What it is: New York State Education Department (NYSED) can issue a temporary certificate called an Internship Certificate to permit you to work in a public school before you're done with your graduate program. It's issued at the request of the college once your application has been submitted to the College and been approved.
Timeline: The Internship Certificate is valid for up to two years and cannot be renewed, reissued or extended.
Criteria: You must meet all of the following:
- Have been hired, or have an offer to be hired, in a teaching position that matches the area of teacher certification of your program and submit in writing a letter indicating employment or intent to employ from a principal/district administrator
- Be enrolled in a program leading to teacher certification and have completed at least 50% of the required coursework
- Maintain matriculation in the program for the certificate to remain valid
- Submit a plan for program completion, signed by your academic advisor
- Complete the program and fulfill the remaining requirements for this initial certificate within two years (before the temporary certificate expires)
- Have a 3.3 GPA or higher
- Have completed all undergraduate liberal arts prerequisites as identified by the Nazareth College Certification Office
- Have completed DASA and Child Abuse/Violence Prevention Workshops
- Have received NYS fingerprint clearance
- Have met all expectations for professionalism as determined by Nazareth faculty and relevant school-based personnel
Next steps:
- If you meet all criteria, complete the Internship Certificate Application for Job-Embedded Student Teaching Application and submit it to the Nazareth College Office of Teacher Certification.
- When Nazareth's Office of Teacher Certification has confirmed that you have met all eligibility requirements, Nazareth will recommend you to the New York state Education Department to receive the certificate.
- Nazareth will direct you to use the NYSED-TEACH system to apply for the certificate and to pay the state fee.
- Once granted, your Internship Certificate is maintained electronically in the TEACH system. (No actual paper certificate is generated.)
- To have your internship site serve as your required practicum or student teaching placement, also submit a Job Embedded Application, available on the Nazareth College Field Placement Services webpage.
When you complete the grad program and fulfill the remaining requirements within the two year time frame, you will be eligible to apply for your initial certification. (Please note that these two years do not accrue toward your professional certification.)