What is the NYSTCE ALST?
The NYSTCE is the New York State Teachers’ Certification Exam.
The ALST, Academic Literacy Skills Test, is part of the NYSTCE exam.
The NYTSCE and ALST are computer-based tests (CBT’s).
The ALST consists of reading passages with:
40 selected-response items, 2 focused-response items, and 1 extended-response item
The allowed time for the ALST is 3 hoursand 30 minutes
New York State Teacher Certification – NYSTCE
You need the New York State Teacher Certification Examination (NYSTCE) to teach in the state of New York.
In order to become certified, you have to take the NYSTCE in your subject area.
The NYSTCE program includes tests for the certification of:
- teaching assistants
- teachers
- school leaders (administrators)
New York State Teacher Certification – Other Exams
To receive an initial New York State teaching certificate in most subject areas, you need to pass:
- the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test (LAST)
- the elementary or the secondary version of the Assessment of Teaching Skills—Written (ATS–W)
- and a Content Specialty Test (CST) in your subject area of certification
The LAST and ATS-W exams have multiple-choice questions and a written assignment.
New York State Teacher Certification – Education
To obtain a bilingual education extension to an existing teaching certificate, you have to pass the Bilingual Education Assessment (BEA) in your language of instruction.
For Pre-Professional New York State teaching assistant certificates, you need to pass the Assessment of Teaching Assistant Skills (ATAS).
The NYSTCE website provides the following information on the format, content, and level of the various certification tests.
New York State Teacher Certification – CST Content Areas
Content Specialty Tests (CSTs) also have multiple-choice questions and a written assignment.
There are Content Specialty Tests (CSTs) in these subject areas:
- Agriculture
- American Sign Language
- Biology
- Blind/Visually Impaired
- Business and Marketing
- Chemistry
- Dance
- Deaf and Hard of Hearing
- Earth Science
- Educational Technology Specialist
- English Language Arts
- English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
- Family and Consumer Sciences
- Gifted Education
- Health Education
- Languages other than English (including Cantonese, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin, Russian, and Spanish)
- Library Media Specialist
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Music Education
- Physical Education
- Physics
- Social Studies
- Students with Disabilities
- Technology Education
- Theatre
- Visual Arts
The CSTs for languages other than English include listening and speaking components.
There are multi-subject CST’s for the following:
- Multi-Subject: Teachers of Early Childhood (Birth–Grade 2)
- Multi-Subject: Teachers of Childhood (Grade 1–Grade 6)
- Multi-Subject: Teachers of Middle Childhood (Grade 5–Grade 9)
- Multi-Subject: Secondary Teachers (Grade 7–Grade 12)
Purpose of the NYSTCE Test
The NYSTCE determines whether teaching certification candidates have the knowledge and skills necessary for teachers in New York State schools.
Test questions are created using material from textbooks, learning standards, curriculum guides, and teacher certification standards.
Committees are consulted during the development of the NYSTCE tests.
These committees include New York State teachers, teacher educators, and content specialists.
Teaching candidates should visit the official NYSTCE website for registration bulletins.
The bulletins contain information related to the paper-based and computer-based versions of the tests.
For further information on the New York State Teacher Certification Examinations, please click on the link below to visit the official website:
New York State Teacher Certification Examinations
Please Note:
Pearson Inc. is the trademark owner and administrator of The New York State Teacher Certification Examinations.
Pearson acts on behalf of the New York State Education Commissioners.
This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Pearson Inc or the New York State Education Commissioners.