@PsyGuy

"Whatever field your initial credential area is in, that is the area you need to complete as part of your ITT/EPP programs field experience."

Thank you for your reply again. One more thing I would like to ask: Does this mean that I need to do practicum specifically in ESL classes if I intend to get my initial certificate in this field?
If I do practicum in elementary homeroom classroom, that would be only considered as elementary education even if most of the students' first language is not English at my current school?

Thank you very much.

@idonteven, @psyguy

Thank you very much for the response. Have a nice day.

Hello PsyGuy,

I would like to ask you another question about QTS.

For QTS certificates, is particular subject area specified?

As I previously mentioned, I am thinking of getting D.C.license, transfer it to QTS and then plan to let D.C. license to expire.

Will there be any difference between the following two options?

1. Getting only Elementary (1-6) Certificate and then transfer it to QTS
2. Getting only English as a Second Language (K-12) Certificate and then transfer it to QTS

In other words, do QTS certificates specify the subject area on their certificate just like the D.C. certificate?
(e.g. QTS-Elementary, QTS-ESL, QTS- Social Studies, etc.)

Also, if I am interested in getting ESL certificate, do I have to do Teach Now practicum only in ESL classes?

Thank you

@idonteven

Thank you very much for your response.

I will take Praxis PLT towards the end of the program or after I complete the program.

But, do you think it's better to take Praxis Core and Subject (Elementary Education Multiple Subjects in my case) before starting my Teach-Now program?

How much workload is there for Teach Now program? I think I saw on their website that the workload usually requires 15 ~ 25 hr per week. Would you say this is accurate?

I also have a full time job at the moment, so I am wondering if it would be too much to start the program and study for Praxis Core/Subject all at the same time.

Even if I take Praxis Core and Subject (4 subsets) before joining the program, do you think I would need at least 2-3 months to prepare for them if I have a full time job? Again, I have no background in US history, so I assume I need to spend some good amount of time to study for the social studies part of the Elementary Education: Multiple Subjects.

Thank you

@PsyGuy,

Thank you very much for your response again. Happy New Year.

So what you are saying is that Teach Now program basically prepares their students for the PLT exam and I should wait to take PLT until I finish the first 6 months of the program?

As for the sample questions I mentioned earlier, I was referring to the FREE sample questions in their study companion, not the ones from the priced test preparation.
Were you referring to the same one?

May I ask you approximately how many questions I need to answer correctly to pass Praxis Core?
I personally found the reading and math free sample questions quite easy, and answered about 80-90% of the questions correct. However, I was still bit worried since I saw several people posting reviews on prep books stating that they failed the math part of the test even after studying with the prep books.

If the actual questions on the current tests are similar to the free sample questions I found, I feel like I can pass the reading and math part of the test without really studying for them.

Thank you

Hi,

I am interested in joining Teach Now program that leads to D.C. Certificate.
Since I am interested in elementary education, I need to take the following Praxis tests to meet the certificate requirements

1. Praxis Core
2. Praxis Elementary Education: Multiple Subjects
3. Praxis Principles of Learning and Teaching: Grades K–6

I created an ETS account today, but found out that unlike Praxis Core, the test dates for the other two tests are not as often as available. In fact, although Praxis Core test dates are available until December 2018, the latest date I can take the other two tests is early August 2018 in the country I live.

For this reason, I am wondering if I should take the other two tests before taking Praxis Core.
Is this possible? Is it ok to take these tests without passing Praxis Core first?

Also, I tried the sample questions that were included in the study companion on the ETS website
(https://www.ets.org/praxis/prepare/materials/5712)
Whoever took the praxis tests before, I would like to ask you if the difficulty level of the actual tests are well represented by the sample questions that are provided in the ETS study companion.

Thank you

@PsyGuy

Thank you very much for clarification.
Hope you have a great holiday.

@PsyGuy

Thank you again for the detailed information.

So from my understanding, as long as I dont want to add other subjects (e.g. History or Economics), I should be fine by having QTS with just primary if i am only interested in teaching elementary school kids at International Schools in East Asia?

In other words, all I would have to do is complete Teach Now program, pass the relevant praxis tests and then apply for QTS with DC credentials in order to obtain a lifetime elementary teaching certificate that doesn't require PD?

Also, because you warned me about Teach Now saying one thing and then another thing later, I would like to ask you one more question to ensure that I will not find myself in trouble later.

The current school I work does NOT have international school license issued by the country (Korea) it is located in. Instead, it is operated with hakwon (private academy) license.
However, it is officially recognized as a school by one of the provinces in Canada. In fact, our school can be found under the off-shore school list on the province ministry of education website. Also, all our students receive Canadian highschool diploma issued by the specific province.

I explained this to Teach Now and gave them a link of the official website I mentioned above.
They replied back with the following statement:

"You will have no problem completing the practicum in your school. It does not need to be recognized by the on-site country in order for you to participate."

Is this true? I want to make sure that it is fine because I don't want all my tuition and time to be wasted after finding out that I can't do practicum at my current school after six months of my studies.

Thank you very much

@PsyGuy

Thank you very much for your quick response.
I would like to ask you few questions for clarification, if you don't mind.

