Page 1 of 3

American or Brit Certification/Credential for non-citizens.

Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:07 pm
by coffeemug
Hello

Is anyone familiar with a certification program (online) which allows for non-citizens to either earn an American cert or have a foreign cert transferred to the American or British equivalent?

Thank you.

Re: American or Brit Certification/Credential for non-citize

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 2:53 am
by shadowjack
Teach Now - http://teach-now.com

Teacher Ready - https://www.teacherready.org

Teach Now is out of Washington DC, Teacher Ready is out of Florida.

Good luck!

shad

Re: American or Brit Certification/Credential for non-citize

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 3:33 am
by coffeemug
shadowjack wrote:
> Teach Now - http://teach-now.com
>
> Teacher Ready - https://www.teacherready.org
>
> Teach Now is out of Washington DC, Teacher Ready is out of Florida.
>
> Good luck!
>
> shad

Thanks. It looks like Teacher Ready will not result in certification, only a completion certificate.

Response

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 10:15 am
by PsyGuy
There are a number of US certification programs but most of them (Drexel, College of NJ, WGU) are degree based programs (though online or blended learning) that are either high cost, long, or have logistical issues with doing field work overseas.
Historically, Hawaii was the clearing house foreign and reciprocity teaching credentials. Hawaii would take just about any certificate or EPP and issue a Hawaii standard license. Effective July 2015 that is changing and you will be required to verify 3 years of qualified teaching experience. This leaves the District of Columbia.

Teacher Ready will not be able to help you. FL requires citizenship and a social security number to receive the FL teaching certificate. You can get the social security number but you still wouldnt meet the citizenship requirement.

Teach Now is a new program, about 2 years old, its essentially a private "Teach for America" program that you pay for, which has advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage for you is that itt will result in a US D.C. teaching certificate, that can be completed as an IT and without necessary citizenship. There are some serious issues with the program for ITs:

1) It has rather high admission standards, this may not be an issue for you.

2) Its more expensive than other options. The program fee is $6000 plus testing (about $500). This is still far less than a traditional Uni based program

3) They are not NCATE accredited. Unless you intend to move your certificate around to other US states this is likely a non-issue.

4) You can only pursue elementary, English (lit), math, science, social studies and special education certification.

5) It is not a self paced program. They use a cohort model and your required to interact with your cohort at scheduled and set times. This also imposes set time frames for the programs completion. In addition, your success depends in part on the collaborative efforts and work of your cohort members.

6) The greatest issue is the field experience requiring a 3 month long student teaching requirement. This is a full day (8-4, etc) teaching assignment. The school must be an accredited K-12 school. A cram school or language school is not acceptable. If you already had a teaching position this would be less of an issue but an IS is unlikely to give a you classroom to do student teaching when they have tuition paying students and parents, and assigning a mentor would certainly come at some expense for such a prolonged period of time.

Those issues aside (especially if you already have a teaching position) the Teach Now program will work, and in specific circumstances such as yours), assuming your certification field matches, is a viable option.

The other option is to complete a PGCEi program which is an academic qualification directed specifically to ITs that is based on the traditional PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education) offered in the UK. The difference between the PGCEi and the PGCE is that the PGCE confers NQT (Newly Qualified Teacher) QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) and the PGCEi does not. In IE the PGCEi is accepted as a teaching qualification at lower tier ISs. The programs are offered though several UK universities including: Nottingham, Sunderland, Keele.

Once you have a PGCEi you can apply for a D.C. teaching certificate, which can then be used to apply for full QTS in the UK, or transferred to another state or country. This is the standard IT pathway to certification I recommend.

Re: American or Brit Certification/Credential for non-citize

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 2:04 am
by coffeemug
Thanks for the info psyguy. Very helpful.

Are you aware of any states that will grant certification based on years taught in an accredited school? Or at least waive the teacher prep program for 5+ years of experience and only require Praxis exams?

edit: Other than California.

