Careers in Education

The Bryn Mawr/Haverford Career Development Office (CDO) offers a variety of services to help students find summer teaching opportunities, spring and winter break externships, part-time jobs, and teaching positions. Students are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with the resources of the CDO, including the database of internships, binders with job listings, library of directories and how-to books, and newsletters that publicize on- and off-campus programs, fellowships, and special recruitment events.

Students who plan on teaching—whether in a public or non-public school or through an international program—are advised to work with the CDO during the senior year. We recommend that seniors do the following:

• Attend CDO-sponsored workshops (e.g., on preparing a résumé, interviewing, etc.);
• Attend CDO-sponsored recruitment/information sessions about organizations that interest them;
• Participate in mock education interviews;
• Meet with a CDO career counselor to discuss job placement strategies and career goals;
• Set up a credentials file at the CDO office on their home campus, which will ultimately contain the letters of recommendation that CDO will send to prospective employers at the student’s request; and
• Pay attention to CDO newsletters and senior supplements.

The season for recruitment of public school teachers begins slowly in March/April, heats up in May, and continues through August. During this period, the CDO and the Education Program will announce teacher job fairs, including one held in this area for more than 100 school districts (usually in March). The season for recruitment of independent school teachers starts a bit earlier, with placement agencies interviewing in the fall and winter and schools interviewing candidates in the spring into summer.

Teaching in an Independent School (certification not required)

To find out about job openings in independent (private) schools, you can contact the school in which you're interested in teaching to ask how and when they advertise job openings (the hiring season usually begins in early spring for the following fall). There are also a number of independent school job search websites, including the National Organization of Independent School's (NAIS) at http://careers.nais.org/search.cfm and the Friends Council on Education.

There are also a number of teacher placement agencies, some of which conduct on-campus interviews at Haverford and Bryn Mawr in the fall, including the following, none of which charges teacher applicants a fee:

Carney, Sandoe, and Associates (CS&A) - http://www.CarneySandoe.com

Carney, Sandoe & Associates is an educational recruitment firm that places teachers and administrators in private, independent and like-kind (charter, magnet, pilot and merit) schools across the nation. CS&A works with more private, independent and like-kind schools (K-12, urban, suburban and rural, boarding and day, single-sex and co-educational) than any other educational recruitment firm in the country. CS&A has thousands of positions available in all primary and secondary subjects each year. All fees are paid by the client school; personal and professional placement services are free to the candidate.

Independent School Consortium of Greater Philadelphia - www.isconsortium.org/

Established in 1994 to increase the number of faculty of color in five Philadelphia area independent schools. The original schools were Agnes Irwin, Baldwin, Episcopal Academy, Haverford, and Shipley. The Consortium continues to grow each year. Student enrollments range from 500 to1150. Faculty and staff sizes range from 85 to over 200. The objective of the program is to build a community of educators that reflect therichness inherent in a diverse population. In pursuit of this goal, the Independent School Consortium of Greater Philadelphia serves as a way to attract and support faculty of color such as people of African or Asian descent, Latinos, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and multiracial people.

PAIShire.com - http://www.paishire.com/

PAIShire.com recruits teachers for placement in independent schools in the Philadelphia area.

Southern Teachers Agency (http://www.southernteachers.com/ )

Southern Teachers Agency is the oldest independent teacher placement service in America and the only service dedicated to placement in the South. Theywork with private schools from Maryland south to Florida and as far west as Texas. They also work with some public school districts in Virginia. Since they work primarily with private schools, most of our positions do not require teacher certification.

Teaching in a Public School (if you are certified)

Public schools - "regular"

One straightforward way to find out about the recruitment and application process for teaching positions in a particular public school is to go directly to the human resources web site of the school district in which you are interested in teaching. Search for key words like “recruitment,” “employment opportunities,” “human resources,” etc. to get to the human resources section of the website, where you will find out information about recruitment activities, the application and interview process, and job openings. School districts usually hire in the spring  through the end of the summer for fall teaching placements.

Public schools - charter

Charter Schools are self-managed public schools that are approved by local school districts. Charter schools operate free from many educational mandates (except for those concerning nondiscrimination, health and safety and accountability). Charter Schools hire their own teachers, so you may contact the schools directly for information about employment opportunities. To find out more about charter schools across the country, you can go to: http://www.uscharterschools.org.

Another way to find out about job openings is to attend a teacher job fair, such as the following:

Delaware Valley Education Consortium’s “Greater Philadelphia Teacher Job Fair” (http://www.dvec.net/)

March 20, 2007 - The Wachovia Center. The Greater Philadelphia Teacher Job Fair typically attracts over 200 area school districts. Many school districts throughout the country will have teacher job fairs also. For certification candidates and certified teachers.

State Departments of Education also often post information about job openings. To find the website of a particular State Department of Education, do a search for the state + department of education - e.g., "Minnesota Department of Education." Once you find the website, you can search for words like "recruitment" or "teaching jobs" to find a link to the Department's recruiting center.

Teaching in a Public School (if you are not yet certified)

If you are not yet certified to teach, it's difficult, but not impossible, to find a teaching position in a public school. Charter schools, for example, are able to hire a certain percentage of uncertified teachers. Uncertified teachers are usually given a prescibed amount of time to get certified.

School districts are also often able to hire teachers who have "emergency", "intern," or "provisional" teaching licenses when they can not find certified teachers to fill all their vacancies. Often, these vacancies are in the "high need" subject areas - such as math, chemistry, physics, special education, Spanish, or bilingual education - and are in schools in low-income (urban and rural) areas of the country.

