With summer just around the corner, now is a good time to take stock of the progress you’re making toward your professional state certification.

Teachers in their fifth year of teaching under an initial certificate should apply for their professional certificate at least six months before their initial certificate expires. If you are in your fifth year and your certificate expires on Aug. 31, apply for your professional certificate immediately. If you realize that you will need a time extension to complete requirements for your professional certificate, you should apply for the time extension immediately.

You can apply and pay the $50 fee by going to the State Education Department website at www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert and logging into your TEACH account. In your application, you must identify one of the listed reasons for needing an extension and mail in the appropriate supporting documentation.

To get your professional certificate, you’ll need to show that you’ve earned a master’s degree and that you’ve completed three years of paid, full-time teaching experience.

Your teaching experience can be in any public or approved nonpublic school and in any grade or subject within the developmental level of your certificate — and the three years don’t all have to be in New York City schools. Any teaching you did under an alternative certificate also counts. Substitute teaching, as long as it was done in the same developmental level or subject area of your certificate, counts as well.

If you want to claim teaching experience as a substitute teacher or in a district beyond New York State, you will have to submit written verification with a short letter on district letterhead. Get these letters as soon as possible and while people who knew you are still reachable.

In your first year of teaching, you should receive mentoring by an experienced teacher. It’s your mentor’s responsibility to log at least 40 hours into the DOE mentoring system, and you should see this reflected in your online TEACH account at the State Education Department website after you apply for your professional certificate.

You’ll also need to complete state-mandated courses on child abuse identification, school violence prevention, the Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) and, if your certificate is in Students With Disabilities, the needs of children with autism.

Since it takes time to process your application, it’s a good idea to apply for your professional certificate as soon as you finish all the requirements, or at least six months before your certificate expires. You must apply and pay the fee online at the State Education Department website.

Then you should mail your official sealed transcripts and other supporting documents together with your $100 application fee to the New York State Education Department, Office of Teaching Initiatives, Room 5N-EB Education Building, 89 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12234. It’s recommended that you make copies of everything before sending. Mail your documents certified return receipt requested.

For help with certification issues, call an educational liaison at your UFT borough office, or a certification specialist with the UFT Certification Services Department at 1-212-420-1830.