Reply

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 12:51 pm
by PsyGuy
@coffeemug

Connecticut will issue an initial license based on completing academic degree requirements (B.A.), testing requirements and two years of teaching experience. Connecticut has a three tier system and as an IT it will not be possible to advance the license beyond the first stage initial license. You then transfer the CT initial certificate to another state that offers a professional certificate, preferably California.
My pathway recommendation is to:

1) Apply for the CT initial license.
2) Apply for QTS (not necessary but its 15 minutes of time and its free).
3) Transfer/apply for D.C. certification or if you have 3 years of experience the preference is to apply for HI certification.
4) Take the PRAXIS Academic Core, ESOL and PLT exams.
5) Complete the CA verification of professional activities (150 hrs).
6) Apply for CA CLEAR credential.

Re: American or Brit Certification/Credential for non-citize

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 1:17 am
by josh2588
@PsyGuy

This is certainly an interesting yet intriguing pathway to certification. To put it bluntly, this pretty much means any graduate who manages to get a teaching position at an accredited school (including international schools) could find themselves being a certified teacher after 2 years working full-time, provided they pass the tests, right?

Reply

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2016 1:52 am
by PsyGuy
@josh2588

Yes, no EPP/ITT program required. The assumption is if your successful in the classroom for 2 years, you dont need an EPP/ITT program. The program was intended for private/independent DS ITs to transition to the public/regulated DS system, in the hopes of providing a direct path into DSs for those in TFA and essentially removing the burden for really bright graduates and practitioners to move into DE.

Re: American or Brit Certification/Credential for non-citize

Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 11:46 pm
by nids
@PsyGuy

Thanks PsyGuy , for all the useful inputs/advice you have been giving on this forum.I sincerely appreciate your efforts at sharing your very useful knowledge.

Ref. your pathway recommendation for a non-US citizen to get a teaching certificate, I would like some more clarification for myself.I have done a 2 year full time Post graduate Diploma in International Business(MBA), and have 4 years full time teaching experience in an international school in SE Asia now.

IF this below route is applicable to me,
"""1) Apply for the CT initial license.
2) Apply for QTS (not necessary but its 15 minutes of time and its free).
3) Transfer/apply for D.C. certification or if you have 3 years of experience the preference is to apply for HI certification.
4) Take the PRAXIS Academic Core, ESOL and PLT exams.
5) Complete the CA verification of professional activities (150 hrs).
6) Apply for CA CLEAR credential."""

Could you clarify what a D.C. certification mean, and if HI means Hawaii, do i fall into category D or some other here(http://www.htsb.org/licensing-permits/l ... -overview/#).

Whats the difference between the DC and HI certification anyway?

Also I looked up step 5 & 6, but m not sure how I can fulfill the requirements like:
"""California Education Code provides two options for private school teachers to obtain Multiple and Single Subject Teaching Credentials. These two options allow private school teachers to use three to five years of appropriate teaching experience in lieu of the student teaching component of a teacher preparation program or six years of appropriate teaching experience in lieu of completing a teacher preparation program including student teaching. Candidates with sufficient private school teaching experience may apply directly to the Commission for the multiple or single subject credential and are not subject to the Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) requirement."""

HOW ABOUT THE TEACHER PREP PROGRAM? DO I STILL HAVE TO DO IT,AS ONLY THE TEACHING COMPONENT IS WAIVED FOR MY EXPERIENCE(4 Yrs)?

In addition,the above document(SINGLE SUBJECT AND MULTIPLE SUBJECT TEACHING CREDENTIALS
Requirements for Teachers with Private School Experience) also mentions requirements like LIVE SCAN RECEIPTS,
*Complete a Commission-approved subject-matter program or its equivalent at a California college or university with an approved program, and obtain verification of completion from the authorized person in the education department.
*U.S. Constitution - individuals must satisfy one of the following requirements:
a. Complete a course (at least two semester units or three quarter units) in the provisions and principles of the U.S. Constitution (Submit a copy of the course description for evaluation purposes.)
b. Pass an examination in the provisions and principles of the U.S. Constitution given by a regionally-accredited college, or university

CAN THESE BE DONE SITTING OUTSIDE USA???

