Office of Teaching Initiatives

Memos to the Field

	THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234 Office of Professional Licensing & Teacher Certification
Date:	July 29, 2008
To:	District Superintendents of Schools; Superintendents of Public Schools; Principals of Public and Nonpublic Schools; School Personnel Administrators; Colleges with Career and Technical Education Programs
From:	Robert G. Bentley
Subject:	Effective Dates of Initial Certificates in Specific Career and Technical Education Subjects

This memo is to inform you of a new policy with respect to the effective date of Initial CTE certificates for applicants who are progressing from a Transitional A certificate to a regular Initial certificate in that same subject area.

Beginning immediately, the Office of Teaching Initiatives will assign the effective date of the Initial certificate for these applicants in the same manner as for other applicants.  This means that the effective date will be set based upon the date that applicants qualify for the Initial certificate and that the Initial certificate will be valid for a full five years.

Because we will no longer backdate the effective date of the Initial certificate to the effective date of the Transitional A certificate, it will have the effect of allowing a more reasonable amount of time for teachers to complete the substantial amount of coursework required to progress from the Initial to the Professional certificate (e.g., 42 semester hours total for the Professional certificate for Option B--non-degree applicants).

For any individuals who have already earned an Initial certificate that was backdated to the effective date of their Transitional A certificate, and who are now having difficulty meeting all requirements for the Professional certificate within the required time, we will reissue an Initial certificate with an effective date consistent with the new policy.  If you have any teachers to whom this would apply, please have the teacher send the Initial certificate, along with a copy of this memo, to the attention of Deborah Horton at:

Office of Teaching Initiatives
New York State Education Department
89 Washington Avenue/5th Floor North Wing
Albany, NY  12234

Please allow one month for a replacement to be issued.  Once the new certificate is issued, it will appear on TEACH for the district to verify.

If you have any questions regarding this policy, you may contact Charles McCarthy at (518) 474-4661.

cc:          Joseph P. Frey
                Career-Tech Education Resource Center
                Eric Suhr
                Chike Nnabugwu
                OTI Staff
                OCUE Staff