Eligibility

Please note: The application for the August 2013 program is not yet open. Applications for the August 2013 program will open in 2013, although the date has not yet been determined. 

The NYC Teaching Residency program recruits and prepares highly qualified, committed individuals to become effective teachers who raise student achievement and drive change in New York City’s lowest-performing schools. Resident applicants must also meet eligibility requirements set forth by the New York State Education Department and partnering universities.

To meet the minimum eligibility requirements, you must:

• Have at least a bachelor’s degree conferred by the start of training in August 2013.
• Have an undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0. Consideration will be given to applicants with lower GPAs with demonstrated achievement, pending their completion of the GPA statement found in the application.
• Have U.S. citizenship, or permanent residency with a valid green card.
• Be fluent in both written and spoken English.
• Have no more than 17 college-level credits in teacher education. 
• Not be certified to teach. If you are currently certified to teach, please visit Teach NYC to review other routes to working in NYC schools.
• Not have worked as a regular, full-time teacher in a New York City public school at any time since September 2002.
• Not have previously benefited from any other NYC Department of Education program that provides tuition assistance towards teacher certification.
• Not have previously received an unsatisfactory rating from the NYC Department of Education.
• Note: Individuals who are offered admission into the program will also be required to take and pass a fingerprint-supported background check through the NYC Department of Education in order to participate in the program and be employed as a Teacher’s Assistant in a NYC public school.

Subject Area Eligibility

Candidates accepted into the NYC Teaching Residency program will be accepted to train to teach a specific subject area based on the staffing needs of New York City public schools as well as their subject area eligibility and preferences. Subject-area eligibility is determined according to New York State Education Department regulations, which stipulate that a teacher must have either an undergraduate major or a graduate degree in a subject in order to teach it at the secondary level.

August 2012 program candidates were assigned train to teach science, math, English and social studies. August 2013 subject areas have not been finalized. Learn more about subject-specific eligibility requirements here.

Learn more about the application process.