<p>My D would love to teach either math or science. What colleges have a strong program in math/science education? Does it matter what type of school she goes to as an undergrad or should she look for a school which is the best fit and then worry about teaching afterwards, in grad school?</p>
<p>University of Rochester has a 5 year Education program in conjunction with its well-respected Warner School of Education. Admittees also get an automatic 1/4 tuition scholarship, and are eligible for additional merit and need-based aid. She'd come out with her master's degree.
The</a> Warner School</p>
<p>And you can't get a stronger math or science background than at Rochester.</p>
<p>At what level does she want to teach? Secondary? Elementary?</p>
<p>Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University is ranked third in the nation for its education program (tied with Harvard), but out of the top 5 schools, is the only one with an undergraduate program. Vanderbilt</a> University's Peabody College of education and human development -- Graduate school of education in Nashville, TN</p>
<p>Since your location is Los Angeles, your D should take a look at the Cal-state system which has been a traditional place for educating teachers. Take a look at Teacher</a> Education | CSU and TEACH</a> California | Welcome! She can also consider the UC system. </p>
<p>Teachers don't earn a high salary compared to other professionals, so I would suggest your D focus her search on public U's where she won't acquire a huge load of debt (unless your family circumstances either allow you to pay to send her to a private, or she'll qualify for significant financial aid that is grants and not loans).</p>
<p>While we do live in SoCal, she'd like to go back east for college to have a similar (cold weather, living on campus) experience to her brother (who's at Yale). Money isn't an issue, we've been paying for private school for ten years, we're used to it! She'd like to teach at the high school level, probably bio, chem or precalc/calc. If she were willing to stay in state, this would be easy. But I have no idea of out of state schools (especially east coast) that are good for prospective teachers.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: While some believe that going to what were formerly known as "teachers colleges" is sufficient if you want to teach (and not referring to the UC or Cal State system, about which I know nothing), I am of the opinion that getting a strong undergraduate education, particularly in the subject you want to teach, is very important. Therefore, while I know of several former teachers colleges in the northeast, I'm leaving them off my list.</p>
<p>That being said, Boston University has a very good school of education and it is very well respected. I know a girl going there who is very excited by it. However, BU itself is very big, and has an extremely "urban" campus.</p>
<p>University of Vermont also has a good school of education and is much smaller than BU. It's easy to take a science or math major as well as an education major.</p>
<p>For LACs, Muhlenberg in Allentown, PA is a small school with a strong education program - students are put into the classroom in their first semester so they can decide if classroom teaching is for them (without finding for the first time as juniors that they really don't like the classroom).</p>
<p>Brandeis, just outside of Boston, is also very strong in the sciences, and has an education minor that leads to certification.</p>
<p>Vassar, Yale's former "sister school" has a certification program that leads to NY licensure, but does not have an education "major". The student majors in something else but can still learn to be a teacher and become licensed.</p>
<p>Without knowing more about your daughter's stats, it's hard to offer further suggestions.</p>
<p>Oh, and as to "fit" - with any luck, she'll be able to find a school at which she can get her credentials and which is also a "fit". But if not, my suggestion is to focus on "fit" first, for two reasons:
1) She may change her mind and decide she doesn't really want to teach or she's more excited about something else; and
2) It's not just where she'll be going to class for 4 years, it's where she'll live for 4 years. In order to do her best and to succeed, the school must fulfill a whole slew of needs, not just academic.</p>
<p>To return to mhc48's suggestion about Vanderbilt Univ. Peabody School of Education: all secondary education majors (those wanting to teach in grades 7-12) must also major in a subject field by taking courses through the College of Arts and Sciences. That is somewhat different than many other education programs, in which one graduates with certification to teach certain subjects. In the case of VU, a student will also have a major in at least one non-education subject area.</p>
<p>Obviously, Nashville is not east coast, however. Little cold and snow, I think.</p>
<p>I have heard that it is easier for licensing reasons to go to a school in the state in which you want to teach. Is this correct? This may not be good advice, so teachers please give some direction.</p>
