New York state officials are trying to attract teachers to help remedy the worsening teacher shortage that New York is currently facing. Yet the process that would-be teachers have to go through is often arcane and frustrating due to staff shortages and lack of places to find information on the certification process.

State officials may "hire lots of people to go out and talk about certification and licensing, but if they were willing to put in the money at the worker level, it could really have an impact on the process," said Tom Jennings, Teachers College's Associate Dean for Teacher Education and Registrar. "If you did away with city licensing, people who are state certified would all be eligible and you'd increase your pool of potential teachers dramatically."

The article, entitled Teachers Really Do Need Patience, Certification System Full of Red Tape appeared in the March 15th edition of the Newsday.com.

Published Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2001