PLEEEEEASE HELP!!!

Re: Response

Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 1:03 am
by Smurf
PsyGuy wrote:

>
> 4) You can only pursue elementary, English (lit), math, science, social
> studies and special education certification.

This has now changed with Teach now, it is now possible to complete in a wide range of subjects:

• ART (K-12);
•PERFORMING ARTS – VISUAL ARTS (K-12)
•BIOLOGY (7-12)
•BILINGUAL EDUCATION (K-12)
•BILINGUAL SPECIAL EDUCATION (K-12)
•BUSINESS (7-12)
•CHEMISTRY (7-12)
•COMPUTER EDUCATION LABORATORY TEACHER (K-12)
•COMPUTER SCIENCE (7-12)
•EARLY CHILDHOOD (PreK-3)
•EARLY CHILDHOOD SPECIAL EDUCATION (PreK-3)
•ELEMENTARY (1-6)
•ENGLISH (7-12)
•ENGLISH as a SECOND LANGUAGE (K-12)
•FOREIGN LANGUAGE SUBJECT AREAS (K-12)
•SPECIAL EDUCATION: NON-CATEGORICAL (K-12)
•GENERAL SCIENCE (7-12)
•HEALTH & PHYSICAL EDUCATION (K-12)
•HOME ECONOMICS (7-12)
•MARKETING EDUCATION (7-12)
•MATHEMATICS (7-12)
•MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH (4-8)
•MIDDLE SCHOOL MATHEMATICS (4-8)
•MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE (4-8)
•MUSIC – INSTRUMENTAL OR VOCAL (K-12)
•PERFORMING ARTS – MUSIC (K-12)
•PERFORMING ARTS – DRAMA & THEATER (K-12)
•PERFORMING ARTS DANCE (K-12)
•PHYSICS (7-12)
•SOCIAL STUDIES (7-12)

http://teach-now.com/programs/#14563686 ... 3b43c-4663

Reply

Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 3:42 am
by PsyGuy
@smurf

Yes, Teach Now has expanded their credentialing offerings. They still have acceptance restrictions, in that they wont accept a candidate for a teaching field in certain subjects who doesnt already have a cooperating IS or appointment.

@nids

Yes the referenced pathway is a workable pathway for you, id hazard its probably the only workable pathway for you as you have no academic preparation (ITT) in professional education.

D.C. is the District of Columbia (commonly referred to as DC, D.C., or 'the district). Its the seat of the US Federal/National Government, and houses the primary infrastructure of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Its essentially what would happen if Westminster were treated more like the City of London. D.C. for purposes of educator and teacher credentialing operates its own regulatory authority within its jurisdiction (The Office of the State Superintendent of Education, Superintendent is equivalent to a county commissioner of education in the UK). D.C. issues educator credentials for instructional services in the same way as any US state or territory, or QTS from the Teachers College of London.

Yes, HI means the state of Hawaii.
Yes, you would apply under category D.

Thee are several differences between HI and DC credentials. Its essentially west coast vs. east coast

1) HI is in the same region that is accredited by WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges). Which is the most popular accrediting body in Asian ISs that use a USNC. CA (California) drives WASC accreditation and to a certain point they drive American education and curriculum. CA has the largest number of students enrolled in public/maintained education and textbook publishers write curriculum and texts for CA.
DC is east coast has the prestige of the nations capital.
DC is pretty small and essentially borrows and adapts the best standards of other states. They are accredited by the Middle States Association which includes New York. Due to its size and international diversity DC is sort of the clearinghouse of teacher credentialing. Essentially if your a licensed educator elsewhere, you will be extended a credential in DC. DC is one of the few jurisdictions that uses transcript - to also issue a teacher license. If you were prepared elsewhere, you will very likely qualify for a DC license.

2) HI credentialing is recommended when an IT meets the experience requirements (3 years), as all the requirements are essentially an application. There is no CRB (DBS) requirement, and there is no testing (PRAXIS, etc..) requirement assuming your applying for certification in your degree field. Your degree fulfills all the content requirements.
DC is a more difficult but you can meet all the various content requirements with the PRAXIS exam which is available overseas in may regions. DC also requires a CRB check.