If you have a bachelor's degree and a solid GPA (usually a 3.0), do not have a teaching certification, and are interested in teaching full-time in a low-income urban or rural region of the country while participating in coursework and professional development during non-teaching hours, you may be interested in learning more about programs like the following:

Teach for America

A national corps of recent college graduates of all backgrounds and academic majors who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public school. Each year, TFA selects a corps of over 2,000 individuals (from among 19,000 applicants in 2006), provides them with extensive training during summer institutes, places them as full-time, paid teachers in public schools, and coordinates an ongoing network to support them during their two years as teachers and beyond.

More information is available at http://www.teachforamerica.org

TEACHING FELLOWS PROGRAMS: Please note that the eligibility requirements for the following programs are designed to attract applicants with little or no education background. Education Minors, therefore, are usually not eligible to apply.

Chicago Teaching Fellows

The Chicago Teaching Fellows provides a pathway for outstanding individuals to become teachers in Chicago Public Schools and to significantly impact the academic achievement of the city’s children. The organization looks to successful professionals and recent college graduates to bring their knowledge, experience, and records of achievement to the classrooms where theirleadership is needed most.

In this highly-selective alternate certification program, the most exemplary candidates will begin teaching full-time in the fall of 2007, while simultaneously earning their teaching certificates at a local university. Fellows will teach in critical shortage areas, such as math, science, elementary, Spanish, Chinese, and special education.

More information is available at http://www.chicagoteachingfellows.org/.

New York City Teaching Fellows

In the spring of 2000, the NYC Teaching Fellows program was launched to address the most severe teacher shortage in New York’s public school system in decades. The Fellowship endeavors to attract mid-career professionals, recent college graduates, and even retirees to teach in underperforming schools in the nation’s largest school system.

Since 2000, the Teaching Fellows program has not only addressed New York’s chronic teacher shortage, it has been able to focus on recruiting people specifically to teach high-need subject areas—such as science, math, Spanish, special education, and bilingual education—and consistently places large numbers of teachers in high-need classrooms across the city.

Having passed through a rigorous selection process and trained in an intensive pre-service program, about 7,500 of these talented individuals are currently teaching in New York City's public schools. At the same time, each is pursuing his/her own education through a subsidized Master's degree program. Fellows also benefit from

* A regular teacher's salary and benefits;
* Ongoing support at the school and region levels; and
* A network of like-minded professionals committed to educational excellence for New York City's students.

More information is available at http://www.nyctf.org/.

Philadelphia Teaching Fellows

The Philadelphia Teaching Fellows is an alternative certification program specifically committed to helping high achievers enter high-need classrooms in Philadelphia. The organization seeks to recruit recent graduates and mid-career professionals who are interested in teaching math, science, bilingual education, English, social studies, Spanish, or special education.

No teaching experience or education-related coursework is necessary, but applicants must possess (or be expecting) a bachelor's degree by June 2007. Applicants must also be able to demonstrate a record of achievement, including a 3.0 minimum undergraduate GPA.

More information is available at http://www.philadelphiateachingfellows.org/.

Washington D.C. Teaching Fellows

The DC Teaching Fellows recruits a range of diverse applicants who have shown a record of commitment and achievement in past endeavors. The organization looks for creative minded, patient and flexible candidates who understand the level of dedication it takes to improve a system– one classroom at a time.

Having passed through a rigorous selection process and trained in an intensive pre-service program, over 450 of these talented individuals have become teachers in the DC public schools. Each is pursuing or has already completed a credentialing degree program in education. Fellows also benefit from a full teacher’s salary, medical and dental benefits, and the support of an administrative program staff.

More information is available at http://www.dcteachingfellows.org/.

Careers and volunteer opportunities in the non-profit sector

Not-for-Profit Networking Fairs sponsored by the CDO, the Seven Sisters, and several other colleges and universities. Check the Career Development Office website for dates (usually in February).

Americorps - http://www.americorps.org

A network of local, state, and national service programs that connects more than 70,000 Americans each year in intensive service to meet our country’s critical needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment. AmeriCorps members serve with more than 2,000 nonprofits, public agencies, and faith-based and community organizations. Since 1994, more than 400,000 men and women have provided needed assistance to millions of Americans across the nation through their AmeriCorps service.

Through their service and the volunteers they mobilize, AmeriCorps members address critical needs in communities throughout America, including:

* Tutoring and mentoring disadvantaged youth
* Fighting illiteracy
* Improving health services
* Building affordable housing
* Teaching computer skills
* Cleaning parks and streams
* Managing or operating after-school programs
* Helping communities respond to disasters
* Building organizational capacity

City Year - http://www.cityyear.org

Earn money for college, job training, or pay back student loans, make a difference in the lives of children, and gain leadership skills to bolster your resume. City Year unites youth ages 17-24 from diverse ethnic, socio-economic, racial, religious, and educational backgrounds for a demanding academic year of full-time community service, leadership development and civic engagement.  City Year Greater Philadelphia's service strategy focuses solely on strengthening educational opportunities for young people and leading youth in service.

Idealist.org: http://www.idealist.org

Teacher Certification Programs

Every state department of education provides information about specific state teacher licensure regulations. The departments also often provide a list of colleges and universities in the state that have approved teacher certification programs. For example, Pennsylvania lists the names of 93 colleges and universities in the state that offer teacher education programs in a variety of areas. Some are Continuing Education programs (like Bryn Mawr/Haverford's, described below), which award undergraduate credits, cost less, and take less time to complete, while others are connected with master's degree or Ph.D. programs (see below for more information about graduate programs), which are more intensive and more expensive, but which award you a higher degree in addition to a teaching certificate.

For information about every state's certification requirements, you can go to: http://www.uky.edu/Education/TEP/usacert.html