Ithaca College prepares teachers in the Department of Education within the School of Humanities and Sciences, the Department of Music Education within the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, and the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology within the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance. All programs lead to students being eligible to apply for New York State Teacher Certification in their content area. Please refer to the questions below for more information on teacher certification.
Teacher Candidate Checklist
Click here for a one-page printable PDF checklist of requirements for Teacher Certification in New York State.
Ithaca College Requirements
Create TEACH Account
This account with the New York State Education Department (NYSED) is required for tracking your NYS Certification requirements, including fingerprinting, and applying for NYS Certification. Create your TEACH Account by clicking here.
Fingerprinting
All teacher candidates must be fingerprinted in order to receive their certification. Students must be fingerprinted during their program at Ithaca College prior to student teaching. Individual appointments for fingerprinting can be made directly with IdentoGO. Please go to the NYSED webpage, and click the URL next to "Certification". You can search for a location by zip code. As of last review the closest sites to Ithaca are in Odessa and Cortland. The fingerprint application fee as of January 1, 2022 is $101.75. Payment must be made by cash or check at the time of your appointment.
The Service Code is: 14ZGQT Fingerprint Reason is: Certification Applicant
Required Workshops
Workshops are a required part of your certification in NYS. At Ithaca College, these zero-credit workshops are offered every semester. Teacher candidates may sign up for these workshops at any point during their program, through the usual course registration site. The full list of workshops, along with their description and registration information can be found below.
Additional NYS Teacher Certification Requirements
Graduating with a degree in Education is a huge step in becoming a certified teacher in New York, but there are a number of things that need to be done in addition to graduating. Below is a link to the New York State Education Department (NYSED) website that allows you to see all the available pathways to get your teacher certification. This may be particularly helpful if you are interested in additional certification areas.
New York State Teacher Certification Exams (NYSTCE)
Teacher certification in New York State typically requires two exams: Content Specialty Exam and the Educating All Students exam. These exams are not required as part of your Ithaca College program, but are required for NYS Teacher Certification. Speech Language Pathology with Teacher Certification students only need to take the Educating All Students exam for Initial Certification.
At its April 2022 meeting, the New York State Board of Regents voted to modify the teacher performance assessment requirement for certification by eliminating the edTPA requirement for certification. The edTPA is no longer a certification requirement as of April 27, 2022.
For questions about teacher certification
Teacher Certification Specialist
Department of Education