New York Teacher Certfication Story - Earning Certification Without Student Teaching (It's Tricky!)

On of the lingering frustrations of my own certification saga has been the fall out of my decision not to student teach. Having been hired to teach private school at age 22, without formal certification, I simply started teaching.

This was all well and good, until I decided to switch over to the public system. At this point, there was a problem. Most Masters programs in teaching involve student teaching, which I didn't need. The good news is that New York State does allow waivers to student teaching. The not so good news is that if one does not student teach with a Masters program, the State of New York insists on evaluating your case individually, rather than simply allowing your graduate program to approve it. This may sound like a minor detail, but it amounts to a major roadblock: an individual transcript evaluation takes something on the order of 16-19 weeks, while a graduate approved one takes 3 weeks or so. This, it seems, was my reward for opting to switch into the system as a certified teacher - 16 weeks more wait time and no assistance from my graduate institution in applying for certification.

New York Private School to New York Public School: A Teacher Certification Travesty

There was a time when I was a happy but angst ridden private school teacher. Teaching is teaching and kids are, ever and always, just kids. And so, guilt about the injustice of it all aside, I was quite happy meeting the daily challenge of trying to offer a genuine education. Still, the years passed, and my guilt grew, and I decided that enough was enough - I needed to become a public school teacher.

At this point, I had a BA in History from a top college, four years of successful teaching at an accredited private school, a newly acquired MA in Teaching from Teachers College, and the enthusiastic support of all of my supervisors. So it was with great disappointment that I left my first meeting with the certification specialists at the New York Board of Education, having been informed that I was deficient in several ways:

• I needed 3 more credits in the teaching of reading
• I needed 3 more credits in basic math
• I needed written proof that my MA in teaching was, in fact, related to teaching
• I ALMOST needed 3 credits in music, but I was saved by the recorder lessons I had taken on a lark during my junior year at college
  

I was, like I said, angst ridden in the private school world, and I had gone to the trouble of the Masters. I certainly was not going to let these last obstacles stand in my way. And, so, in addition to the nearly 30K I had shelled out for my masters, I invested in the following:

• Approximately $500 for credits by examination in basic math
• Approximately $500 for credits by examination in basic reading education
• $40 for written evidence of my success, as a high school senior, in BC calculus

And so it was that, after 6 years of higher education, 4 years of successful full-time teaching, and a handful of post-graduate credits at top notch online universities, I found myself worthy, in the eyes of New York State, of a preliminary teaching credential.