N.Y. Education Law § 3006-a: Registration and continuing teacher and leader education requirements for holders of professional certificates in the classroom teaching ...

§ 3006-a. Registration and continuing teacher and leader education

requirements for holders of professional certificates in the classroom

teaching service, holders of level III teaching assistant certificates,

holders of professional certificates in the educational leadership

service. 1. a. Commencing with the two thousand sixteen--two thousand

seventeen school year, each holder of a professional certificate in the

classroom teaching service, holder of a level III teaching assistant

certificate and holder of a professional certificate in the educational

leadership service shall be required to register every five years with

the department to practice in the state and shall comply with the

provisions of the continuing teacher and leader education requirements

set forth in this section.

b. Any of the certified individuals described in paragraph a of this

subdivision who do not satisfy the continuing teacher and leader

education requirements shall not practice until they have met such

requirements and have been issued a registration or conditional

registration certificate.

c. In accordance with the intent of this section, adjustments to the

continuing teacher and leader education requirement may be granted by

the department for reasons of health certified by a health care

provider, for extended active duty with armed forces of the United

States, or for other good cause acceptable to the department which may

prevent compliance.

d. Any certificate holder who is not practicing as a teacher, teaching

assistant or educational leader in a school district, board of

cooperative educational services, or nonpublic school that is providing

instruction pursuant to subdivision two of section thirty-two hundred

four of this title in this state shall be exempt from the continuing

teacher and leader education requirement upon the filing of a written

statement with the department declaring such status. Any holder of a

professional certificate in the classroom teaching service, holder of a

level III teaching assistant certificate and holder of a professional

certificate in the educational leadership service who resumes practice

during the five-year registration period shall notify the department

prior to resuming practice and shall meet such continuing teacher and

leader education requirements as prescribed in regulations of the

commissioner.

2. a. During each five-year registration period beginning on or after

July first, two thousand sixteen, an applicant for registration shall

successfully complete a minimum of one hundred hours of continuing

teacher and leader education, as defined by the commissioner. The

department shall issue rigorous standards for courses, programs, and

activities, that shall qualify as continuing teacher and leader

education pursuant to this section. For purposes of this section, a peer

review teacher, or a principal acting as an independent trained

evaluator, conducting a classroom observation as part of the teacher

evaluation system pursuant to section three thousand twelve-d of this

article may credit such time towards his or her continuing teacher and

leader effectiveness requirements.

b. Nothing in this section shall limit the ability of local school

districts to agree pursuant to collective bargaining to additional hours

of professional development or continuing teacher or leader education

above the minimum requirements set forth in this section.

c. A certified individual who has not satisfied the continuing teacher

and leader education requirements shall not be issued a five-year

registration certificate by the department and shall not practice unless

and until a registration or conditional registration certificate is

issued as provided in subdivision three of this section. For purposes of

this subdivision, "continuing teacher and leader education requirements"

shall mean activities designed to improve the teacher or leader's

pedagogical and/or leadership skills, targeted at improving student

performance, including but not limited to formal continuing teacher and

leader education activities. Such activities shall promote the

professionalization of teaching and be closely aligned to district goals

for student performance which meet the standards prescribed by

regulations of the commissioner. To fulfill the continuing teacher and

leader education requirement, programs must be taken from sponsors

approved by the department, which shall include but not be limited to

school districts, pursuant to the regulations of the commissioner.

3. The department, in its discretion, may issue a conditional

registration to a teacher, teaching assistant or educational leader in a

school district, board of cooperative educational services, or nonpublic

school that is providing instruction pursuant to subdivision two of

section thirty-two hundred four of this title in this state who fails to

meet the continuing teacher and leader education requirements

established in subdivision two of this section but who agrees to make up

any deficiencies and take any additional continuing teacher and leader

education which the department may require. The duration of such

conditional registration shall be determined by the department. Any

holder of a professional certificate in the classroom teaching service,

holder of a level III teaching assistant certificate or holder of a

professional certificate in the educational leadership service and any

other certified individual required by the commissioner to register

every five years who is notified of the denial of registration for

failure to submit evidence, satisfactory to the department, of required

continuing teacher and leader education and who practices without such

registration, shall be subject to moral character review under

subdivision seven of section three hundred five of this chapter.