Teachers with initial or provisional certification may use the ETAP Masters program for professional certification through the individual transcript review process at the New York State Department of Education.

The Masters of Science in General Education (GES) degree is the most flexible program for obtaining Professional Certification for teachers with initial or provisional certification as content-area specialists in middle childhood education (grades 5-9) or adolescence education (grades 7-12); they may include the required 12 credits of content area courses (Arts & Sciences courses in their subject area) as part of the General Education degree. The Academic Discipline Teaching (ACT) or Curriculum Development and Instructional Technology (CDIT) program may also be used for professional certification, as long as students include a minimum of 12 credits in the content core of the initial certificate. (Note: Courses for the content core requirement are not available online, so the CDIT online option CANNOT be used to meet requirements for professional certification.)

Teachers with other elementary or secondary initial certificates can also complete a second initial certificate in TESOL, which fulfills the degree and course requirements for professional certification.