What Residents Teach

The NYC Teaching Residency program is dedicated to recruiting a high-quality teaching force across a broad range of subject areas to teach in New York City’s lowest performing public schools. Residents accepted into the program will work as apprentice teachers in an assigned subject area. For the August 2012 program, Residents will be trained to teach math, science, English, or social studies at the secondary level for grades 7-12.   

Subject area assignments will be based on the staffing needs of the NYC Department of Education as well as each Resident’s subject area eligibility according to New York State Education Department regulations.

Teaching Math

Candidates who possess a bachelor’s degree in math are eligible to teach math. Candidates who have earned a B or better in calculus may be considered on a case-by-case basis and would be required to take additional coursework in math during their graduate program in order to earn the necessary credits. Strong candidates will also have additional college-level math intensive courses.

Teaching Science

Residents teaching science will be certified to teach biology, chemistry, physics, earth science or general science. Candidates who possess a bachelor’s degree in one of the sciences are eligible to teach science. Candidates who do not have a degree in science but who have at least 15 credits in science overall or 9 credits within a particular science core area may be considered on a case-by-case basis and would be required to take additional coursework in science during their graduate program in order to earn the necessary credits.

Courses in the following fields count toward eligibility to teach science: Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Earth Science, Astronomy, Geology, Meteorology, Ecology, Botany, Zoology, Anatomy, Evolutionary Biology, Animal Science, Natural Science, Agricultural Science, Forestry, Marine Sciences, etc.

Courses in the following fields DO NOT count toward eligibility to teach science: Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology, Human Behavior, Nutrition, Environmental Science (social and policy oriented courses), Human Ecology.

Candidates who possess a degree in one of the following science-related majors will be considered for the science program: Animal Science, Natural Science, Agriculture and Life Science, Conservation, Forestry, Wild Life and Fishery, Biotechnology.

Teaching English

Candidates must possess an undergraduate or graduate degree in English in order to be considered for this subject area. Candidates with at least 30 credit hours in English coursework may also be considered.

Teaching Social Studies

Candidates must possess an undergraduate or graduate degree in history in order to be considered for this subject area.

Candidates without a degree in history may be considered if they have at least 30 credit hours in history or social studies coursework, including at least 3 credit hours in each of the following areas:

• US History
• World History
• Economics
• Government
• Geography
• 6 additional credits in any of the above areas
• 9 credits in any other social science (Sociology, Political Science, etc.) 

The NYC Teaching Residency is a program of the NYC Department of Education. The size and composition of the program is subject to the NYC Department of Education's determination of hiring needs and budget availability. In the event of teacher layoffs, the DOE will not bring in Residents in affected license/subject areas.

Learn more about the experience during the Residency year.