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The Connecticut State Department of Education is adopting a new cloud-based certification application portal to replace the current Connecticut Educator Certification System (CECS). The official launch date of the new CECS is November 10, 2026. Please be advised that CECS will be completely offline from Thursday, October 29, 2026, to November 10, 2026, as we prepare to launch the new certification system.



Am I exempt from subject matter assessments?


Read time: 6 minutes

 

Content-area assessment exemptions 

Educators may become certified in Connecticut without completing a content-area assessment test approved CT State Board of Education. To be eligible for this exemption, you must hold a current certificate in another state that is equivalent to at least a Connecticut initial educator certificate AND meet one of the following:

  • Document three years of successful teaching experience in the past 10 years under a valid certificate. The experience must be in the endorsement area for which you are applying.

OR

  • Hold a master’s degree in the academic subject area (e.g., math, sciences) that you want to teach. Please note that pedagogical degrees in the subject area, such as those for elementary education, special education, or physical education, do not meet the requirements of the exemption.
 

Educators from Other States