The teaching assistant position does not generally require a particular certification, although certain schools and certain states (especially if a person is seeking teaching assistant certification in New York) have different requirements for a teaching assistant. Generally speaking, the most someone will need to become a teaching assistant is a minimum of two years of college education.

In the past, almost anyone could become a teacher’s assistant, but recently, regulations under the No Child Left Behind Act state that anyone who works in a Title I school, or a school that receives special funding from the government , you must have at least two years of higher education or pass a certain state test in order to work at this school. According to these regulations, these two years of higher education make a teacher’s assistant “highly qualified.”

However, while these legal requirements technically only apply to Title I schools, a growing number of non-Title I schools also require teacher assistants to become “highly qualified,” for various reasons. First, districts and schools don’t want to appear to have lower expectations for their employees, so they have adopted No Child Left Behind policies to demonstrate to the community that they have equally high expectations for staff. their schools. Second, adopting the same requirements as Title I schools makes the requirements for the state as a whole more uniform, so all schools in the state will be on the same page.

So, because districts and schools want the best for students, as well as consistency, those seeking to become teaching assistants should aim to meet the two-year higher education requirement, no matter which school they seek. to work. By doing this, they will not have to worry about possible changes in the requirements.

New York is in a special situation with respect to teacher assistant certification as, at this time, it is the only state that uses an assessment for teacher assistant certification. After passing the New York State Teaching Assistant Skills Test (NYSATAS), you will receive a Level I certificate. After a certain amount of time and experience, you can move on to a Level II, then a Level III, and finally to a Pre-Professional Certificate.

The certification requirements here are based on what is currently the law. However, when applying for a teacher assistant position, be sure to verify that you meet all of the requirements necessary for the position and that they have not changed since this article was written. Good luck, and I am sure you will be successful in your goal of becoming certified and making a difference in the lives of our youth!