Teacher licensing in Minneapolis (St. Paul, Victoria: credit, find a job, transfer)

[bhdavis1978]

Hi,

My wife and I are moving to the twin cities a few days so I can start a job at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. We are coming on J1 and J2 visas, respectively, from Canada. My wife is a teacher in British Columbia, she has her bachelors of arts degree in anthropology from the University of Victoria, and her bachelors of education degree (teachers college) from the University of British Columbia. I am trying to determine if this will qualify her to teach in the state of Minnesota. From what I've read, I believe she's going to have to pay an application fee of about $85 to begin the licensing, and then be tested in reading, writing and mathematics at a cost of $40 per test before she can be licensed to teach - and additionally, if she wants to teach math in grade 5 (She is currently a grade 4/5 split teacher in an inner-city school) she will have to take yet another test. Am I understanding this correctly? Are the private schools better employers? With five years of teaching experience in inner-city schools she would make nearly $60,000 next year in Surrey, BC (if we were staying), but teaching in the greater MSP area she would only make $38,000 (granted, cost of living in MSP is substantially less than it is in Vancouver). What are some other possible employment opportunities for someone with a background in teaching in the twin cities areas? It seems like it can't be that hard to find a job that pays in the $40,000 for someone with two university degrees.

By the way, she also has experience as a the head swim coach of a swim team with over 300 swimmers in it. She worked as an individual coach, team coach, and head coach.

Thanks!

[golfgal]

In MN you generally either have a license in elementary education (K-6) or a secondary license (6-12). For an elementary license you generally have a degree in elementary education. For a secondary license you have a degree in your subject matter, math, science, etc. and a minor in secondary education. She will need to figure out where her degrees would fall in that, she could possibly have both depending on the coursework she has taken for her degrees.

It might be easier if she contacted the state licensing department directly to discuss this. It would probably be helpful for her to have a copy of her transcript to go over it with them to see if she needs any additional coursework, etc. Her degrees may or may not transfer over to a MN license without taking some additional classes that are required in MN.

As for finding a job that pays more then $40k, maybe. Some districts will give credit for years taught in other schools, some won't. The better paying districts are typically the most sought after jobs-big surprise. I was talking to a teacher the other day that was trying to get a job in our district and she said that there were 600 applications for the position she applied to. She will need to get a masters degree if she wants to make anything close to $60,000.

She might have better luck in the Minneapolis or St. Paul schools as they have a lot of teachers near retirement age. She could also check the community colleges in the area to see if there are openings there.

Private schools are not better or worse for employment necessarily however they tend to be poorer paying jobs then the public schools BUT she might have an easier time finding a job. Private school teachers are not required to carry a teaching license but most won't hire you if you don't have one BUT having one from Canada could help get you in the door and then they might require that you work toward getting your MN license after you are hired.

[bhdavis1978]

What about non-teaching jobs? She has her bachelor of education in what we call intermediate school (3-7) which best fits into the elementary education category in Minnesota. I have tried calling the State Licensing people, but, in at least the two experiences I've had with them, they were unhelpful and rude.

w.r.t. finding a job paying ~$40K, I should've been more clear. What I was thinking is that it shouldn't be too hard for her to find a job in a different field where she could make about the same amount of money without having to jump through so many hoops. She finds it kind of depressing that she's going to be doing the same job, but taking a $20,000 pay cut for it. She is planning on getting her MEd while we are living here in Minnesota, but she just feels that being a teacher with all the work that goes into it deserves a higher salary. I think she's also a little overwhelmed by the idea of having to come from teaching Canadian curriculum in Canada (Canadian geography, history, the Queen's English, Canadian social studies) to a very different system in the United States. I'm very familiar with the United States, I know American geography very well, I also understand the basis for the American federal government, I know a lot more American history than she does, and I'm in a field where I have to switch back and forth between using Queen's English / American English on a daily basis, so it doesn't phase me.

She likes teaching a lot, but she's just not sure it's worth the hassles of getting licensed, learning new material, taking a pay cut, etc.

Cheers,
Brad

[golfgal]

Depending on what other areas she might be interested working in, finding a job that pays $40,000 or more is possible. It is really a hard question to answer. There are 1000's of jobs that pay well over $60,000 or even $100,000 in the Twin Cities area, getting them is another story. There are probably plenty of jobs right at the U of M that she could do for $40,000+.

[Grannysroost]

She may want to look at the swim coach and maybe do independently to up the teaching income?