I have been offered a job to begin after my clinical practice ends, however, the school district is requiring a Letter of Completion stating I have finished the program. How do I get one and when is it available? Bachelor/Undergraduate Level Students: Letters of Completion are mailed to teacher candidates once all of the following requirements are met: the bachelor’s degree is posted (evidenced by a date appearing in the degree date area of the transcript), all final reports from cooperating teachers and university supervisors are received through Chalk & Wire, and the teacher candidate has been recommended to the NJDOE for licensure from the Office of Certification. Upon recommendation to the state, the NJDOE will send an email survey which will only be available for 10 days. Surveys must be completed within the 10 days so that licenses can be issued by the state. (This is current state practice, and is subject to change) Post-Baccalaureate/ MAT Students (Initial Certification): Letters of Completion are mailed to candidates once all of the following requirements are met: all program requirements are satisfactorily met (as evidenced by a program audit, initiated by the Certification Office), all final reports from cooperating teachers and university supervisors are received through Chalk & Wire, and the teacher candidate has been recommended to the NJDOE for licensure from the Office of Certification. Upon recommendation to the state, the NJDOE will send an email survey which will only be available for 10 days. Surveys must be completed within the 10 days so that licenses can be issued by the state. (This is current state practice, and is subject to change) M.Ed., Graduate Endorsement, and M.S. (Communication Disorders) Students: A letter of completion will not be mailed, unless you are pursuing a license for which you hold a provisional license (in which case, contact the Office of Certification and Education Enrollement). Once verification that all program requirements are satisfactorily met (as evidenced by a program audit, initiated by the Certification Office), a teacher candidate can be placed in line for recommendation for the license. The state’s current practice is to send an email to the candidate once the individual is recommended for the license. This is current state practice and is subject to change. In some cases, state licenses require one obtains a master’s degree, of which evidence must be present to proceed with recommendation. When does William Paterson University recommend me to the NJDOE for licensure? Bachelor/Undergraduate Level Students: Teacher candidates are recommended to the NJDOE once the Registrar’s Office completes degree postings as evidenced by a date in the “degree date” field of the transcript. The university must have a copy of your cooperating teacher’s final report and your supervisor’s final report in Chalk and Wire. The bilingual endorsement (if pursued) requires evidence of passing written and oral language tests. It is important that students complete the survey sent by the NJDOE in a timely fashion, within 10 days of receipt so that the licensure issuance process can be done in a timely fashion. The general timeline is 6-8 weeks after meeting the criteria stated in this section of the answer. Post-Baccalaureate/MAT Students (Initial Certification): Graduate candidates are recommended to the NJDOE after being cleared by their program coordinator; the Office of Education Enrollment and Certification initiates this audit. It is important that students complete the survey sent by the NJDOE in a timely fashion, within 10 days of receipt so that the licensure issuance process can be done in a timely fashion. The general timeline is 6-8 weeks after meeting the criteria stated in this section of the answer. M.Ed., Graduate Endorsement, and M.S. (Communication Disorders) Students: Once verification that all program requirements are satisfactorily met (as evidenced by a program audit, initiated by the Certification Office), and degrees are posted (if required for the license), a candidate can be placed in line for recommendation for the license. The general timeline is 6-8 weeks after meeting the criteria stated in this section of the answer. I went to the NJDOE website to check the status of my application, but when I entered my social security number, the prompt reads “Sorry, there are no matching applications for my social security number.” The Office of Education Enrollment and Certification will send a letter with directions on how to check the status of your license online through the state’s website. It is quite normal for the system to not recognize a social security number until the point in time when the license is issued, even if one has been recommended, if one does not already hold a state educational license. Once the state issues the license, it will be available for viewing, saving, and printing of a PDF. See question 5. I have been notified by the Office of Education Enrollment & Certification that my licensure was not issued due to missing praxis scores, but I have taken and passed the test. What does this mean? When applying to take the Praxis Subject Assessment (formerly Praxis II), you are asked to provide your Social Security number. Since it is not required, many teacher candidates do not include it. However, the Social Security Number is the main identifying component the state utilizes to issue educational licenses. When WPUNJ recommends you for licensure, the NJDOE checks to validate that they have received passing scores on the required Praxis Subject Assessment/ PraxisII test; without the Social Security number on your scores report, they will not recognize your scores. This will delay or prevent licensure issuance. Check your Praxis Subject Assessment/Praxis II score report for your social security number. If there is an “I” in that section, contact ETS at 1-609-771-7395 and have your scores re-issued with your social security number included. Also be sure to have the corrected scores sent to the NJDOE code R7666 and WPUNJ 2518. How do I receive my license from the state? The state will no longer mail paper certifications, so you must use the following website to view licenses. Once you see that your license has been issued on the state’s site, print the details and alert interested school districts. Here is the state’s website where you will see the issued license: https://www20.state.nj.us/DOE_TCIS_ASC/pages/appStatusSearch.jsp This process is subject to change as per the NJDOE. Those recommended for their licenses by the Office of Education Enrollment and Certification will be sent a mailing with this link and steps for licensure retrieval.