1. Some information you gave me earlier seem to pertain to secondary school education.

I majored in psychology, and I plan to get the elementary education (Gr. 1 - 6) certificate through Teach Now.
Once I get the certificate, is it still possible to obtain full QTS with the elementary education certificate without having do do any PD? Again, my academic preparation is in psychology, which is not related to what I would be teaching as an elementary school teacher.

2. I also have Masters of Arts in psychology from a graduate school of education, but since it's not really a degree in education, I guess my application would most likely be rejected when I apply to Canada for the license to be transferred?
If I do the Master's program at Teach now, do you think Canadian provinces would accept that and give me a certificate?

If my main goal is to work at international schools in East Asia, would you say there is no real difference between having QTS or Canadian certificate? If that's the case, I think there's not much to gain by doing the masters program at Teach Now.


3. In regards to the required amount of practicum time, is Full Time Equivalence considered as 20 hours per week?
On the Teach Now website, the following statement can be found:

"The last three months of the TEACH-NOW teacher preparation certificate program require at least 200 hours of actual practice teaching in a classroom with a supervising mentor teacher―completed by teaching a minimum of 4 hours per day, 5 days per week, for 12 weeks (which allows for a couple of absences)."

As I said earlier, my school thinks 4 hours of teaching practicum, 5 days per week is too much since I have a full time non-teaching job at my current school. However, the school would allow me to spend more than 12 weeks on the practicum to meet the requirement. In other words, I would be spending less hours per day, such as doing practicum 2 hours per day 5 days per week but for 20 weeks to achieve the same total amount of hours stated on teach now website (200 hours).

Would this be OK as long as I get approval from Teach Now?
Or would DC State not accept such thing?

4. As for PRAXIS Core academic skills tests, did you find the reading section more difficult than the TOEFL reading?
For mathematics, would you say it's easier than mathematics on SAT or GRE?
Also, if you don't mind, could you please recommend me preparation books for PRAXIS tests?
If I study for these tests full time for 2 months during my summer break, do you think there's a good chance that I would
pass all of them considering the level of difficulties for these tests?

Again, thank you so much. I greatly appreciate your help.

Thank you very much for the detailed information, PsyGuy.
I really appreciate your help.

So..Essentially speaking, are you saying that I will be able to get QTS (Full teaching license) and won't have to be bothered with fulfilling the professional development requirement once I get QTS, as opposed to DC license which requires PD requirement and renewal every four years?

Also may I ask you what TCL, ITT, DT, IE, and SLL are?
Moreover, I couldn't really understand what you meant by "That being said the three primary IE curriculum at SLL are highly congruent across one another" Could you please explain this little further?

I would like to ask you two more things, if you don't mind.

1. Is there a fixed amount of practicum hour required by DC state?

I got an approval from my school to do the practicum, but they said 20 hours per week for 12 weeks are just too much.
If there's no required fixed amount of practicum hour, will there be no problem of obtaining the DC license, as long as teach now is ok with adjusting the total amount of practicum hour for me?


2. How difficult are the Praxis tests?
I plan to get the elementary teacher certificate, and I believe I need to pass the following tests:

1. Core Academic Skills for Educators: Reading (Test Code: 5712)
2. Core Academic Skills for Educators: Writing (Test Code: 5722)
3. Core Academic Skills for Educators: Mathematics (Test Code: 5732)
4. Principles of Learning and Teaching: Grades K–6 (Test Code:5622)
5. Elementary Education: Multiple Subjects (Test code: 5001) - comprised of 4 subsets (Reading, Math, Science and Social Studies)

Compared to GRE, and/or TOEFL, how difficult are these praxis tests?
Also, I have no background in US history (Social Studies) because I never took relevant courses.
Realistically speaking, how long do you think I need to prepare for these tests? (e.g. two full months)

Again, thank you very much for your help.
Hope you have a great holiday.

Hi,

I have recently found out about the program Teach Now and read few related posts.
Thank you very much for all the information PsyGuy.

I would like to ask few questions to you or anyone else who is familiar with this program.

1. I am planning to apply to the elementary education program, and I wonder if there are certain courses I need to complete in order to receive a teaching certificate in D.C.

I am asking this question, because I found the following information on the webiste: https://www.american.edu/cas/education/ ... cation.cfm

LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCE REQUIREMENTS FOR TEACHER CERTIFICATION: ELEMENTARY
To qualify for teacher certification, students must have completed all of the requirements from the specific curricular areas listed below. Some requirements may overlap with the university General Education requirements. Consult a School of Education advisor for more information.

Literature: 3 credit hours in addition to WRTG-100
The Arts: 3 credit hours
Health: 3 credit hours
United States history: 3 credit hours
Social science: 3 credit hours
Biological science: 3 credit hours
Physical science: 3 credit hours
Note: biological or physical science must include a lab.

I am wondering if there is no point of completing the teach now program if I haven't completed some of the courses listed above.


2. I am a Canadian and I do not have Permanent Residency in the States. For this reason, I plan to work at only international schools in East Asia or perhaps private schools in Canada. Has there been a case where Washington D.C. teaching certificate was successfully transferred to teaching certificate in Canada? I heard this may not be possible since Canadian teaching certificate specifically requires B.Ed from applicants whereas Teach Now program doesn't lead to a B.Ed.
If this is the case, is it possible to get QTS with D.C. certificate after completing Teach now program?
I think I once read a post where PsyGuy mentioning that QTS never expires.
If I plan to work only at international schools, then is QTS good enough?

Thank you very much for your time.