3) DC is $50 for 4 years and HI is $240 for 5 years. Once you reach 5 years of teaching service you will be eligible for the HI Advance Certificate which is valid for 10 years (though the fee is $480).

4) Both states require PD hours to renew their respective certificates. You can add additional certification feilds by completing the appropriate PRAXIS exam.

5) HI has a longer and more specific list of certification areas. DCs certification areas tend to be more encompassing/inclusive. HI has certifications in Business, economics, and social studies with business available at levels K-12, K-6, and 6-12, economics at 6-12, and social studies at 6-12 and 6-8.
DC has Business 7-12 and social studies 4-8 and 7-12. There is no separate economics certification in DC, and you cant get a DC K-12 business certification. There might not be much practical use for primary business, and economics is included as part of 7-12 social studies in DC.

You are not applying as a private school teacher. This pathway was intended for private school DTs who do not have an ITT certificate as a means for them those DTs with experience to transition to the public/maintained education system in CA.
You are applying as an out of state certified teacher using either the HI or the DC certifications. The initial certification from CT is only equivalent to a preliminary certificate in CA. You do not want a CA preliminary certificate.
The Teacher Prep program is not relevant to the out of state teacher certification pathway.
Please consult the following application and corresponding worksheet:

http://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/leaflets/cl560.pdf
http://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/leaflets/cl874.pdf

You do not want a CA Preliminary credential. It has a 5 year validity and you can not renew it. You must in the 5 year period complete an induction program either in a CA DS or through a tertiary/Uni program, which is essentially an ITT/EPP program.

The essential requirements for the CA CLEAR credential you would have to meet before applying (you already have the Masters in Business) would be taking the PRAXIS exam in ESOL for either DC or HI.

The benefit is that the CA CLEAR credential requires no PD.

The CA Private School Experience pathway is extremely convoluted and difficult. You couldnt complete it outside the US, not in its entirety and if you did choose this pathway youd still have to do induction to transition the Preliminary credential to the CLEAR credential.

If your professional goals/interests are solely to teach business/economics than you should strongly consider stopping with QTS in the UK. Apply for the CT Initial Credential and apply for QTS, call it a day.

Re: American or Brit Certification/Credential for non-citize

Posted: Sun May 29, 2016 11:41 pm
by jots
Hi PsyGuy,
This is in further reference to the queries that nids made regarding perusing the pathway in order to obtain the teaching certificate. I am:
1 holding a degree of graduation and post graduation in the field of physical education.
2 worked as a P.E.Teacher for 20 years in a state school of India.
3 teaching full time in an international school in S.E.Asia as an early childhood teacher for last 4 years with the same above mentioned qualification.
Now my question is if this below route is applicable to me,
"""1) Apply for the CT initial license.
2) Apply for QTS (not necessary but its 15 minutes of time and its free).
3) Transfer/apply for D.C. certification or if you have 3 years of experience the preference is to apply for HI certification.
4) Take the PRAXIS Academic Core, ESOL and PLT exams.
5) Complete the CA verification of professional activities (150 hrs).
6) Apply for CA CLEAR credential."""
Any information regarding the above mentioned queries would be a great help . Thanks in advance.

Re: American or Brit Certification/Credential for non-citize

Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 3:45 am
by Midori4040
@PsyGuy

I'm trying to sift through all of the information in this thread and something is unclear to me:

If I complete Teacher Ready and become US state certified, can I apply for QTS in the UK (I"m a dual US/EU citizen)?

Or do I additionally need to complete the PCGEi as well?

Thank you

Reply

Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 1:11 pm
by PsyGuy
@Midori4040

No you will not have to do any additional training for QTS once you have the State certification. The OTT recognition scheme is based on where you were trained not where your HOR/citizenship is from.

There has been a lot of recent discussion from UK teacher candidates and NQTs that getting an American certification online is preferable and less stress/work than doing an induction year and/or including a PGCE. I dont blame them, 1 year vs. 2 years, and you dont have to worry about some lead DT failing you at induction.

