§ 3006-a. Registration and continuing teacher and leader education
requirements for holders of professional certificates in the classroom
teaching service, holders of level III teaching assistant certificates,
holders of professional certificates in the educational leadership
service. 1. a. Commencing with the two thousand sixteen--two thousand
seventeen school year, each holder of a professional certificate in the
classroom teaching service, holder of a level III teaching assistant
certificate and holder of a professional certificate in the educational
leadership service shall be required to register every five years with
the department to practice in the state and shall comply with the
provisions of the continuing teacher and leader education requirements
set forth in this section.

b. Any of the certified individuals described in paragraph a of this
subdivision who do not satisfy the continuing teacher and leader
education requirements shall not practice until they have met such
requirements and have been issued a registration or conditional
registration certificate.

c. In accordance with the intent of this section, adjustments to the
continuing teacher and leader education requirement may be granted by
the department for reasons of health certified by a health care
provider, for extended active duty with armed forces of the United
States, or for other good cause acceptable to the department which may
prevent compliance.

d. Any certificate holder who is not practicing as a teacher, teaching
assistant or educational leader in a school district, board of
cooperative educational services, or nonpublic school that is providing
instruction pursuant to subdivision two of section thirty-two hundred
four of this title in this state shall be exempt from the continuing
teacher and leader education requirement upon the filing of a written
statement with the department declaring such status. Any holder of a
professional certificate in the classroom teaching service, holder of a
level III teaching assistant certificate and holder of a professional
certificate in the educational leadership service who resumes practice
during the five-year registration period shall notify the department
prior to resuming practice and shall meet such continuing teacher and
leader education requirements as prescribed in regulations of the
commissioner.

2. a. During each five-year registration period beginning on or after
July first, two thousand sixteen, an applicant for registration shall
successfully complete a minimum of one hundred hours of continuing
teacher and leader education, as defined by the commissioner. The
department shall issue rigorous standards for courses, programs, and
activities, that shall qualify as continuing teacher and leader
education pursuant to this section. For purposes of this section, a peer
review teacher, or a principal acting as an independent trained
evaluator, conducting a classroom observation as part of the teacher
evaluation system pursuant to section three thousand twelve-d of this
article may credit such time towards his or her continuing teacher and
leader effectiveness requirements.

b. Nothing in this section shall limit the ability of local school
districts to agree pursuant to collective bargaining to additional hours
of professional development or continuing teacher or leader education
above the minimum requirements set forth in this section.

c. A certified individual who has not satisfied the continuing teacher
and leader education requirements shall not be issued a five-year
registration certificate by the department and shall not practice unless
and until a registration or conditional registration certificate is
issued as provided in subdivision three of this section. For purposes of
this subdivision, "continuing teacher and leader education requirements"
shall mean activities designed to improve the teacher or leader's
pedagogical and/or leadership skills, targeted at improving student
performance, including but not limited to formal continuing teacher and
leader education activities. Such activities shall promote the
professionalization of teaching and be closely aligned to district goals
for student performance which meet the standards prescribed by
regulations of the commissioner. To fulfill the continuing teacher and
leader education requirement, programs must be taken from sponsors
approved by the department, which shall include but not be limited to
school districts, pursuant to the regulations of the commissioner.

3. The department, in its discretion, may issue a conditional
registration to a teacher, teaching assistant or educational leader in a
school district, board of cooperative educational services, or nonpublic
school that is providing instruction pursuant to subdivision two of
section thirty-two hundred four of this title in this state who fails to
meet the continuing teacher and leader education requirements
established in subdivision two of this section but who agrees to make up
any deficiencies and take any additional continuing teacher and leader
education which the department may require. The duration of such
conditional registration shall be determined by the department. Any
holder of a professional certificate in the classroom teaching service,
holder of a level III teaching assistant certificate or holder of a
professional certificate in the educational leadership service and any
other certified individual required by the commissioner to register
every five years who is notified of the denial of registration for
failure to submit evidence, satisfactory to the department, of required
continuing teacher and leader education and who practices without such
registration, shall be subject to moral character review under
subdivision seven of section three hundred five of this chapter.