary Education 2 credits

The Next Step

As we see different certificates means different courses needed to be taken. These are only two approved programs of many which lead to NYC Teacher Certification. Graduating from an Approved Program is the fastest way to start the certification process. While in school though you need to also take and pass several tests. These tests will be discussed in part two of our series.