@jots

Is your degree of graduation/post graduation the equivalent of a Bachelors degree?
Is your post graduation degree the equivalent of a Masters?
In general US regulatory agencies require a 4 year degree or equivalent, if your under graduation degree was only 3 years it may not be accepted. Further if your post graduation degree was only 1 year and /or equivalent to a certificate it may not be recognized. This will mostly depend on what the NACES evaluation states. You could find your self in the position of not having either degree or combination of the degrees recognized as anything equivalent to a Bachelors or Masters degree.

Assuming it is, my suggested route would be:

1) Have your transcripts, degrees, and current credentials translated into English (if they arent already). This will need to be done by a professional translation agency.

2) Apply for a review of your credentials by an NACES agency. This is required regardless of which state you are going to apply with. You will want 2 official copies of the evaluation (they are less expensive if you order them together).

3) Apply for HI (Hawaii) teacher certification, you will be eligible for the standard certification, and HI will be the most convenient path. Its essentially an application, and verification of experience. No CRB check, and your Bachelors degree and major will fulfill the testing requirements for both basic skills and content areas. There is no cost to apply until the HTSB has reviewed your application and informs you of your eligibility.

The disadvantage of this route is that the HI credential will require PD hours to maintain it and renew every 5 years and that HI has issues for applicants who do not have a social security number. You can request that the HTSB either issue you a number, or if they decline can then use that refusal to request a Social Security number (that will not give you eligibility to work), which the SS administration may not approve (its an India issue), you can then apply for an EIN (Employee Identification Number) and use that in the HTSB application with a note that it is an EIN and not a SS number.
HI law and rules do not bar foreigners from obtaining a HI educator/teaching license, they just dont really know what to do.

At this point you have some options and a decision to make:

4) If all you are interested in is having a western license (that would be limited to Physical Education) than you can apply for full QTS, and after receiving it you can stop. QTS is a lifetime credential, and you can let the HI certificate expire.

OR

5) If you want to keep a US certification or add additional fields to your credential such as primary or health, etc. Then you can schedule and take the PRAXIS exams globally in the fields you want to add, then apply to have them added to your HI teacher certificate. The TCL (Teachers College of London) has data fields in your profile registry for 2 credentialing fields.

AND

6) Assuming you want to keep a US certification, my recommendation is that you take the PRAXIS exam for ESOL (and whatever ares to the HI certificate you want to add) and then apply for a CA (California) CLEAR credential as an out of state applicant. I am reasonably confident that your education will meet the academic requirements. The HI certification in ESOL will meet the requirements for the English Learner Authorization.
The CA certificate is the gold standard for US education in IE, and renewing the CLEAR credential every 5 years requires no PD.
Most candidates meet the academic requirements by completion of a Masters degree. CA does not accept PD from outside CA unless it is something like IB Workshops (and that would be a lot of workshops to get to 150 hours). The last option is completion of a 5 year (150 hour) Bachelors degree, and that CA will accept your degree of graduation and post graduation as being equivalent or your post graduation degree as a Masters.

In the unlikely event that HI rejects your application, the alternative substitution is to apply for D.C. certification. This will require a CRB check and at least 3 PRAXIS exams. At which point you can proceed from step 4 above with the D.C. credential.

Re: American or Brit Certification/Credential for non-citize

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 3:49 am
by jots
Thanks PsyGuy for the detailed guidance.

My graduation is a 3 year full time bachelors degree in Physical Education from a recognised university in India(Many bachelors degrees in India in arts,commerce/business fields are for 3 years only) ,followed by a 2 year masters degree in the same field. I understand that I will have to get the above evaluated.
As I mentioned before that I have been working in an IS as an IT homeroom teacher for kindergarten for last 4 years and would like to continue in the same position in near future.


Pls clarify:

Post evaluation, why cant I take Connecticut Initial credential route , instead of the very complicated-looking and potentially in-achievable Hawaii certification and follow step 5.


Eagerly looking forward to your answer!