WHO IS REQUIRED TO TAKE THE TESTS?

Effective February 2, 2004, to receive an initial New York State teaching certificate in most fields, candidates are required to achieve passing scores on the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test (LAST), the elementary or the secondary version of the Assessment of Teaching Skills—Written (ATS–W), and a Content Specialty Test (CST) in their area of certification.

Candidates who received a provisional certificate effective before February 2, 2004, in PreK–6, secondary academic titles (7–12), or ESOL are required to achieve passing scores on the CST in the content area of the certification and the Assessment of Teaching Skills—Performance (ATS–P) (video) in order to obtain a permanent certificate.

To obtain a bilingual education extension to a teaching certificate, candidates are required to achieve a passing score on the Bilingual Education Assessment (BEA) in the target language of instruction.

Candidates seeking a Level I, Level II, Level III, or Pre-Professional New York State teaching assistant certificate on or after February 2, 2004, are required to achieve a qualifying score on the Assessment of Teaching Assistant Skills (ATAS). Progression from one level to another does not require that a candidate retake the ATAS.

The New York State testing requirements for specific teaching certificates are available from the Office of Teaching Initiatives. Visit their Web site at http://OHE32.nysed.gov/tcert/ for more information.

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