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New York State and California are generally considered the most difficult states to procure state certification. They have the most rigid rules and even if they give you some sort of temporary certification, you will still have to take their dedicated state tests. Fortunately, the edtpa has been eliminated, which was the most difficult since it was not just a paper and pencil "exam." It was more like an audition. The Praxis is accepted in many states, but each state requires a different Praxis exam in elementary education. I don't know about secondary subject exams. I would assume that it's the same subject exam in all states.
Clark County, Nevada is always, always looking for teachers. They have very high turnover. I used to have a Nevada state certification but it expired. If you do have social security credits, just be careful about states that don't pay into the SS system and only have their own pension plan. (Edited-I see that Phetarol was writing a post the same time as me and mentioned it too).
I get solicitations for teaching in New Zealand on occasion. They are recruiting teachers and that will allow you to get some sort of resident status, even with a spouse.
Malay is one of the languages that would be desirable for a NYC ESL teacher. You most likely would find something if you could manage to get a NYS ESL certification.
I'm an American living overseas and I may move back to the US in the next 5 or so years. I teach at an international school in Malaysia, but I don't have official certification from any state to teach. I have a master's degree, but it's not in education.
I'm from Massachusetts, but my wife and I are open to moving to any US state that can offer us decent jobs and a good quality of life. I figure that if I make myself eligible in as many states as possible, we'll have a number of choices once the time comes to move.
I decided to make myself eligible for a provisional license in Mass by taking the MTELs. Congrats! I passed.
I also looked around the northeast to see if any other state would accept the MTEL in lieu of whatever test they accept. Vermont said they would take my MTEL results when I emailed them, but it's not not on their website. CT said no. Same with NY (more on NY later).
Most other states require Praxis exams, except for the ones that don't, so I've decided to take those exams in the near future. Of course I noticed that to teach social studies in VT, I need Praxis exam 5081 or 5089, but in RI, I need 5089 or 5086.
Some states require Praxis I, while others seem to think that as a 45 year old man I have my SAT scores lying around the house.
NY and NJ are a **** show. I think I'd need to be there, or find a charter school job, just to complete even their alternative requirements. I looked up CA and it was just as ridiculous as NY and NJ.
ME and NH seem to only be looking for warm bodies - that being said, the coldest place my wife had ever been to before she met me was Melbourne, Australia. ME and NH would be a tough sell.
I'm all for states rights, but this is getting silly.
Feel free to add to my list of complaints.
come back here and live in PA for a while, and get the praxxis done and your cert in PA. The PA teacher license is the holy grail for teachers, its like having a NY issued electrical license - its pretty much portable anywhere. nothing more than a handshake and a sig to license somewhere else.
What subjects are you qualified to teach? Math and science and in high demand everywhere. There are teacher shortages everywhere. Take a look at New Mexico. Do you teach English as a Second Language? Any foreign languages? More info needed. I guess since this is just a rant thread, you don't want suggestions on where to look for teaching jobs? Have you considered private schools?
Id second that on NM...my ma finished her bs in psych in AZ in the late 90s and since she was fluent in spanish, she and other coworkers with circus circus (she worked at the reservation center in laughlin) formed a corp to ESL teach future casino workers for well, NV.
As she moved to retirement they had bought land and built a place bordering the ramah navajo rez and she got a job teaching ESL at the ramah school as they predominantly spoke spanish and navajo - which by tribal law the white man could not know. the pay was low, but she was retired so it was fun money with a 10 mile dirt road commute.
come back here and live in PA for a while, and get the praxxis done and your cert in PA. The PA teacher license is the holy grail for teachers, its like having a NY issued electrical license - its pretty much portable anywhere. nothing more than a handshake and a sig to license somewhere else.
I don't know whether you're correct or not. But over my career in moving from NYS to Maryland to Virginia I was always told those states had full reciprocity with teacher certifications...and never found that to be true.
