Applying for Additional Certification to Teach Students With Disabilities

Follow these instructions if your degree did not lead to students with disabilities certification, and you took or want to take additional courses for this certification area as a non-degree student:

Students With Disabilities Courses

You can take the courses needed at Brooklyn College.

The courses can be used for the following age groups:

• Birth -Grade 2,
• Childhood Grades 1-6,
• Secondary Grades 7-12,
• Pre K-12 All Grades.
• Important: The New York State Education Department will no longer issue certificates for the Students with Disabilities (SWD) Grades 1–6 and Grades 7–12 certificate titles, other than for the professional certificate and reissuance of an initial certificate, with an effective date that begins after September 1, 2030.
• Learn more about the Pre K-12 All grades title as well as the changes to the grades 1-6 and 7-12 titles.
• To be eligible for the additional title you will need initial (or professional) New York State classroom teacher certification in effect. You can start to complete the following requirements before your initial (or professional) certification is confirmed.
• You can check the certification requirements for the students with disabilities title you want under the list for Pathway: Additional Classroom Teaching Certificate Must hold a valid certificate. Be sure to open the details for “Holds a Valid NYS Classroom Teaching Certificate” and check that the title you have or will have is listed there.
• If the mandated workshops are not noted in your New York State TEACH account, and if you have or had valid certification, the workshops required when your certification was issued will be credited.
•  If you do not meet the requirements for the certification area you are working toward yet, you may be eligible for a supplementary certificate while you are completing the requirements for your additional certificate. You can check by searching the certification requirements.
• For information about the certification needed for specific assignments, review the Examples for Reporting Primary and Special Education Instructors in Course Instructor Assignment (PDF).
• If the Identification of Child Abuse, School Violence Prevention and Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) workshops are not noted in your New York State TEACH account, and if you have or had valid certification, the workshops required when your previous certification was issued will be credited. The DASA workshop was required starting in 2014 The Needs of Children with Autism workshop is required as well.

How to Apply

• You will need to have transcripts sent to OTI.
  • Order Brooklyn College transcripts
  • Instructions on how and where to send documents
• Log in to your TEACH account.
• Verify and update your profile.
• Select your certificate:
  • Area of interest: Classroom teacher
    Subject area: select your age group
  • Grade level: select your age group
  • Title: Students with disabilities
• Select “I have not completed, nor am I enrolled in, an Approved Teacher Preparation Program at a New York State College or University for this certificate and type.”
• Pathway: for your first application, select Pathway: Additional Classroom Teaching Certificate (Must hold a valid certificate).
• If you have or apply for initial students with disabilities certification, and want to apply for the professional certificate, the pathway for the professional certificate should be Certificate Progression.

Select a type of certificate: If you have less than three years of teaching experience, select initial certification. If you have or will soon have a professional certificate in another title, select professional certification:

If you did not complete a bachelors or masters program for Students with Disabilities certification, do not enter a program code.

Students With Disabilities Generalist Grades 7–12 with Extension (for your subject area)

Requirements

Subject Area Extension

Important: The New York State Education Department will no longer issue certificates in the Students with Disabilities (SWD) Grades 1–6 and Grades 7–12  certificate titles, other than for the professional certificate and reissuance of an initial certificate, with an effective date that begins after September 1, 2030. More information is available on the NYSED website.

You will need to have or apply for Students With Disabilities(SWD)—Grades 7–12—Generalist Certification as the “base certificate” for this extension. See above.

If you are or were in a Transitional B program, contact Roberto Martinez for more information and instructions.

The instructions below are for students who are not in a Transitional B program.

You can check requirements and apply on TEACH for this certificate as follows:

• Area of interest: Classroom teacher extensions
• Select a subject area: English language arts, biology, chemistry, earth science, physics, social studies, or mathematics. See note below about other subject areas.
• Select a grade Level: Adolescent 7–12
• Select title: Students With Disabilities plus your subject area Grades 7–12: biology, chemistry, earth science, English language arts, mathematics, physics, or social studies. See note below about other subject areas.
• Certificate type: initial extension annotation, or professional extension annotation if you professional SWD generalist grades 7–12 certification already.
• If you did not complete a bachelor’s or master’s program in this subject, a program code is not needed and a college recommendation is not needed, since this is an additional certificate, not a full program.
  Select “I have not completed, nor am I enrolled in, an Approved Teacher Preparation Program at a New York State College or University for this certificate and type.”
• Pathway: for your first application, the pathway should be individual evaluation. If you have an initial extension annotation already, for the professional extension annotation, select certificate progression. Professional students with disabilities generalist grades 7–12 required.

What’s Next

Monitor your TEACH account, and check for any application evaluations that may be posted. Allow about three months for this to be done. Some requirements may be marked “unmet” until your application is manually reviewed. Check your application status to see if it is listed as ready or not ready for review. Manual evaluations are posted when your transcript and other documentation has been examined by the Office of Teaching Initiatives.