Additional Certification for Teachers in New York State: Teachers' Experience and Employment Location, Certification Pathways, and Certification Areas

New York State is experiencing teacher shortages in specific subject areas. One way to address these shortages is for certified teachers to earn additional certificates qualifying them to fill positions in shortage areas. This study explored patterns in how experienced teachers (those with at least one year of teaching experience in New York State public schools) in 2015/16 earned additional certificates between October 2015 and October 2017. These patterns included which teachers earned additional certificates, their certification pathways, and their additional certification areas. The study found that about 5 percent of teachers in New York State in 2015/16 earned additional certificates during the two-year period. A larger proportion of teachers who earned additional certificates during that period were employed in New York City district schools and charter schools than in other types of districts or schools. Teachers who earned additional certificates were less experienced than those who did not earn additional certificates. More teachers earned additional certificates in shortage areas than in nonshortage areas, except for administration, a nonteaching certification area. Special education was the most common shortage certification area in which experienced teachers earned additional certificates. More than half of teachers who earned additional certificates did so through the traditional in-state pathway, while about a third did so through the individual evaluation pathway.