As she moved to retirement they had bought land and built a place bordering the ramah navajo rez and she got a job teaching ESL at the ramah school as they predominantly spoke spanish and navajo - which by tribal law the white man could not know. the pay was low, but she was retired so it was fun money with a 10 mile dirt road commute.
I find this hard to believe. Navajo educators and school principles want their kids to be competent in English, for employability. They won't all get jobs on rez, or be self-employed artists.
I was in one of the last communities on the rez to have a first-grade group that only spoke Navajo when they arrived at school, and that was in the early 90's. It was a bilingual school that contracted directly with the Dept. of Education, not a public school. The kids learned writing/composition skills in both languages all the way through HS (advanced college-prep and job-prep level), used their skills in the bilingual school newspaper to learn journalism, and learned bilingual TV writing and broadcasting skills through the school's own TV station. (Several of the contract schools had gotten TV broadcast equipment through a grant.) They were learning real-life skills that would be marketable both on- and off-rez. And these were some of the most remote communities there were. Back then, Peabody Coal was still a going concern, and a source of jobs for the kids who weren't college-bound, but they still needed to be functional in English sufficiently to do office work.
IDK what's going on at Ramah, but other Navajo schools have acquired computers for all their classrooms through the Gates Foundation, as have public libraries in the communities, because adults want their kids to have contemporary skills. Even self-employed artists need to be internet savvy and have some programming skills to create their own websites for marketing their art. Native communities throughout New Mexico have gotten grants from a major grantor that focuses on economic development through the arts, to get highspeed internet and computers for their artists so they can market themselves digitally. The Navajos are well-known among the Native artist circuit in NM for cashing in maximally on the Gates grants and others.
It's hard to imagine there's a Navajo community that had been deliberately isolating their kids from modern trends, unless community leadership has decided everyone should be happy being sheepherders and farmhands. It's one way to stem the gradual loss of Native language skills, but bilingual education has addressed that very successfully.
Now you have me wanting to look into this history of education at Ramah.
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 11-04-2023 at 10:34 AM..
I don't know whether you're correct or not. But over my career in moving from NYS to Maryland to Virginia I was always told those states had full reciprocity with teacher certifications...and never found that to be true.
lets say I have someone in the family with the pa creds who has moved seamlessly to both MD and VA (at present) with that signature and handshake. She was looking at NY, FL and GA to who made the same claim. For better or worse, PA is a 'puppy mill' for teachers - especially out of state
I find this hard to believe. Navajo educators and school principles want their kids to be competent in English, for employability. They won't all get jobs on rez, or be self-employed artists.
I was in one of the last communities on the rez to have a first-grade group that only spoke Navajo when they arrived at school, and that was in the early 90's. It was a bilingual school that contracted directly with the Dept. of Education, not a public school. The kids learned writing/composition skills in both languages all the way through HS (advanced college-prep and job-prep level), used their skills in the bilingual school newspaper to learn journalism, and learned bilingual TV writing and broadcasting skills through the school's own TV station. (Several of the contract schools had gotten TV broadcast equipment through a grant.) They were learning real-life skills that would be marketable both on- and off-rez. And these were some of the most remote communities there were. Back then, Peabody Coal was still a going concern, and a source of jobs for the kids who weren't college-bound, but they still needed to be functional in English sufficiently to do office work.
IDK what's going on at Ramah, but other Navajo schools have acquired computers for all their classrooms through the Gates Foundation, as have public libraries in the communities, because adults want their kids to have contemporary skills. Even self-employed artists need to be internet savvy and have some programming skills to create their own websites for marketing their art. Native communities throughout New Mexico have gotten grants from a major grantor that focuses on economic development through the arts, to get highspeed internet and computers for their artists so they can market themselves digitally. The Navajos are well-known among the Native artist circuit in NM for cashing in maximally on the Gates grants and others.
It's hard to imagine there's a Navajo community that had been deliberately isolating their kids from modern trends, unless community leadership has decided everyone should be happy being sheepherders and farmhands. It's one way to stem the gradual loss of Native language skills, but bilingual education has addressed that very successfully.
