Certification

• Effective April 1, 2025, all current and prospective teachers were required to complete the updated Child Abuse Workshop.
• Another update was recently made to the new Child Abuse workshop. This is known as the “second update.” Effective September 1, 2025, all current and prospective teachers are required to complete the second update.
• Current Pace students are in full compliance with these Child Abuse Workshop updates.
• Pace alumni and/or current teachers who completed the old/first updated Child Abuse Workshop must complete the updated workshop, which now includes the second update. It’s available online for free.

The Board of Regents has established opportunities for out-of-state exams to be used to meet the content knowledge examination (CST) requirement. Only specific out-of-state exams that align with the New York State Learning Standards are acceptable. Visit NYSED Preparation Pathways for detailed information on acceptable exams and exam scores.

• Candidates who take the CST exam, earn a score of 0.5 of the required passing score, and have a minimum GPA of 3.50 are eligible for the new CST waiver.
• For a list of eligible scores, visit the NYSED website.

• Candidates who have an issued Initial or Professional Literacy B-6 or 5-12 certificate are now eligible for the “All Grades” (PreK-12) certificate. Simply apply for the All Grades Literacy certificate via TEACH. No further testing is required, but candidates must prove they have fieldwork experience in the upper and lower grades.
• This application requires manual review by the State and will be reviewed by NYSED staff in the order in which the application was completed. Please note that the State is inundated with these applications. It can easily take two months or more before your application is reviewed. Please be patient.

• Candidates who have an issued Initial or Professional 1-6 or 7-12 Students with Disabilities certificate are now eligible for the new “All Grades SWD” PreK-12 certificate. (Please note that Early Childhood, birth-grade 2 candidates are not eligible.) Simply apply for the All Grades SWD certificate via TEACH. No additional testing or practicum experience is required.
• This application requires manual review by the State and will be reviewed by NYSED staff in the order in which the application was completed. Please note that the State is inundated with these applications. It can easily take two months or more before your application is reviewed. Please be patient.
• IMPORTANT: 1-6 candidates ONLY must also submit all official electronic transcripts to NYSED for indexing in your TEACH account before the All Grades SWD certificate will issue. (7-12 candidates are not required to submit transcripts.)
• Pace students/alumni can order transcripts from the Office of the Registrar. Have them sent electronically to NYSED, to the Office of Teaching Initiatives.