How to Apply for Early Childhood Professional Certification
You must submit verification of paid experience and the mentoring letter, before you can apply for certification.
Make sure the information you provide for employment on TEACH matches your information on the verification form.
Professional Certification takes 20 weeks or more for the State to process. Once it is issued, you will receive paper certificate(s) in the mail.
Once you have Professional Certification, the State requires that you complete and have available proof of continuing education hours. If you are not using your Certification in any way, you can update your status to Inactive and continuing education hours are not required.
Early Childhood Special Education (Cost for Certificate: $50)
Go to the TEACH website (www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/teach)
On the right side of the screen click “login to TEACH”
After you login to your TEACH account, on the left column under Online Application, click “Apply for a Certificate”
Read the first page and click “Next” at the bottom of the page.
Enter your education information
At the very least, put in Mount Saint Vincent as your graduate school with dates for when you began and expected graduation dates.
The start date for our Sara Schenirer students would be the month you started your classes with us.
Expected graduation date would be, in general, the month that you end your fourth semester with us.
The number of credits they ask for will be our program total of 46 credits.
After that is done you can click on “Next” at the end of the page and then verify personal, work and education information and click “Next” at the bottom of the page.
This will take you to Step 2 – Select Certificates.
In the Drop Down Menus:
Select your Area of Interest (Classroom Teacher)
Select your Subject Area (Students with Disabilities)
Select the Grade Level (Early Childhood – Birth-Grade 2)
Select the Title (Students with Disabilities, Birth-Grade 2)
Select the Type of Certificate (Professional Certificate)
Click “Add”
That will take you to the page asking for a Program Code, which is 40956 and then click “Submit” (If the college already recommended you, skip to Step #13)
Do NOT check the box which says: No, I have not completed, nor am I enrolled in, an Approved Teacher Preparation Program at a New York State College or University for this certificate and this type.
This will then show on the page:
You click on the dot and click “Next”
On the next page which appears, click on the checkbox by Review Type:
“I want my application to be reviewed by the State Education Department.”
Then, click “Next”
You will then be asked to answer questions regarding:
Child Support Obligation and Moral Character Determination
At the bottom of that page, click “Sign Affidavit”
The next page will be Step 3 – Confirm and Sign Application
After looking at the info click “Sign Application”
Scroll through the next page and at the bottom click “Next”
This will appear and you will click on the checkbox:
Hit “Submit” and you are good to go! Payment can be made via Visa or Mastercard only.
Once you have applied for Certification, you can check the status of your application at this link. There are clear instructions there for the various outcomes.
Early Childhood General Education (Cost for Certificate: $50)
Go to the TEACH website (www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/teach)
On the right side of the screen click “login to TEACH”
After you login to your TEACH account, on the left column under Online Application, click “Apply for a Certificate”
Read the first page and click “Next” at the bottom of the page.
Enter your education information
At the very least, put in Mount Saint Vincent as your graduate school with dates for when you began and expected graduation dates.
The start date for our Sara Schenirer students would be the month you started your classes with us.
Expected graduation date would be, in general, the month that you end your fourth semester with us.
The number of credits they ask for will be our program total of 46 credits.
After that is done you can click on “Next” at the end of the page and then verify personal, work and education information and click “Next” at the bottom of the page.
This will take you to Step 2 – Select Certificates.
In the Drop Down Menus:
Select your Area of Interest (Classroom Teacher)
Select your Subject Area ((Early Childhood Education)
Select the Grade Level (Early Childhood – Birth-Grade 2)
Select the Title (Early Childhood Education, Birth-Grade 2)
Select the Type of Certificate (Professional Certificate)
Click “Add”
That will take you to the page asking for a Program Code, which is 40956 and then click “Submit” (If the college already recommended you, skip to Step #13)
Do NOT check the box which says: No, I have not completed, nor am I enrolled in, an Approved Teacher Preparation Program at a New York State College or University for this certificate and this type.
This will then show on the page:
You click on the dot and click “Next”
On the next page which appears, click on the checkbox by Review Type:
“I want my application to be reviewed by the State Education Department.”
Then, click “Next”
You will then be asked to answer questions regarding:
Child Support Obligation and Moral Character Determination
At the bottom of that page, click “Sign Affidavit”
The next page will be Step 3 – Confirm and Sign Application
After looking at the info click “Sign Application”
Scroll through the next page and at the bottom click “Next”
This will appear and you will click on the checkbox:
Hit “Submit” and you are good to go! Payment can be made via Visa or Mastercard only.
Once you have applied for Certification, you can check the status of your application at this link. There are clear instructions there for the various outcomes.
© 2025 Sara Schenirer Institute. All Rights Reserved. Website Managed by Devpaq. View Privacy Policy
