Effective July 1, 2020, all special education teachers who teach one or more subject areas in a self-contained class in grades 7-12, with some or no students under alternate assessment, must be certified in each subject area that they teach. For example, if you teach mathematics and ELA in a self-contained class in grades 11 & 12 and at least one of your students is taking the Regents, you must be certified in Secondary Mathematics and Secondary ELA in addition to Students with Disabilities 7-12.
As a result of this rule change, we have advised all partners who employ enrolled Relay students teaching on a Students with Disabilities: Adolescent Grades 7-12 Generalist Transitional B certificate that they should not place them in a self-contained classroom as the teacher of record while enrolled at Relay. If you and your employer have discussed your teaching in a self-contained setting, we encourage you to reach out to your employer directly to discuss the implications of remaining in that setting.
If you are interested in teaching a special class with students in grades 7-12 in the future, you may be eligible to apply for a supplementary certificate in other subject areas upon completing testing and coursework requirements for the subject field. If you are interested in exploring your eligibility for a supplementary certificate upon program completion, please reach out to your advisor or sign up for an office hour appointment at https://calendly.com/relaynewyork. To this end, Relay does not currently offer subject-level extension coursework. Should this change, we will notify students.