Western Governors University

[sanantone]

I'm sorry to hear that. I would tell you to look somewhere else, but all of the colleges will require a full semester of unpaid teaching. You're actually paying the school to allow you to do the internship. State-approved alternative teacher certification programs are the only options I know of that let you teach on a temporary license during a paid internship. Virginia's program is a little stricter than Texas'. Texas just requires like 15-30 hours of observation which can be done by watching videos in addition to the education coursework. Then, you just go straight to the 1-year paid internship after passing the TEXES exam (similar to Praxis).

Have you looked into applying for Teach for America? They have a limited number of grants to pay for the training part. They are picky though. I was turned down last year. I heard they mostly choose people from prestigious schools. One administrator banned Teach for America from his school because they wouldn't accept his former students who graduated from the local university. It is offensive that Teach for America won't hire the types of students they are trying to help. You know, the kids who successfully make it through an inner-city school system and attend a tier 3 or 4 public university. These are the kinds of people who would most understand the inner-city kids Teach for America tries to serve. I've heard complaints from Teach for America participants that they were completely unprepared for managing a classroom in an inner-city school. The program has a high turnover rate.

The other option would be to live off of student loans. That would be painful. Then, you would have to pray that you get hired for something immediately after the unpaid internship because you'll have to quit your current job. I work with someone who is going to do the traditional, unpaid internship. Since she's in a supervisory position, I guess she can negotiate her work hours; but, she is not going to get much sleep for a whole semester or have any time for her family.

Every state should really consider Texas' model. Most of the programs here only require $300-500 upfront. They take the other $3,000-4,000 out of your paycheck in monthly installments after you're hired as a teacher. I just thought of something else. When I applied for Teach for America, I chose the option to have my information sent to other programs. Some schools will pay for your training as long as you agree to work for them for a certain period of time. I got a bunch of emails, but none of the schools were in my area.