A. What options are available at Warner for current special education teachers?
B. What courses can you transfer into your Warner program?
C. What else do you need to obtain professional certification in New York State?
D. What do programs leading only to professional certification in your area look like?
E. What do programs leading to certification for Teaching Literacy look like?
F. What do programs leading to other teaching certifications look like?
G. What do programs leading to school administration certification look like?
H. What courses are available as electives and for non-matriculated students?
I. Information about our admission process and criteria

A. What options are available at Warner for current special education teachers?
Did you obtain New York State (NYS) provisional certification in special education (K-12) and want to pursue the graduate work needed to obtain permanent certification? Do you already have permanent certification to teach students with disabilities or in special education, but are interested in new career opportunities? Do you simply want to continue to update and enhance your professional knowledge through graduate level coursework?

The Warner School offers a variety of interesting options to meet all of these goals. All options can be pursued part-time while holding a full-time teaching job (although appropriate arrangements will need to be made whenever internships are required).

Options for special education teachers pursuing permanent certification
Until 2011, you can fulfill NYS requirements for permanent certification by taking ANY Masters Degree. At the Warner School, we offer the following Masters' degrees.

(a) If you are mostly interested in deepening your knowledge and expertise in your current area of certification, we offer an M.S. program including at least 12 credits of coursework integrating content and pedagogy and a lot of room for electives and an even more flexible M.S. in Teaching and Curriculum. (See Section D)

(b) If you are interested in teaching literacy and/or in improving your ability to enhance your students' ability to learn through literacy, we offer an M.S. program leading to certification for Teaching Literacy (Birth to grade 6, or grades 5-12) in addition to professional teaching certification in your current area. (See Section E)      

(c) If you are interested in obtaining certification to teach other subjects, we have various M.S. programs that fulfill NYS academic requirements to obtain professional certification in your area while also leading to initial and professional teaching certification in one of the following areas:

1. Early Childhood (birth-grade 2)
2. Childhood (grades 1-6)
3. Specialist in English, mathematics, social studies, biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, French, German, Spanish or Latin (grades 5-9 and/or grades 7-12)
4. Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (K-12)

Each of these Masters' programs involves only 30 credits of graduate coursework, plus some field experiences if required for obtaining initial certification in the new area. If you are seeking certification in a new area, depending on your background, you may also have to take additional coursework in the subject matter of specialization. (See Section F)

Options for special education teachers who already have permanent certification:
If you already have NYS Permanent Teaching Certification in special education, but are seeking initial certification in another area/ grade level, you have also the option to enroll in one of our non-degree programs leading to initial and professional certification in:

• Teaching Literacy (grades 5-12) (See Section E)
• Early Childhood (birth-grade 2) (See Section F)
• Childhood (grades 1-6) (See Section F)
• Specialist in English, social studies, biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, French, German, Spanish or Latin (grades 5-9 and/or grades 7-12) (See Section F)
• Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (K-12) (See Section F)

This option will enable you to obtain the new certification you desire with the minimum number of courses and internships. The number of credits required, in this case, will depend on how many of the required courses and internships you have already taken as part of your previous certification and degree programs, and whether you also need to take additional coursework in the subject matter of specialization.

Other Options
Teachers interested in an administrative career can also enroll in our certification-only or M.S. program leading to NYS administrative certification. These programs will enable you to fulfill the necessary academic requirements to obtain New York State certification as a School Building Leader, required to assume administrative positions at the building level, or School District Leader, required to assume administrative positions at the district level.

We also offer a wide array of courses that are open to non-matriculated students interested in enhancing their knowledge in various areas of education. (See Section H)

If you choose one of our non-degree programs, you can transfer in any of the required courses you have previously taken (either at the undergraduate or graduate level), upon approval by the Office of Graduate Studies.

C. What else do you need to obtain professional permanent certification in New York State?

Professional Permanent Certification
Completing any of the Masters programs described here (with the only exception of the M.S. leading to administration certifications) will also satisfy all the academic requirements established by NYSED for obtaining Professional Teaching Certification in your original area of certification. In addition, however, you will also need to satisfy the following requirements:

• Attendance to the NYS-approved workshops on Child Abuse and School Violence Prevention & Intervention (if you did not comply with this requirement as part of your first certification program)
• Passing each of the following NYS Teacher Examinations:
  • LAST (Liberal Arts and Science Test) (if not done yet)
  • ATS-W (Assessment of Teaching Skills-written) (if not done yet)
  • ATS-P Video (Assessment of Teaching Skills-Performance)
  • CST (Content Specialty Test) (expected to be in place starting Fall 2003)
• Having completed a minimum of 3 years of teaching experience, with the first one conducted in a mentored situation.

