Alternative Certification Program in Texas (Houston, Dallas: roughest, teaching jobs, high schools)

[jose_usa]

Hello,

I am doing an ACP with ECAP in Texas to be certified in Spanish, I already have my intern certificate and I have a Bachelor's Degree in Spanish and a Master's Degree in Spanish and I am getting my PhD in Spanish and I am a native Spanish speaker. No previous teaching experience though.

My question is, how the HELL does one go about getting a job as a Spanish teacher??? I have applied to like 40 ISD's in Dallas and Houston area, I have had like 12 interviews in the past 1-2 weeks and I have done well on those interviews or so I think but still NO OFFER yet. I read on the forums that getting a job as a teacher was not that hard and people got an offer after applying to like 8 ISD's but according to my experience unless I have 10 years of previous teaching experience and a BA in Education or I suck some principal's balls, I ain't going nowhere or maybe those who mentioned that they got an offer after applying to like 8 ISD's only were people from the ACP themselves in order to get suckers like me to sign up.

Any advice?

Thanks.

[Trainwreck20]

I don't think they actually offer until right before school starts .

[jose_usa]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

I don't think they actually offer until right before school starts .

Can anyone confirm this? I have read about some guys who got the offer right on the job fairs or like only 3 days after applying.

I cannot confirm it since this is my first time going through the process.

[texasdiver]

My experience is from 14 years ago. I did the alternative teaching certification in Waco for science teaching. Prior to doing alt-Cert I has a MS in marine science and 14 years working as a marine fisheries biologist in Seattle, Alaska, and Washington DC. So, although I had no actual teaching experience I had more education and experience as a working scientist than 95% of TX science teachers. My wife's career brought us to TX and necessitated the career change.

I applied for teaching jobs in April of 2007 when openings began to be listed online. I applied to 7 different ISDs in the Waco area which generated 8 interviews and 9 job offers. Several rural principals offered me jobs on the spot as did one of the alternative HS principals. I took the offer from the top district in the area in the beginning of May. Since my application remained on file at Waco ISD they were slow in getting their act together, I was getting last minute calls and offers from principals of two of their high schools as late as July, two months after I had already signed a contract with another district. They must have had last minute resignations and were getting desperate. Also I think there was turnover of principals and the incoming ones discovered that not all the hiring had been done. After my interviews I was basically offered jobs on the spot or the very next day. They were tentative offers subject to board approval and I signed a provisional contract that was subject to board approval. Which I understood to be a fairly pro-forma thing they do at the end of every meeting. Just blanket approve all the new staff requests from the districts principals. Once the board approved I went down to the district office to sign all the new employee paperwork and contract and that was probably still May or early June. They certainly didn't wait until July or August to make an offer. No school does that on purpose.

So that was a different time obviously, the year before the financial crash so the economy was pumping on all cylinders and there was a shortage of teachers, or at least science teachers in the area. But my experience was that most of the listings went out in April and most of the hiring decisions were being made by May. Anything later than that is probably a last minute resignation or last minute numbers change that required adding a new position. Typically most districts put out notices to existing staff around February giving financial incentive to any staff who are willing to give early notice of resignation or retirement so they can start the ball rolling. Then around late Feb or early March they give out all the contracts to all the teachers on staff to sign for the subsequent school year (and refuse contracts to any teachers they are letting go). So by late Feb or early March they have a good idea of how many positions they have to hire and can put out notices and get a jump on hiring all the best candidates.

This year may be completely different due to Covid and the recession. I really don't know. What I described above was generally how it worked pre-Covid.

[jose_usa]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

My experience is from 14 years ago. I did the alternative teaching certification in Waco for science teaching. Prior to doing alt-Cert I has a MS in marine science and 14 years working as a marine fisheries biologist in Seattle, Alaska, and Washington DC. So, although I had no actual teaching experience I had more education and experience as a working scientist than 95% of TX science teachers. My wife's career brought us to TX and necessitated the career change.

I applied for teaching jobs in April of 2007 when openings began to be listed online. I applied to 7 different ISDs in the Waco area which generated 8 interviews and 9 job offers. Several rural principals offered me jobs on the spot as did one of the alternative HS principals. I took the offer from the top district in the area in the beginning of May. Since my application remained on file at Waco ISD they were slow in getting their act together, I was getting last minute calls and offers from principals of two of their high schools as late as July, two months after I had already signed a contract with another district. They must have had last minute resignations and were getting desperate. Also I think there was turnover of principals and the incoming ones discovered that not all the hiring had been done. After my interviews I was basically offered jobs on the spot or the very next day. They were tentative offers subject to board approval and I signed a provisional contract that was subject to board approval. Which I understood to be a fairly pro-forma thing they do at the end of every meeting. Just blanket approve all the new staff requests from the districts principals. Once the board approved I went down to the district office to sign all the new employee paperwork and contract and that was probably still May or early June. They certainly didn't wait until July or August to make an offer. No school does that on purpose.

So that was a different time obviously, the year before the financial crash so the economy was pumping on all cylinders and there was a shortage of teachers, or at least science teachers in the area. But my experience was that most of the listings went out in April and most of the hiring decisions were being made by May. Anything later than that is probably a last minute resignation or last minute numbers change that required adding a new position. Typically most districts put out notices to existing staff around February giving financial incentive to any staff who are willing to give early notice of resignation or retirement so they can start the ball rolling. Then around late Feb or early March they give out all the contracts to all the teachers on staff to sign for the subsequent school year (and refuse contracts to any teachers they are letting go). So by late Feb or early March they have a good idea of how many positions they have to hire and can put out notices and get a jump on hiring all the best candidates.

This year may be completely different due to Covid and the recession. I really don't know. What I described above was generally how it worked pre-Covid.

Or maybe the area you specialized on whats more in demand than my area, since math and science are number one and then come English and Spanish. I just hope I have not thrown my money and time away on this, right now I would even take a teaching job in a rural school.

[Trainwreck20]

The schools are in an unprecedented state of flux right now - how will school look this fall? Will they need more teachers? Will some elective areas (i.e. Spanish) even be offered? Will some existing teachers be 're-purposed' (i.e. P.E. teachers moved to other teaching areas)? The TEA just FINALLY announced the school funding would not be tied to physical attendance.

My nephew did an alt certification a couple of years back and finished later summer. He got several job offers fairly quickly, but it was right before school, more or less, and he was certified in math and science n(and has an engineering degree). He only had a few years experience working (engineering related). The offers from all the roughest schools in the area he was applying. He taught one year and did quite well and was recognized by the school for his efforts; however, he was emotionally and physically exhausted and 'fell back' on his engineering degree .

[jose_usa]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

The schools are in an unprecedented state of flux right now - how will school look this fall? Will they need more teachers? Will some elective areas (i.e. Spanish) even be offered? Will some existing teachers be 're-purposed' (i.e. P.E. teachers moved to other teaching areas)? The TEA just FINALLY announced the school funding would not be tied to physical attendance.

My nephew did an alt certification a couple of years back and finished later summer. He got several job offers fairly quickly, but it was right before school, more or less, and he was certified in math and science n(and has an engineering degree). He only had a few years experience working (engineering related). The offers from all the roughest schools in the area he was applying. He taught one year and did quite well and was recognized by the school for his efforts; however, he was emotionally and physically exhausted and 'fell back' on his engineering degree .

I am going to have to fall back on my Computer Science degree but right now, no one is hiring, so I guess I will have to fall back on welfare for now... :-(