Thanks to the hard work of Mary Clare O'Connor, Continuing Education Coordinator of Evening and Alternative Programs, and Carol DeFries, Humanities and Social Sciences Department Chair, the College is now offering courses from the new Teaching Assistant Certificate program to teaching assistants at Mohonasen High School (right). NYS Commissioner of Education regulations, effective February 2004, now require teaching assistants to achieve minimum state certification through such coursework in order to keep their positions. Thus far, 12 teaching assistants have enrolled and we anticipate one or two more. The district is delighted that we are now offering courses on site at Mohonasen as it makes it easier for their employees to participate. This program may also be made available to teaching assistants from the Schalmont District, through a special partnership between the two school districts.

In comparison to other similar programs, our Teaching Assistant Certificate program provides direct transferability of course work to SCCC's Teacher Education Transfer, AS program. This is important because the Commissioner's regulations require that course work directly transfers to an associate or baccalaureate degree leading to NYS teacher certification. In addition, because the certificate requires 24 credit hours, those who matriculate into the program are eligible to apply for financial aid. Similar programs in the region require only 18 credit hours and contain several early childhood courses which may not meet the Commissioner's regulations. Therefore, we believe that SCCC's program offers greater access and opens more doors to advancement for program graduates.

We intend to market this program concept to other districts in the near future.