Certification

Student Developmental Level -Adolescent Education (Grades 7-12) 

For Initial and Professional teacher certification through the Individual Evaluation pathway and the Additional Classroom Teaching Certificate (Must Hold a Valid Certificate) pathway, candidates need to complete six semester hours of pedagogical (professional education) coursework that is appropriate for the student developmental level of the certificate title.

Coursework

For the adolescent (grades 7-12) developmental level, acceptable coursework includes pedagogical courses that would be required in an adolescent/secondary education teacher preparation program. Examples of acceptable courses include, but are not limited to:

  • Teaching methods in the high school
  • Assessment in the high school
  • Literacy instruction for adolescents
  • Secondary school curriculum
  • Adolescent development

Pedagogical coursework must address the adolescent developmental level. The following table lists the acceptable and not acceptable developmental level(s) for adolescent pedagogical coursework.

Pedagogical courses that include the following developmental level(s) are
Acceptable

Pedagogical courses that include the following developmental level(s) are
Not Acceptable

  • Adolescent only
  • Middle Childhood and Adolescent
  • Early Childhood
  • Childhood
  • Middle Childhood only
  • Life Span

If you have a New York State College Recommendation for either Initial Literacy (Grades 5-12) certification or Initial certification at the adolescent (grades 7-12) level in your TEACH account, the student developmental level coursework requirement will be marked as met on your certificate application at the adolescent level.

Additional Information

You could review course catalogs of institutions of higher education that offer adolescent/secondary education programs leading to certification to learn about pedagogical courses at the adolescent developmental level. New York State institutions that have registered adolescent education programs can be found on the Inventory of Registered Programs.

Last Updated: September 29, 2020