DD is considering majoring in education. We are in MD and so far she is not in love with any of the in-state options. Will she have a difficult time going to to an OOS school for her degree and then returning back to MD to work after graduation.
Seems like a tough spot for a 16 year old to make this type of decision, not knowing what else is out there.
We can afford to send her OOS but we keep getting feedback that it is waste to go OOS for an education degree.
There are a lot of benefits to staying in state:
She will need to look up the requirements for certification in Maryland and adhere to those. It is always possible to study in another state, but sometimes there are extra hurdles to clear in terms of paperwork and maybe a required course or two.
I do not agree with the “waste” comment. First of all, a high quality education is never a waste, no matter what you do. College is not just about a financial return on investment. It is about learning and immersing yourself in the world of ideas for four years (and also maturing, becoming independent, and interacting with a diverse variety of people). It is best to read and study a range of topics and build your background knowledge, thinking skills, and writing skills. You do not even need to major in education- just take the courses needed for certification and complete the student teaching requirements.
As someone who hires teachers at a district on Long Island, NY, I am attracted to the resumes of teachers who went to more selective colleges, in any state, as long as the candidate is certified in NY. And from a personal standpoint, I enjoyed my own courses in the liberal arts and found them more ‘useful’ than any of my education courses.
The student teaching experience, however, is important.
Just my opinion!
@TheGreyKing Thanks very much for your insight. Do you have insight/opinions on the MD state schools for education majors. DD is considering Towson, UMBC and Salisbury. UMD-College Park is likely out of reach but she will still apply.
We were told by one school that if you get a certificate at a PA college it is good in any state. Just what we were told–no idea if that is true, but it’s something to check out.
Sorry, I do not have knowledge of the education programs at the Maryland schools, but I would recommend looking at the overall strength of the school and student body above looking at a specific major.
Your PA degree will be “good”. But won’t lead to automatic certification in other states. Check your state ed department website or certificTion to see the requirements for your home state.
I had a lot of issues with NY accepting my stuff from PA. But it seems that Maryland is much less strict with the requirements. If I’m reading the website correctly, it seems to say that “completing an out of state college or university educator preparation program that leads to certification in that state” is sufficient, along with a couple of tests. While it might be easier to stay in-state because they will really hold your hand through all of the requirements, it’s definitely not impossible to go OOS. You just need to be a little bit more on the ball and proactive with meeting the deadlines and certification requirements on your own. For example, NY required edTPA but PA did not, so I had to learn how to do that all by myself and ensure I got everything submitted on time. If I had gone to a NY school I would have had advisers and professors guiding me through the whole process.
Check and see whether or not the school she will attend is accredited by NCATE. My D was told that her NYS certification would be granted reciprocity in some, but not all, other states because her school was accredited.
@rebeccar - My D did go instate but because she was the first year of EdTpa, she essentially had to do hers herself while she was downstate student teaching and living at home far from her teachers. She had the hardest time with the video editing. Funny story - she was away with no internet access when the scores came out so she asked me and her brother to check. We went online and it said her score was 65. My son said: “Mom, she’s worked SO hard, how can we tell her she failed?” Then, we noticed a conversion scale. She actually scored very well, in one of the highest percentiles, but till we figured it out, it was so awful.
@techmom99 I had the same exact feeling! I forgot what my exact score was but I remember my heart dropping like oh no that’s not good at all. But it turned out to be fine. The process is so grueling.
Good for what? This might meet the course requirements…ymmv on that too. BUT the student will still be required to pass the praxis tests in other states.
My opinion…if your daughter plans to teach in MD, it would be far easier for her to fulfill the Maryland certification requirements from a college on Maryland than from any other state. Schools conferring education degrees will have THE requirements for certification in their state as part of the course of study.
In addition, beginning teachers don’t exactly make a boatload of money…so if any loans above the Direct Loan amounts are going to be needed for OOS study, I’d suggest rethinking carefully about that also.
Now…is it possible to get certification when completing college in other states? Sure it is. I completed my degree in Ohio and I’ve had certification in four other states. But I had to fulfill those state requirements to get those certifications. And this was with job experience!
@thumper1 Thanks for the response and insight. It is all very confusing.
The confusing part is when you see things like this on a school’s website “When you graduate from our program, you will have earned a certification that is recognized in 35+ other states”.
Being such a small state unfortunately MD does not offer many great options, which is why we are looking out of state.
Loans will not be needed by D19 so that is not an issue.
What does your daughter want to teach? Strength of education programs can vary pretty widely among content areas, so this may be useful to know. I’m an academic advisor for education students at a university in VA, and while most of our students stay in state, plenty transfer their licensure and it’s usually not terribly complicated to do so.
Has she looked at St. Mary’s College of Maryland?
@MerryCSO She is interested in early childhood teaching and special deducation. She is very interested in the program offered at JMU.
@intparent She has looked but ruled it out. They don’t have early childhood education, just a 5 year MA Teaching program. Also, the school was too small and remote.
Early childhood is different. If she teaches in a preschool or daycare it may not require a teaching certificate at all.
JMU’s program is really strong–they have the Dual Licensure program, which I assume your daughter is interested in. This is ideal because she’d be licensed in both PK-3 general education but also Early Childhood Special Ed (to age 5).
I can’t speak to the job market in your area of MD, but in the NoVA metro DC area, both of these are high-need areas, so jobs are abundant.
@AroundHere She is not looking. In MD some (not all) of the schools have Pre-K programs in the public schools.
@MerryCSO Any other schools/programs that you would recommend. D19 is also very high on the program at Delaware. Towson and UMD are also on her list.
Towson’s education programs are really solid, so worth a close look for an in-state student. In VA, JMU, as you’ve already discovered, is a good option. If your daughter likes the idea of being in the DC metro area, Mason might be worth a look. A little further south, I also like VCU (in Richmond), they have strong programs too.