Initial Certification in a new area
If you are seeking certification in a new area, in addition to the coursework and experiences that you will undertake in your program (as described in the next pages), you will also need to meet the following requirements established by NYSED for all those seeking an Initial Teaching in a new area:

• Attendance to the NYS-approved workshops on Child Abuse and School Violence Prevention & Intervention (if you did not comply with this requirement as part of your first certification program)
• Passing each of the following NYS Teacher Examinations:
  • LAST (Liberal Arts and Science Test) (if not done yet)
  • ATS-W (Assessment of Teaching Skills-written) (if not done yet)
  • CST (Content Specialty Test) (expected to be in place starting Fall 2003)
• Fingerprint-supported background check (if one is not already on file with NYSED)

D. What do programs leading only to permanentl certification in your area look like?   
We have two options if you are simply interested in obtaining permanent certification in Special Education.

The first option is a program including 12 credits of coursework that "integrates content and pedagogy" - that is, that focuses on developing a deeper understanding of the four core subject matters you may be responsible to teach, as well as how these subjects can be taught most effectively.

The second option is our M.S. in Teaching and Curriculum - our most flexible program with a lot of room for electives.

Option 1: (PD1) M.S. program (for more details, see PD1 Program of Study)

Option 2: M.S. in Teaching and Curriculum (TC1) (For more details, see TC1 Program of Study)

E. What do programs leading to certification for Teaching Literacy look like?
We have designed these programs to prepare specialists in literacy based on the International Reading Association (IRA) Standards for Reading Professionals (1998), which are consistent with New York State requirements for teaching literacy and our own educational philosophy and mission. As a result of these programs, you will come to understand the complexity of literacy as a social practice and to develop a critical understanding of the social context of literacy learning as the negotiation of multiple linguistic and cultural realities of contemporary society. Literacy, in our view, is not a neutral, decontextualized skill, but is a critical social practice that may be used not only as social critique but also as social action. To understand the complexity of literacy, our courses will offer you opportunities to not only examine traditional conceptions of curriculum, instruction, and assessment but to reform those practices.

M.S. Program (36 credits):

Non-degree program (variable credits): Only the specialization courses and internships that you have NOT already taken as part of your previous teacher preparation program(s).

M.S. Program (30-35 credits):

Non-degree program (variable credits): Only the specialization courses and internships that you have NOT already taken as part of your previous teacher preparation program(s).

Subject matter pre-requisites for certain specializations:
A Bachelor's degree with a major in a liberal art or science is a pre-requisite for ALL NYS teaching certification. In addition, certain areas of specialization have additional subject matter requirements that need to be met in order to be awarded initial teaching certification.

These requirements are:

• For specialists in English, French, German, Spanish, and Latin: at least 30 credits of coursework (at either the undergraduate or graduate level) in the subject matter of specialization.
  
• For specialists in social studies: at least 30 credits of coursework (at either the undergraduate or graduate level) in social studies subjects, including at least 21 credits in history and geography of the United States and the world, and coursework that provides a background in economics and government.
  
• For specialists in mathematics: at least 30 credits of coursework (at either the undergraduate or graduate level) in mathematics, including a two-semester sequence of calculus or equivalent; some coursework in algebra, geometry, probability and statistics is also strongly recommended (but not a pre-requisite for admission).
  
• For specialists in biology, chemistry, physics and earth science: at least 30 credits of coursework (at either the undergraduate or graduate level) in science, including at least 18 credits in the science of specialization.
  
• For specialists in ESOL: at least 12 credits of coursework (at either the undergraduate or graduate level) in a language other than English (or otherwise demonstrated proficiency in a language other than English).
  

We expect students entering our programs to have already fulfilled these subject matter requirements. If this is not the case, in some exceptional case you may be allowed to enter our programs at the discretion of your advisor; you will, however, have to take the needed coursework before the end of the program in order to be recommended for certification to the New York State Education Department. Some subject matter courses taken at the graduate level can be used as electives in a Masters' program, provided that they are taken at the graduate level and have been approved by your advisor as part of your program of study.