Now you have me wanting to look into this history of education at Ramah.
isnt your first statement in your reply a damned good reason to hire ma? given that the little corp they formed also served the Mojave valley rez as well? pick up a map and peek mojave valley az and laughlin NV. (plus, ma, and by descent me, are also indian so its not like mixing in swedes)
lets put it this way, if you know anyone at all at the school who has been around at least 13 years (she died 2010) then you knew her or they did. and in your diggin you will find the homestead area they all built and dig deep enuf you will find my involvement there as well. (clue: my first post in this thread) whether or not they have computers NOW (they didnt have cell nor frame relay internet THEN) is irrelevant. This kinda is the future no?
If you ever have been to the ramah area, you also know the tribe runs a radio station and each evening...they give the news....in navajo. Only.
I was going through the alternative ways of getting a license in NY and it seems I MAY be qualified for Transitional C Cert. My Masters is kind of close to what I want to teach, so we'll see if they accept.
If not, I could always apply for Transitional A Cert and take a few extra courses. It appears that I MAY be allowed to take those course while I'm already working, but I'm not sure. Who knows.
Either way, I have a number of years. I told my wife, I'll take new exams each year so if/when we go, we'll have options.
I think I'll take a few Praxis II exams in February and then take Praxis I next summer. I'm actually worried about Praxis 1 because they have a damn math component, something I didn't have to deal with on the MTELs.
Then, I guess I'll take NY licensure exams next year some time when I can get down to Singapore (I can actually take the Praxis here in Kuala Lumpur, but I'd have to travel to Singapore or Bangkok for NY tests).
Ultimately I'd love to live in upstate NY and raise my daughter there. I really do love it up there.
Last edited by MrDee12345; 11-05-2023 at 01:59 AM..
I get what you're saying. When I first got out of the service, I attempted to go into teaching via the alternate route. Took the Praxis and everything they asked for. Those were easy. The only hurdle, and this was the showstopper, was I had to get hired by a school to be eligible for the alternate route, but no school would hire me since, like you, I didn't have a degree in education. The real issue isn't that the individual states are so different as it is that education is a closed shop.
Perhaps with more schools being desperate now, you may find them more willing to use the alternate route.
This is sort of how it is in FL. I have looked into it to see if I could teach at the virtual school or some online private school but mostly so I would be qualified to do homeschool evaluations since those must be done by a certified teacher. I have two bachelor’s degrees so I would have a few options for middle and high school, but lining up the certification exams basically has to be sponsored by the school hiring you. I would have to do an internship to get a permanent license since the temporary one can’t be renewed, but I don’t see online schools offering that and I have zero desire to be in a traditional classroom setting so I’ve scrapped the whole idea at this point.
I talked to a teacher friend and she told me nobody wants to be in a classroom anymore and they’re all scrambling to get into virtual options. Even rural teachers who aren’t dealing with the issues seen in inner cities are not excited about their jobs anymore.
Anyway, FL has relaxed requirements to make it easier maybe like 15 or 20 years ago and they claim all you need is a bachelor’s but that’s not entirely true as there are still subject area exams and the actual teaching cert classes that teach classroom management and whatnot. It does look like there are decent reciprocity options here, but I didn’t delve too far into it since it doesn’t apply to me.
People/organizations who are going to hire you have a right to set expectations for job qualifications and job performance if you expect them to pay you. You're not an independent contractor. You're an employee. Just as I -- as teacher, or later as a principal -- was an employee of the Board Of Education. They -- along with state governments -- set the requirements. If you don't want to fulfill the requirements, go do something else. It is not up to the potential employee to set employment standards.
Except in today’s world where there is a teacher shortage - employees and what they’re willing to do actually do influence the employment standards set forth. Generally yes, I agree that if you’re not willing to fulfill the minimum standards set forth, go find another line of work, but when nobody wants to be in that industry anymore, it’s time to switch things up. Personally I would almost rather do away with state standards on it and leave it up to districts and private schools. And I think private schools in my state largely do set their own rules as the certification laws only apply to public schools from what I can tell.
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