Does anyone have experience with ABCTE certified teachers? (St. Louis, Oregon: transfer, school district)

[t. chirp]

I recently moved to St. Louis from New York City where I completed the Teaching Fellows program. I have two years experience teaching special ed. and a master's in education. Nevertheless, I worked under a transitional certification in New York and was not fully certified when I left. I have been advised that the quickest way for me to get my certification here is to take online courses with ABCTE. Does anyone know if this is a reputable path for Missouri certification?

[stepka]

I can't answer to that yet, b/c I just got mine 3 months ago and I'm not hired as a teacher yet, but I found out past hiring season. My understanding is that since you're licensed thru DESE, it shouldn't make a difference, but I don't know about that yet. Here's the question though--you mentioned sped? ABCTE offers sped only if you plan to teach in private schools, and I don't think the private schools pay very well or do much with sped. I could be wrong, but even though I wanted to do sped, I chose English Language Arts so I could teach public. Now that I'm certified though, I can go and take the sped praxis exam and get certified for that. Anyway, google DESE and MO and there is a lot of info on there as to what you can do.

It sounds to me like your best bet would be to finish your courses at a university, b/c surely with all your work you want to be certified to teach at a public school. Also, you'll be applying to Special School District, so see what you're qualified for there. Are you wanting to teach elementary, middle, or high school? You could sub while you finish up and when I subbed at SSD, I worked every day.

Another warning about ABCTE: They are really weird with the essay question at the end of the teaching methods test. The highest possible score is 6 and the passing score is a 4, but a lot of people taking the test for the first time come out with a 3 and have to retake, and many of them were English majors--some even with a masters in English Lit or journalism, so it's quite a shock and a waste of your time and money. I passed it on the second try but I was suspicious b/c I got a 5 on the essay for the English Language Arts portion and a 5 on my second try, though with very little adjustment.

Anyway, I don't know how qualified I truly will be, but I know this---I can surely out-teach at least half the teachers I work with--I think of teaching as an art and you have to find your own style. Of course you have to have knowledge, but much of it is in-born.

[dprude]

Hi,

I am taking the ABCTE exam in English sometime before next February. I read your response, and I wanted to ask you a few questions. Background first...I've been subbing as a continuing substitute in the SLPS school district for 5 years. I have a degree in HR (needed to leave corporate world), and decided to go for my cert. using abcte. If you don't pass the writing component, do you have to pay to retake the entire exam or just the writing component. Surely, I can't see one having to retake the entire exam over again for the sake of one part. Also, can you recommend any study materials online anywhere? The reading list is just so ridiculously broad, I can't seem to grasp what exactly to focus on...I have an English Minor, but I'm starting to get nervous because of what I've been reading online from those who have not passed the exams. Also, do you know how close our exam is to the Praxis? The library has a Praxis exam guideline book that is quite excellent. How it relates to the ABCTE exam, however, is what I'm not sure of.

[marigolds6]

Seems like you should easily be eligible for temporary authorization in Missouri without the online courses.
5 CSR 80-800.260 Temporary Authorization Certificate of License to Teach (http://dese.mo.gov/schoollaw/rulesregs/80800260.htm - broken link)
Anyway, Missouri does accept ABCTE.
http://dese.mo.gov/forms/divteachqual/MO500-2182.pdf (broken link)
Plenty more detail here:
Educator Certification Forms
(My wife had little trouble transferring her Oregon conditional license to Missouri, even though there was two years in between while she was in grad school.)

[kittieux]

I competed the progrm in 2011 and got my license last month in MS. The program was intensive, especially in ELA. The reading list is longer than the graduate program reading list at MS State! I received a scholarship, so cost was not a problem for me. I passed both tests on the first try. I know some people complained that PTK test was too hard, and it was, but then I studied 6 months before taking that and the ELA test. I studied for a minimum of 3 hours per day. I found that taking the reading list and organizing it into chronological order helped me tremendously. The list is broken down into non-fiction, fiction, poetry, etc. Taking the list and re-organizing it by movement and time was a big help for me personally. There were areas of literature with which I was unfamiliar. Yes, it's possible to get a degree in English and manage to skip some areas! If I didn't have time to read something, I used sparknotes. I hope this helps.