[KellyBundy]

I am in the middle of getting my teaching certification that will qualify me to teach math or psychology at the secondary level. Does anyone happen to know if I will have a good chance of finding employment in the state when I am done? I have about two years left to go.

[MittenDweller82]

Originally Posted by KellyBundy

I am in the middle of getting my teaching certification that will qualify me to teach math or psychology at the secondary level. Does anyone happen to know if I will have a good chance of finding employment in the state when I am done? I have about two years left to go.

Sorry to ruin your day but I would recommend you begin your job search outside of Michigan. States such as Michigan that have experienced massive cutbacks in federal and state funding have huge numbers of unemployed very talented and experienced teachers flooding the job market which leads to extreme competition. Although this is true across the US Michigan is by far one of the worst states to be a teacher looking for work (unless you are MD or PhD seeking a prof position.)


I would recommend browsing more threads on City-Data in other states and posting the same question there, if you don't plan on relocating out of Michigan when you are through I would consider another line of work.

Good luck!

[GlassPipe]

Teachers' jobs have always been scarce ever since I can remember. In my town we had a day care center that was being staffed with substitute teachers waiting to get in to one of the local districts. Usually they'd end up married to a local and subbed here and there. Others that didn't care where they lived left.

In my little hick town where I grew up most of the teachers that were there when I was in k-garten where still there when I graduated. Not much ever changed except the sheriff.

[Cpak240]

Originally Posted by KellyBundy

I am in the middle of getting my teaching certification that will qualify me to teach math or psychology at the secondary level. Does anyone happen to know if I will have a good chance of finding employment in the state when I am done? I have about two years left to go.

Due to the new Michigan Merit Curriculum, more high school math and science is required. Students from the graduating class of 2010 and beyond are required to have four years of math, including Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, and a senior level math class. They are required to have three years of science, including Biology and Chemistry or Physics. For those teachers who are certified in high school math and/or Biology, Chemistry, Physics, there may be positions available. The school district I work for is laying off teachers, but those with high school certifications are relatively safe because of certification requirements. We may have to hire high school math/science teachers in the next year or two. The class of 2016 and beyond are required to have a credit of world language. This should open up some positions after next year. Our student population will likely continue to decline if families continue to leave Michigan, so more teachers who are elementary and middle school certified will likely get laid off to keep or hire math/science/world language teachers.

If you could add a DX Science certification to your secondary math certification, you'd be more marketable in Michigan. Good luck!

[MI-Roger]

I read that 70% of the Teaching graduates from Eastern Michigan University who were able to find jobs, accepted jobs out-of-state.

[mackinac81]

Originally posted by kellybundy
I am in the middle of getting my teaching certification that will qualify me to teach math or psychology at the secondary level. Does anyone happen to know if I will have a good chance of finding employment in the state when I am done? I have about two years left to go.

Let's put it this way. I graduated two and a half years ago, applied statewide and got just one interview. I'm moving to North Carolina on Friday.

You will not find a job in Michigan. If you can, look elsewhere. Seriously. Don't even waste the resume paper here.

[grhtex]

Our district in North Texas is opening a new high school this year. See link. They hired 19 new teachers for the district. My daughter's science teacher is from Coldwater, MI, My Son's Physics teacher from Canada. One of the school board members is a UofM grad.
http://phs.prosper-isd.net/Uploads/66/misc/f159613.pdf

I'm still trying to figure out if they are insane or not for spending all this money (217mil). The school is built to hold 2600 students in 4 grades. The current student population is less than 900 for grades 9-12. The 2nd floor will be left unfinished until student population warrants.
There are plans to build a natatorium on this campus in phase II of the project. The campus has a baseball and softball stadium with artificial turf and seating that wraps around from 1st to 3rd base 10-20 rows high. It has a detached all purpose athletic building, with indoor practice facility, training rooms and medical facilities, xray and ultrasound equipment. I saw them unloading 2 semis of exercise equipment for the weightlifting facilities. The gym will have a jumbo tron score board (so I'm told) and I'm also told the cafeteria will have a Chick-Fil-A and Starbucks. (This is common in many schools here)
There are also plans to build a 12,000 seat off-site ISD fotoball stadium that will eventually support more high schools in the future as the area grows and new High Schools are built but the stadium project is currently on hold until the economy picks up. All this growth projection and school planning was based on pre-recession predictions. Our town is currently about 7200 in population and expected to grow 10% per year, but this rate has slowed due to the economy. Our neighborhood did sell about 15 new homes this spring/summer, all mostly families with school aged children. We have folks from California, Montana, Colorado, Ohio to name a few. Not so many from MI besides us. One of my

It's all pretty unbelievable and a spectacular facility done "Texas Big" for sure but I'm not so curious to see what will happen if growth projections aren't met and the tax base doesn't grow. They built this sucker in less than 2 years. They don't waste any time building things here that's for sure. It went up fast. There were no strikes, no weather delays, just here's the plans, there's the land; on your marks, get set and go!

On a side note related to the schools: When we moved here from MI in 07 the school was still administering corporal punishment. They gave kids a choice of getting a whack or taking a detention if they got into trouble. They did away with this policy last year but it sure took me back to my school days for a brief period...

[Bydand]

Holy cow, they built that big of a school in Prosper? Must figure on having McKinney spread it's wings and your district growing like gang busters. (Used to live in Seagoville back in the late 70's myself)

To the OP, really teaching in Michigan has been tight for many, many years. I am surprised the teaching schools still have students to tell the truth, because there just isn't jobs out there for them in Michigan, and hasn't been in a long time. What few openings a district may have, are usually filled from within by somebody who has had their teaching certificate for a long time, but working as a teachers aide, or in the lunch room, or even a playground aide. I know our little district had a few openings this Spring, but shoot, even our crossing guards have their teaching certificate and are just waiting for an opening, anywhere in the State.

[Coldjensens]

A year ago, my wife was working as a substitute teacher. She has no certificate but she had plenty of work. It is low paying work with no benefits and she had to wait for 5:30 a.m. calls each morning, but some districts would call on Sunday because they wanted to get her before someone else did. There were weeks when she did nto get any jobs. Usually however she had more requests than she could handle. Two districts said that they would hire her if she had a certificate and one said that if she gets her certificate later, please contact them. Unless there have been dramatic changes in the past year, there are jobs here and there, but you have to be flexible, patient, dedicated, and do a good job with the kids.

I have heard that most jobs being offfered are part time without benefits. I think that they are slowly replacing full time teachers with part time. They did not specify with my wife, but I thought those were full time positions. I do nto see how elementary teachers can be part time, but high schools do it a lot.

[YAZ]

Originally Posted by MI-Roger

I read that 70% of the Teaching graduates from Eastern Michigan University who were able to find jobs, accepted jobs out-of-state.

Quite possible.

But ya gotta remember, EMU is one of the finest "Education" schools in the country.

I shood know, as I grajumated from there.

You can tell that I ain't a teacher, eh?

Dang.

I wasn't a "Communications" major either...


The Michigan school system tends to be excellent, even with the cutbacks. I think that most educators that graduate from Eastern can get a job anywhere.

Yes, the program is THAT good.