Ongoing Certification and CTLE Requirements

Continuing Teacher & Leader Education (CTLE) Requirements

As indicated on the chart below, Level III Teaching Assistants and professionally certified classroom teachers/educational leaders will be required to complete Continuing Teacher & Leader Education hours during each five year registration period.  Note that the CTLE hours replace the pre-July 1, 2016 professional development requirement of 75 hours.

The CTLE hours may be completed at any time during the registration cycle, yet CTLE hours may not be carried over from one registration period to the next.  As CTLE cycles had started as of July 1, 2016 and SED had not yet finalized its list of approved sponsors, SED indicated in its June 1, 2016 Field Memo that:

“. . . professional development completed on or after July 1, 2016, but before the individual’s birthday month will be counted toward the 100 CTLE hours’ requirement for the first 5-year cycle.”

Individuals who are issued their first Professional certification after July 1, 2016 will be automatically registered for their first five (5) year registration period. The registration period will begin the first day of their birth month and end on the last day of the month prior to their birth month in the 5th year of the registration cycle.

If certificate holders are unable to complete the required CTLE hours within the registration period, they can apply for a conditional registration.  If granted by the state, this allows individuals up to one year to complete missing CTLE hours.  The application process for the conditional registration is done on the TEACH online system.   

If certificate holders stop working during a five (5) year registration period, they are required to complete a minimum of 20 hours of CTLE for every year that they were working in a public school or BOCES during that five (5) year registration cycle.  Note: SED considers working 90 days or more in a single year as full-time employment and therefore CTLE hours are required. 

The CTLE hours continue to include targeted hours designed to address the needs of English language learners (ELLs).  Level III teaching assistants are required to complete a minimum of 15% of their required 100 CTLE hours in areas that address the needs of ELLs.  An exemption to the 15% requirements still exists for districts with less than 5% (or 30 enrolled) ELL students.    

Adjustments to the CTLE requirement may be granted by SED for a limited number of reasons, including poor health as certified by a health care provider and extended active duty in the Armed Forces.

CTLE Sponsors (approved providers)

SED regulations require that the CTLE activities be rigorous and offered by SED-approved sponsors.  The rigorous portion of this requires that CTLE be aligned with the NYS Professional Development Standards - http://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/pdf/pdstds.pdf.  

A list of SED-approved CTLE sponsors is available on SED’s website.  School districts, BOCES, teacher centers, many NYS institutions of higher education, NYSUT’s Education & Learning Trust and other professional organizations are included on this list.  All CTLE providers must apply every five years to the State Education Department to continue as CTLE sponsors.   

The application to be an approved sponsor is available on SED’s website at http://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/resteachers/ctlesponsorhome.html#process.

Record-keeping and Reporting CTLE Hours

Districts and other approved CTLE sponsors are required to maintain records of the CTLE activities that they offered for a period of eight (8) years.   Similarly, CTLE certificate holders are required to maintain records of their own CTLE hours for eight (8) years - the five (5) year registration cycle plus three additional years. 

District-based CTLE activities should be included (to the extent they are known in advance) in the district Professional Development Plan (PDP) which is still required to be submitted to SED annually – see Part 100.2(dd) PDP regulations.  These regulations still stipulate that school districts and BOCES are required to provide CTLE hours so that faculty and staff remain current with their profession, meet the learning needs of their students, and are able to maintain their certificates in good standing.

Districts and other approved CTLE sponsors are required to provide CTLE participants with access to a 'certificate of completion' for each CTLE activity that the participants complete. Original SED guidance was that this was to be a paper copy; updated SED guidance allows for this 'certificate of completion' to be paper or electronic. 

Neither CTLE sponsors nor CTLE certificate holders are required to submit hours to SED unless they are specifically asked by SED to provide them.  At the end of each 5-year registration cycle, CTLE certificate holders will attest to completing 100 CTLE hours on their TEACH accounts.  SED may randomly audit both CTLE sponsors and CTLE certificate holders to ensure compliance with regulations.

The regulations governing Registration and CTLE requirements are found in Part 80.6 of Commissioner’s Regulations.