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My wife is looking to make a career change, and she wants to become a junior high or high school English teacher. I've been trying to get information from the various websites about what she needs to get certified, but it seems like there's an information overload.
Has anyone done this, and if so, can anyone break it down? She has a BA in English with a decent GPA from Rutgers, and she's wondering if she has to go back to take classes, or what exactly the process is.
My wife is looking to make a career change, and she wants to become a junior high or high school English teacher. I've been trying to get information from the various websites about what she needs to get certified, but it seems like there's an information overload.
Has anyone done this, and if so, can anyone break it down? She has a BA in English with a decent GPA from Rutgers, and she's wondering if she has to go back to take classes, or what exactly the process is.
Check out your local county college for the Alternative Path to Teaching Program. It will spell it out for you.
Make a call to get any questions you may have answered. Many people are doing this.
Best of luck to her.
Also try some of your private schools. May not pay as much, but it's a good start.
Do you know the right people? NJ teacher pay is rather high and the bennies are extremely high. This means multiple applicants for each job in a desirable district.
She should start networking as soon as she starts school.
This site gives you the information she needs. Good luck to her.
I'm not teaching, but I did this. She may find it a little difficult to get hired w/o any teaching experience. A good avenue to take is using the CE to help you get hired as a permanent replacement sub for say a teacher going out on maternity leave and get that proverbial foot in the door.
Check out your local county college for the Alternative Path to Teaching Program. It will spell it out for you.
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This is an excellent place to start.
She will need to take the PRAXIS exam.
She will need to have an eligible GPA...I think it's 3.0 or better.
She can begin taking classes for the Alternate Route but she will have to land a job with a district willing to accept Alternate Route Teacher candidates.
Getting a job in NJ is tough. It's mostly about who you know. So she needs to be prepared to wait. Substituting can be a good foot in the door but some districts don't even need subs because they have so many.
Good luck. If you love teaching it is awesome. I love coming to work every day!
I've been researching this too, and as far as I understand, you need actual education courses, plus certain number of hours of practice teaching in the subject area, otherwise you can't get certification, and without certification you're not allowed to teach at all. (There is a different requirement if it's substitute teaching).
There are programs that put you on the fast track to certification, but then you must stay in the tough neighborhoods, and that's not for everyone...
From what I heard, no one can get into the safe neighborhoods without connections.
My wife is looking to make a career change, and she wants to become a junior high or high school English teacher. I've been trying to get information from the various websites about what she needs to get certified, but it seems like there's an information overload.
Has anyone done this, and if so, can anyone break it down? She has a BA in English with a decent GPA from Rutgers, and she's wondering if she has to go back to take classes, or what exactly the process is.
Sit down with a counselor from Rutgers or Rowan and find out ?
My wife is looking to make a career change, and she wants to become a junior high or high school English teacher. I've been trying to get information from the various websites about what she needs to get certified, but it seems like there's an information overload.
Has anyone done this, and if so, can anyone break it down? She has a BA in English with a decent GPA from Rutgers, and she's wondering if she has to go back to take classes, or what exactly the process is.
Before you spend any money on this realize that public teaching jobs in NJ aren't that easy to get unless you know someone. The issue is colleges in NJ graduate lots of education majors per year, the State's public system is basically in concrete, few expanding or new schools, and the teacher attrition rate is low, and probably headed lower, due to the state of the economy. Consider relocating out of state, a private school which pays considerably less or possibly another career option.
Before you spend any money on this realize that public teaching jobs in NJ aren't that easy to get unless you know someone. The issue is colleges in NJ graduate lots of education majors per year, the State's public system is basically in concrete, few expanding or new schools, and the teacher attrition rate is low, and probably headed lower, due to the state of the economy. Consider relocating out of state, a private school which pays considerably less or possibly another career option.
MoorestownResident said it in a nutshell.
Because the pay scale and working conditions are so favorable for teachers, they tend to stay in their positions until they retire.
Special Education in New Jersey used to be where jobs were always available. It's just as hard finding a job in that area now.
The people replying to this thread gave you a lot of useful information and things to consider before investing your money in a career where the prospects for employment are not very high even in good economic times.
Your wife might also considering teaching at a private school. They pay is less than public, the benefits are not as good as public but pretty good overall and you do not need to be certified.
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