The Internship Certificate enables graduate-level teaching candidates to teach full-time in New York State schools during their student teaching experience. For the certificate to be issued, the job title needs to match the area of certification of the candidate’s teacher preparation program. Like all SUNY Cortland student teachers, internship-certified candidates will be supervised by our program faculty and expected to complete all student teaching obligations (i.e., Teacher Performance Assessment [TPA], seminar attendance, scheduling observations and meetings, and other assignments). Candidates also need to be assigned a school-based mentor teacher certified in the same area as the certificate sought, and this mentor will need to be in ongoing communication with the candidate and the college supervisor.
Before we can recommend a candidate for this certificate, we require an employment verification letter from the hiring school district confirming the following information:
- Job title
- Grade level(s)
- Subject(s)
- Start and end dates
- Mentor name
- Mentor certification
- School building
- Building administrator name & contact information
The following template provides guidance to school district leaders when writing employment verification letters. The template can be copied and pasted into school district letterhead and should be signed by the school district Superintendent or Human Resources Director. Unfortunately, a job offer letter cannot be used for this purpose.
To Whom It May Concern:
This letter serves to verify that ______________________ [candidate’s name] will be employed with _____________________ [school district] at ____________ [school name]. The title of the teaching position is _________________ [title] in ___________ [grades/subjects]. The position will begin on _____________ [start date] and end on __________________ [end date]. The candidate will be mentored by ___________________ [mentor’s name] who is certified in __________________ [area of certification]. The school building administrator is __________________ [administrator name] and they can be contacted at _________________ [phone number] or _______________ [email address]. We understand that the candidate will complete all student teaching obligations, and the mentor teacher will be able to meet regularly.