G. What do programs leading to school administration certification look like?      
New York State offers two types of certification for school administrators. The School Administrator and Supervisor (S.A.S.) certification enables educators to assume administrative positions at the building level - such as curriculum specialist/leader, assistant principal, or principal in an elementary and secondary school. The School District Administrator (S.D.A.) certification, instead, enables teachers and building-level administrators to qualify for positions at the district level - such as assistant superintendent for instruction, program director, human resources director or superintendent. We offer a variety of options to pursue these certifications - within a non-degree program, a Master's degree or even a Doctor in Education degree. Below, we have indicated the two most popular options to pursue each certification at Warner.

To be certified as a school administrator, New York State requires a minimum of three years of teaching experience. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that only applicants who have completed, or will soon complete, three years of teaching apply for these programs.

21-hour non-degree program leading to S.A.S. Certification (21 credits):

• 6 courses in school administration; (recommended courses: Leadership & Organizational Dynamics; Instructional Leadership; Measurement, Program Evaluation and School Improvement; Legal Foundations and Governance; Managing School Resources; Management of Human Resources)
• an internship in educational administration

M.S. Program leading to S.D.A. (36-60 credits):
NOTE: This M.S. degree will not qualify you for professional teaching certification in your area of specialization.

All courses offered during the academic year meet after 4:45 pm, so that you can attend them after the end of your school day. We also offer several courses during the summer.

Choices include, but are not limited to, the following courses:

Courses on diversity and inclusion:

• Race, Class, Gender and Disability in American Education (Summer, Fall, Spring)
• Disability and Schools (Summer, Fall)
• Teaching and Learning in Inclusive Classrooms (Fall)
• Collaborative Teaching Partnerships in Inclusive Classrooms (Summer)
• Instructional Strategies for Inclusive Classrooms (Spring)
• Assessment in Instructional Contexts (Spring)

Courses promoting innovation in the teaching of a specific subject:

• Theory and Practice in Teaching & Learning (subject matter) in Elementary School
• Theory and Practice in Teaching & Learning (subject matter) (Fall)
• Implementing Innovation in (subject matter) Education (Spring)
• Integrating (subject matter) and Technology (Alternate summers)
• Integrating (subject matter) and Literacy (Alternate summers)

Other courses of potential interest to all teachers:

• School, Family, and Community Partnerships (occasionally)
• Leadership and Organizational Dynamics (Summer)
• Teaching, Curriculum and Change (Summer, Fall, Spring)
• Literacy Learning as Social Practice (Summer, Fall)
• Language and Literacy in Education (Fall)

• Original transcripts from all the higher education institutions attended.
• Writing sample (scholarly paper).
• Personal statement about career goals, interests, and objectives in entering the program.
• At least 2 letters of recommendation.
• TOEFL scores (for international applicants who are not native English speakers).

In addition, you have to schedule an individual interview with a Warner School faculty member affiliated with the teacher preparation program you have applied to. The faculty member completes an interview report that is then added to your application file.

At each of our four admission cycle (taking place in February, April, July and November each year), all of these materials are reviewed by the entire faculty in the Teaching and Curriculum department, and then by the Admission and Financial Aid Committee of the Warner School, taking into consideration the following admission criteria:

1. Applicants must have received a Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution or equivalent by the time they enter the program.
2. Applicants must have the ability to do graduate work at the University of Rochester, as demonstrated by their past academic performance and their academic writing skills.
3. Applicants must have sufficient knowledge of the subject matters they intend to teach, appropriate to the specialization and grade level of the certification(s) sought.
4. Applicants must demonstrate sufficient communication and interpersonal skills to serve students well in an instructional setting.
5. Applicants' career goals, teaching interests, academic background, attitudes and teaching philosophy must be consistent with the programs offered by the Warner School and its stated mission.

MAT applications are also reviewed by the relevant department in The College.

An application is also required if you want to enroll in one of our non-degree programs.

When admitted into a program, you will be assigned an academic advisor, who will support and monitor your progress throughout the program. You will also be expected to attend an orientation meeting intended to help you finalize your program of study.