Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am an elementary teacher looking to relocate to the Austin area soon and I am curious about hiring policies.
Basically do school districts hire you and then place you in the school of their choice?
OR are you interviewed and hired by individual schools? Can you apply to individual schools?
Also how difficult is it to obtain a Texas credential/certificate coming from another state?
I am a PYP (www.ibo.org) teacher and am curious about PYP schools. I see that Anderson Mill in RR and Ace Academy are PYP schools. Does anyone know anything about Anderson Mill/Ace Academy or any other PYP schools in the area?
It has been years since I have been in the teaching 'market' (got certified but never actually taught), but it used to be that the district (Austin, anyway) hired you and then placed you in a school based on certain parameters. If you had specific qualifications, you could probably limit the number of schools that would be targets.
Anyway, I think you could take one (or maybe two?) 'passes' on a job before they dropped you from the list of teachers to be placed. Again, this is from many years ago. If you do a search on this forum, a couple of threads deal with AISD and RRISD and list some good web sites.
I was offered positions at both Stony Point HS and Westwood HS in RRISD as a school counselor. I know for that district (and I believe LISD and AISD as well) a "position" is offered (ie school counselor) and then you are interviewed by a central administration panel. I was interviewed by about 7 people that were on a committee at the school administration office. Then they "recommended" me as an applicant to the individual schools hired, and then those schools contacted me for interviews and offered me positions. But you have the choice (at least in my experience at RRISD) to accept or decline the schools offering you a position.
As far as reciprocity from other states, I found it difficult, expensive and time consuming (I was licensed in both MA and RI as a secondary English teacher and k-12 counselor). First, it took MONTHS - I applied for certification in March and did not receive my review of credentials until October. It was also very expensive compared to RI and MA - well over 100 dollars for the review. Finally, they gave me "provisional" certification for 1 year and I was supposed to take 2 additional "exams" for full certification.
I have 2 Master's degrees and full professional certification in both MA and RI - I wasn't very happy by the hoops to jump through and additional tests.
It ended up being a moot point for me because I'm now happily working at the University of Texas.
Information about getting certification can be found at this site: http://www.sbec.state.tx.us/SBECOnline/default.asp (broken link)
In every district I've ever been in, you interview with the principal, then they recommend you for their staff. After that HR checks your certifications, background, etc. and if you clear, you are offered a job at the school where you interviewed.
There are a LOT of new schools being built all over central Texas, so there are plenty of jobs to go around!
I have a teaching certificate from Ohio. I teach music, so my certificate is for K-12. It means nothing here. A bachelor and master's degree and it means nothing!!! Well, at least it means I can teach without a Texas certificate for one year.
When I found out we were relocating, I immediately submitted my credentials to SBEC (Dazed gave you the web address) to the tune of $277. This was early June, I think. When I was starting in Round Rock in August, SBEC still hadn't reviewed my credentials. I was so worried I wouldn't be able to teach. It wasn't a problem. Round Rock accepted my Ohio teaching certificate and transcripts knowing SBEC would eventually get around to reviewing everything. I think I got my temporary certificate in October.
I have until August 1st to take two exams to get my Texas teaching certificate. I am scheduled to take them on April 14th. Another $180. That's all you'll have to do to be certified in Texas... take a test or two.
If you are interested in moving, I'd bite the bullet and send in your credentials. (Basically you send in a copy of your current teaching certificate and your transcripts.) You also have to submit your fingerprints for a background check. After SBEC reviews your stuff, you will have a full year to take the appropriate tests to be certified in Texas.
As for getting a job... I was AMAZED at the amount of positions that were available. In Ohio, teaching positions are hard to come by, especially specialized ones like mine. I think I started looking in early May of last year at possible openings. I just checked districts websites for employment info. Most districts have online applications, which is nice. No one seemed to care that I was out of state with no Texas certificate... they just want good teachers.
I can't speak for other districts, but for Round Rock, I interviewed with the principals at my school on my campus. (Of course, I didn't know it would be my campus at the time!) My interview was mid-July... I don't know if that is common for all types of teaching positions... or if because I was music they waited until later... not sure.
Just throwing this out there... this by no means will get you the job or not get you the job... but ESL certification is a plus. There are several teachers in my building going through the certification right now.
I don't know much about PYP schools.
One more thing... I took an $18,000 pay cut when we moved. Depending on where you were teaching before, I'm not sure where you are moving from, but you may take a pay cut.
Let me know if you have anymore questions. I wish I would have had all this info when I was freaking out about getting a job!
I love it here. I wouldn't trade the $18,000/year that I lost for anything. Of course, my husband's raise for the job he took helped, but in all honestly, Austin feels like home and we've only been here since last July! The fact that I get doors held for me by complete strangers, hellos, good mornings, and thank you ma'm's is AWESOME! And no snow helps, too!
Thanks for your input everyone. I teach overseas (Belgrade, Serbia at the moment) and hold teaching certificates from Montana and California-however they are both expired. Not by much, but it is pretty hard to renew your license from another continent. Do you think this matters? Does the application to SBEC need to contain a valid/current certificate? Or can I benefit from their desperation? I am highly qualified and experienced, hopefully that will help.
When do schools begin posting their openings on their websites?
ohio2texas - we had very similar experiences, sounds like. I guess I blocked out just HOW expensive it was, but now that you say that, yes, that sounds right!
I probably had to interview with central administration because school counselor jobs require a bit more to get licensed (Master's degree) so maybe they are more stringent? I wonder if I would have been interviewed directly by the principals if it was for an English teaching position.
Oh, the pay cut. Yes, the jobs offered to me were to the tune of 22k less. Sigh. I'm making the same salary (22k less) here at UTexas, but the benefits are better working here, so at least I have that.
OP - I honestly don't know how the expired certification will work. My hunch is that they will still give you the 1 year provisional, and you will have to take the tests within that year. Texas needs educators, so I think they give that "1 year" license fairly easily.
I moved in mid-June and the positions were posted - school ends here (this year) at the end of May, so I imagine a lot of the postings will be June and July.
Information about getting certification can be found at this site: Welcome to the State Board for Educator Certification (http://www.sbec.state.tx.us/SBECOnline/default.asp - broken link)
In every district I've ever been in, you interview with the principal, then they recommend you for their staff. After that HR checks your certifications, background, etc. and if you clear, you are offered a job at the school where you interviewed.
There are a LOT of new schools being built all over central Texas, so there are plenty of jobs to go around!
Hi,
My husband was recommended by the principal. I'm not really sure what recommended is, does it mean a sure thing? Do you know of anybody who did not get a teaching job because he was only recommended?
Thank you
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
That's all you'll have to do to be certified in Texas... take a test or two.
