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Certification: Library Media Specialist

THE UNIVERSITY WILL NO LONGER BE PROCESSING PAPER APPLICATIONS. PLEASE FOLLOW THE NEW INSTRUCTIONS OR YOUR APPLICATION WILL NOT BE PROCESSED.

- Procedure to Apply for Certification
- TEACH application instructions and required program information 
- Requirements for Professional Certification 
- Deadlines

The questions answered in this website are intended only for the University at Albany students. If you are not currently enrolled at the University at Albany, please contact the institution where you are enrolled or the New York State Education Department (518-474-3901) for more information.

YOU MUST GRADUATE BEFORE YOUR CERTIFICATE CAN BE AWARDED, BUT YOU CAN APPLY BEFORE HAND.

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Procedure to Apply for Certification
You need to complete the following 2 steps to obtain your certification

1. Apply for certification through the State TEACH system located at http://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/teach/ .
2. Apply for Institutional Recommendation by completing the transcript release form and recommendation request form and mailing them to:

Christy Smith
The Office of Graduate Studies
UAB 121
1400 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY 12222

The completion of a master’s degree does not automatically qualify you for a certificate. Please make sure that you have completed all other requirements for certification. This can be verified on TEACH.

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 TEACH application instructions and required program information

1. Instructions
2. Required Information (PDF)  

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Requirements for Professional Certification
Requirements 

- Completion of a NY State approved graduate degree
- 3 years of paid, full-time teaching experience in a public or nonpublic school in addition to the master’s degree. 
- 1 year mentorship.
There are several other requirements for NYS teacher certification in addition to the completion of a state approved teacher certification program. They are the following: 

- You must achieve qualifying scores on the appropriate tests in the New York State Teacher Certification Examination (NYSTCE) Program. 
- You must complete a 2-hours workshop in Child Abuse Identification. 
- You must complete a 2-hours coursework or training in School Violence Prevention and Intervention. 
- You must complete the fingerprinting process and get clearance. 
- 12 credits of Education coursework or a valid NY State Teaching certificate.

Please check your TEACH account to verify that NYSED has record of the above mentioned requirements. 

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Deadlines

IMPORTANT: The following certification application deadlines are only for submission to the Office of Graduate Studies, not to the State Education Department.
 
- January 2 
- June 1 
- September 1

**Note: If you submit your application by the dates mentioned above, your information will be forwarded to NY State Education Department within 30 days if it is complete. Do NOT call the Office to check on your application; you will be able to check your status online through TEACH at any time. We process certification applications only in 3 cycles - immediately after the deadlines. If your application is received beyond the published deadline, it will be delayed and may be processed with the applications received for the next processing cycle.