<p>Dear BurnThis: Answering your second question first, yes you can go the route of obtaining an undergrad degree in your major of choice and picking up an Ed degree at the Masters' level (or even entering just a certificate program someplace else. That's pretty common as well). If you don't do that, however, i.e., if you go for a bachelor's in Secondary Science or Math Ed., you need to think about what state D would like to teach in, and whether her prospective college is in a state with a reciprocity agreement there. Otherwise getting certified in her teaching state may become an administrative hassle. The likelihood is there won't be an issue, but definitely find out for sure. Also, with all due respect to Chedva, attending a former teachers' college does not necessarily preclude getting a quality education in an academic subject. SUNY Geneseo is an example of one such school in my home state of NY. But, Chedva is certainly right that many teachers' colleges might not be the right place if your daughter changes plans and decides not to pursue teaching.</p>
<p>northeastmom: going to school in the state you want to teach in is best administratively because if you graduate from a state-approved program, provisional certification is going to be automatic in that state (assuming of course you also pass the necessary standardized tests at the end). It may not be as smooth as this going out of state, but many states have reciprocity agreements which make the transition easy as well. But as I mentioned above, you need to verify ahead of time if you think you know where you want to teach.</p>
<p>As far as reciprocity agreements, we visited a college in VA. They let us know that VA happens to have reciprocity with a huge amount of states, and lead to us believe that this is very important should our son want to teach in another state. We have not double checked this yet, since our son is still just a sophomore in hs. He is currently considering teaching secondary school as a career.</p>
<p>Columbia University</p>
<p>CETE: the Consortium for Excellence in Teacher Education</p>
<p>Barnard, Bowdoin, Brandeis, Brown, Bryn Mawr, Connecticut College, Dartmouth, Harvard, Middlebury, Mount Holyoke, Princeton, Smith, Swarthmore, the University of Pennsylvania, Vassar, Wellesley, Wheaton (MA), and Yale.</p>
<p>CA, being a both a populous state and having the presence of strong unions, does not have reciprocity agreements with any other states. At least thats what my teacher friends who got their degrees out of state tell me. However since they're working (I live in CA) so it's definitely possible to get a job in CA starting with an OOS credential. I think you start with a provisional certificate if you have a valid teaching certificate from OOS and you have 5 years to complete the CA requirements. Look at the link I gave earlier for "Teach CA" and it will give the requirements. </p>
<p>One thing worth considering, though, is what districts will hire people with provisional certificates. I could imagine the top districts, or principals of the better schools in a large district such as Los Angles Unified, preferring to hire only teachers with a clear credential. But that's just a hunch, not something anyone in a clear position to know has told me.</p>
<p>BurnThis,
I am currently a freshman at McDaniel College in Maryland. We have a very good education program here.Even though we are just a minor it is like in major in that one must complete 60 something hours if I remember correctly. You can do either Elem. Ed or Secondary Ed and as other people said, must major in the subject you want to teach. You stay I think 5 years and end up with your masters. I think you start going out into schools begining of your sophmore year or second semester freshman year. I am not an education major, but I have 2 friends that are so if you have any questions I could ask them.</p>
<p>Defying, I am trying to send a PM to you. Your box is full. Could you delete one PM so I can send it? Thanks.</p>
<p>Could the poster (or someone else) who mentioned CETE explain what it actually is? I'm interested in this as well.</p>
<p>Cal State Fullerton. DEFINATELY. I know people who went
Ivy and top 20 public who go CSUF for teaching. You get
internships immediately, shadow at Troy High (top 20 ranked
constantly) since it's 5 minutes away, and often times immediate
job offers right after.</p>
<p>I'm talking Grad school, of course. Not sure about undergrad.</p>
<p>The University of ORegon is good.</p>
<p>CETE, as I understand it, is an organization which pushes for improved curriculum standards for Ed Programs in the colleges. As far as I know, at present it is nowhere required that a school meet CETE certification in order to be a state-approved Ed program. However, schools achieving (or attempting to achieve) this recognition are becoming more common and some day soon it may effectively be more like a requirement than an option. Things are not moving faster because it takes a tremendous amount of institutional commitment to meet the certification requirements. Take note that CETE is not a be-all and end-all indication of quality; it merely reflects what a particular organization thinks are best practices, some of their ideas may be quite controversial and certainly viewed as not worth the resources to achieve. In addition, just so you don't get the wrong idea, CETE certification is not limited to just the schools enumerated by huskem. Many schools hold, or are in pursuit of, this certification, inluding many former state teachers' colleges.</p>