TEAC/NCATE Accreditations necessary?

College Majors Education Majors
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<p>My daughter has decided to major in Elem Ed. She is only a sophomore, we have a bit of time to go, I know!! But she is excited about looking into her major and planning her h.s. courses out over the next 2 yrs toward that end. I have been reading some threads and learning some good info. For example, most people are recommending going to a college in the state which you want to ultimately want to teach in. (I hadn't thought there would be such a rigamarole to go from state to state.) Also going to advise her to look into minor in spec ed, etc. to be more marketable. </p>

<p>One thing I haven't been able to find is the answer to the ques. is it better to attend a school with a TEAC or NCATE accreditation? Some are and some aren't and it does not seem to matter if its an $$$ or $ school. Also, it seems not in her best interest to attend a school in which you have to apply in your sophomore year to a elem ed program that only accepts a limited number of students, right? </p>

<p>She is really hoping to teach in NYC (and i see they have a freeze going on....hope that changes in a few yrs!!), but we were possibly going to take her to see Penn St, UMD, Univ of Delaware, BU, The College of NJ, Loyola MD, and some smaller Catholic and private schools in different states (we are from NJ). Should I be crossing anything out of New York State off the list since that's her job goal? It seems so limiting, but sounds not worth the hassle moving states??</p>

<p>PS. I have had more than one person ask "why I would spend $40K+ a yr on her for an Ed. degree, when she will never make a salary worth that kind of expenditure." Note she would not be taking out loans.... Not sure how to keep handling that comment. :-(</p>

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<p>wait so she is a high school sophomore?</p>

<p>I think it is great she want’s to go into education- don’t get me wrong- however, I think she should shift her focus a bit. In some states, an education certificate/degree is more often part of a masters program or at minimum added on to a BA program.</p>

<p>I would agree she should look for schools in the state where she wants to teach- however I would encourage her to get her undergrad degree in something else, and then get her teaching certification/degree.</p>

<p>Makes for a better teacher IMO & I believe more districts are leaning to that assumption as well.</p>

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<p>I graduated from TCNJ which has NCATE. I applied only to schools in NJ and not a single one asked me about NCATE. I’m not sure if schools just don’t care about it or already knew TCNJ had it. </p>

<p>Is your daughter in hs? If so, there’s not too much to worry about now; she still has 6.5 more years till the end of college after all =p What about NYC is your daughter attracted to? Teaching there isn’t anywhere as exciting as other jobs but since she is so young she can keep her options open.</p>

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<p>She probably will change her mind several times before then! Still, it’s not too early to start thinking about it and certainly hs juniors visit colleges. </p>

<p>My daughter’s education program is NCATE accredited. I hadn’t heard of TEAC, but a quick internet search brought up this short explanation of the differences:
[Advancing</a> the Teaching Profession: NCATE or TEAC](<a href=“testblog”>testblog)</p>