Certification

Questar III, in association with the New York State Education Department’s Office of Teaching Initiatives, offers the services of a Regional Certification Officer. 

Certification Specialist Gregory Portanova helps school districts and individuals negotiate their way through the complex world of certification.

 If you live or work in Rensselaer, Columbia or Greene counties, Greg can assist you with questions on certification requirements, as well as policies and procedures associated with certification. He also evaluates applications for certification, provided you have selected Rensselaer, Columbia, Greene BOCES to complete your evaluation when applying in TEACH.

 If you live outside the three-county area, please refer to the link below for additional Regional Certification Officers that can assist you.

Please note individual appointments are not scheduled to evaluate credentials.

Informational Links:

Additional Regional Certification Offices:
http://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/certificate/regionalcenters.html

Office of Teaching Initiatives (TEACH online services) website:
http://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/

Updated Mandated Reporter training required prior to April 1, 2025:

Workshops must be submitted electronically to TEACH by the provider.   You must verify that the first name and last name you use for the workshop match what appears in your TEACH account.  TEACH help information can be found further down this page.

• Free workshop: https://nysmandatedreporter.org/
• Directions to enroll: https://nysmandatedreporter.org/files/Mandated%20Reporter%20Self-Directed%20Registration%20for%20New%20HSLC%20User.pdf
• How to submit to your TEACH account: https://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/pdf/Directions%20for%20Submitting%20Completion%20Certificates%20from%20OCSF%20(FOR%20EDUCATORS).pdf

 

Re-Registration procedures for staff who hold Permanent, Professional, and Teaching Assistant Level III certificates:

• To check your registration dates:
  1. Log in to your ny.gov account: https://my.ny.gov/
  2. Select “TEACH Online”
  3. In TEACH, click the “Account Information” link.
  4. Your registration date will appear below your personal information
     • An explanation of each status can be found at: https://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/resteachers/registration-view-change-status.html

• General Information about the Re-registration process can be found at: https://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/resteachers/registration-reregister.html
• CTLE Language Acquisition Requirement Question (Professional Certificate and TA Level III certificates only):
  • When re-registering, you will be asked if you practiced in an applicable school that held an exemption from the CTLE language acquisition requirement. You can click on the link included in the question to view a spreadsheet that lists all school district and the school years in which they received an exemption.    If you worked in an exempted district for the entirety of your registration term, you would enter “5”, to indicate that you were exempt from the language acquisition requirement for all 5 years.    That number would be reduced by one for each year that you were employed in a district that was not exempted.

 

TEACH Help:

• If you forgot your username and/or password, first use the “forgot username” and/or “forgot password” links at https://my.ny.gov/
• If you continue to have problems logging in to your TEACH account, contact:
  • 518-474-3901 and select the technical help prompt
  • teachhelp@nysed.gov – If e-mailing, make sure to include your full name and last four digits of your social security number in your e-mail.
• Name Changes: If your name has changed, you can submit a name change request by following the directions at:   https://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/namechg.html
• Additional TEACH help links can be found at: https://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/teach/teachappfaq.html