I say go for it.
I'm in El Paso, TX and pursuing an alternative teaching certificate. That means an alternative route, as opposed to someone who went to college to become a teacher. I will get a regular certificate at the end, I hope.
The process here is that I had to take a test, THEA, Texas Higher Education Assessment test. High School students in Texas are required to pass a TAKS, Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, to graduate from high school. The THEA test was basically that test. Reading, riting, and rithmatic. Five hours. I bought the twenty dollar study guide and spent two weeks going through it. I've been a practicing engineer for over thirty years, some of the school vocabulary was gone, not just rusty.
Then I had to get my transcripts evaluated and right now I am waiting for one of my four required references to return his character reference form. I told him just to write in, "I guarantee he is a character", and mail it. I think he is taking the time to answer the questions. (GULP!
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When that part of the process is complete I send the state of Texas fifty dollars and they issue me a one year temporary certificate so I can actually go out and get a real teaching job if I can find one. I have heard rumors that a math teacher can almost pick their high school to teach in here, but I learned a long time ago only to apply on a rumor, not bank on them.
Starting in January, these programs run on strange schedules, I will be required to pay for and attend classes on mathematics, and pedagogy. The program I am working to get into charges $5400 for the subject matter and pedegogy prep classes. I will take a second math test, through calculus, about February. Then the pedagogy classes begin and I have to take a test on pedagogy about May. If I pass all the tests I will then send the state more money and get a regular teaching certificate. Someplace along the line I might accidently learn how to spell.
Then I will have to complete a certain number of college courses every five years to maintain my certificate. That is an old rule applying to all teachers. I don't know what new things will happen to comply with No Child Left Behind, but I do know that right now the state of Texas is underfunding education about thirty percent across the state and most of the school districts are in court trying to squeeze more money out of a cash strapped legislature. I'm hoping for an income tax, but that is almost a heretical statement subjecting the utterer to buring at the stake in Texas.
I did pursue getting a teaching certificate in New Mexico and the process was essetially the same except that the major universities have it in their clutches and require taking almost enough courses in one year to get a master's degree in education, add three hours in the summer and get a masters during summer graduation ceremonies. But the three state wide tests are still required. Interstingly the same company administers the tests in Texas and New Mexico. I personally suspect they only change the cover sheets, but I don't intend to take the tests in New Mexico now because the opportunity to move to New Mexico, related to my wife's work, fell through.
Again, I do urge you to go for the interview, ask lots of questions and take lots of notes. You should ask the school districts about other means of alternative certification. Here in El Paso, TX there are five approved outfits to get the certificate through, at widely differing prices. I have chosen the second most costly, because the most expensive made the process just too expensive and burdensome to me, and the others gave me bad vibes. As I said in New Mexico there only seems to be one source, the local university. Explore your options. The worst possible answer you can get is NO, everything else is a yes or merely and adjetive.
Best wishes,
Kelly
Oy!