Certification
Pupil Personnel Service Permanent Certificate or School Counselor Professional Certificate Experience Requirement
For the Permanent certificate in the pupil personnel service (PPS), individuals must complete at least two years of acceptable PPS experience or its equivalent (360 days). Full-time and part-time experiences are acceptable. The PPS certificate titles are: School Counselor, School Psychology, School Social Worker, School Attendance Teacher, School Nurse Teacher, and School Dental Hygienist. Note: For the Professional School Counselor certificate, three years of acceptable school counseling experience is required.
Certification During the Experience
For certain experiences, a valid and appropriate PPS certificate must be held during the experience. An appropriate certificate is a certificate title that matches the position title (e.g., a school counselor would hold a School Counselor certificate).
Experiences that require a valid and appropriate certificate include but are not limited to: employment in a public school, BOCES, Early Intervention provider, or other position that requires certification in New York State; and employment in a public school in another U.S. state or U.S. territory. Please see the following list of acceptable PPS experiences for examples.
Acceptable PPS Experience
Experience for the Permanent PPS certificate or Professional School Counselor certificate may be gained in the following settings.
- Public schools
, BOCES, or Early Intervention in New York State while holding a valid and appropriate certificate
- Non-public or charter schools in New York State
- Public, charter, or non-public schools in another U.S. state or U.S. territory, where the school is recognized by the public-school district or other governmental entity in which it is located
- Registered, non-public nursery schools or kindergartens
- Universal Pre-K (UPK)
- Licensed day care center
- Hospital with an approved K-12 educational program
- Department of Corrections, Division for Youth, or Office for People with Developmental Disabilities with an approved K-12 educational program
Examples of Unacceptable PPS Experiences
- Occupational and physical therapy positions filled by individuals through the civil service
- Mental Health Counseling, Creative Arts Therapy and Dance Therapy
- Drug and Alcohol counseling experience while not holding a NYS pupil personnel certificate or being appointed as a civil service position
- Professional experience gained outside of a school or self-employment
- Experience not in the title of the certificate
- Employment by a company (where the educator is not an employee of the school)
- Independent contractor experience