Conversion Program for Supplemental Certification

The Conversion Program for Supplemental Certification is a tuition reimbursement program available to teachers who hold New York State certification in a selected non-shortage area and wish to obtain Supplemental Certification to teach in a designated shortage area.

• Non-Shortage areas include: early childhood education, elementary education (grades 1-6), middle school generalist, and social studies education.
• Designated shortage areas include: math, science, students with disabilities, Spanish, ESL, and bilingual subjects.

Participants in the Conversion Program will receive reimbursement for their tuition to gain the shortage area certification at the CUNY credit rate (currently $270/credit).

To be eligible for the program, teachers must have completed the prerequisite coursework in the shortage area for which they are applying (i.e., 9 credit hours in Students with Disabilities; 12 credit hours in Mathematics, the Sciences, Spanish, or ESL) and the successful completion of the Content Specialty Test(s) (CST) in the supplementary subject.  Candidates for the bilingual extensions must complete the Bilingual Educational Assessment Exam.  There are no prerequisite credits required for the bilingual extensions.

Acceptance into the Conversion program is based upon a letter of nomination from a principal or an approved current year commitment letter obtained as a result of an interview with the Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality.

All candidates must submit an online application. Please click here for a detailed program overview and click here to begin the application process.