Hello! I am a current math major and upon graduation I want to 1) Go to graduate school and get a Masters in math and 2) Get a teaching credential so that I can teach high school math. Which order should I pursue these degrees (as in, should I get a Masters in Math and then get a teaching credential or get a teaching credential and then a Masters in math)? My biggest concern is Letters of Recommendation - whichever program I go to first would get better letters of rec since they would be coming from my undergraduate professors whom I know very well. Thank you in advance.
I considered going this route with my math degree, and when I planned it, there was a lot more financial sense and plain sense in just going into the teaching credential program first. I get the sense that this is what most teachers do also - get the credential, get a job, get a Master’s in order to get a pay bump and/or for personal fulfillment.
The exception would be if you would need to take a year or two off to complete the Master’s because the program doesn’t allow students to attend it online or at night or part-time, etc. In that case there would be a lot of sense in doing the Master’s first, rather than disrupting your career and leaving your school. This would make the most sense also if the degree is Mathematics Teaching. If it is something more theoretical, for a high school teacher, then it would have less value to distinguish you as an applicant I imagine.
The financial side is that you can start working earlier. You’ll immediately get a bump for the Master’s according to the schedule, when obtained, so you’re not sacrificing future pay by accepting a lower entry level salary. The practical side is that the Mathematics end will be more than adequately covered by your Bachelor’s. Lots of math teachers didn’t even pursue the math degree, so you can already stand out just by doing that and by going straight into a credential program, showing high competence and intention to pursue teaching.
Disclaimer: These are just my opinions – I’ve never hired teachers or actually went down the path.
Some school districts actually have a program where you do both. Denver is one of them.
You can do a master’s in math and get a teaching credential concurrently. Many - most, probably - master’s programs in math education allow you to earn an initial teaching certification at the same time. At some schools the M.Ed program allows that, but at other schools it’s an MAT program. Take, for example, the University of Georgia’s MAT in math education ([https://coe.uga.edu/academics/degrees/mat/math-education]here), Georgia State University’s MAT in math education ([here](http://mse.education.gsu.edu/programs/masters-specialist-programs/mathematics-education-m-a-t/)), the University of Pennsylvania’s MSEd in math education ([here](http://www2.gse.upenn.edu/tep/programs/secondary)), and Harvard University’s Ed.M program ([here](http://www.gse.harvard.edu/masters/tep))
However, while some of those programs will include some graduate-level coursework in math, the majority of the program is about graduate-level coursework in education specifically - like classroom management, child development, teaching in urban areas, etc. If you want a program that has graduate-level coursework in mathematical topics, then yes, you’ll want an MA in math as opposed to a master’s in math education. In that case, it probably doesn’t really matter what order you do it in, but you’d probably want to do the MA in math first and then the certification after.
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Check and see if the state you want to teach in has a different certificate upgrade that you get for the master’s. If it does, you may want to get the MA in math first, and then get the teaching certification. Given that teaching certification takes about a year and so does an MAT program, it may make sense for you to get two master’s degrees - the MA in math and then the MAT.
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In order for your teaching certificate to remain active, you might actually have to teach immediately after you get it (or soon). So I’d check that out because that might affect the order that you take it in.
Also, you can send undergraduate letters of recommendation to both programs. Let’s say that you finish college and do a one-year MAT, then you want to get an MA in math. You can still get letters of recommendation from your undergrad professors since they know you the best - you can add in one recommendation letter from an MAT professor, too.
If you want to be in the K-12 classroom, you need to do serious research on the job market you will try to get hired in. Some will not want to pay for the MA+ whatever hours you end up with after a subject area MA and an MAT. That MAT will start you at a Master-level salary in most school districts.