Using straighterline for Teacher Cert in NY

[Doctor_Jolly]

I already have a Bachelors and a PhD in Biology. However, because I didn’t go to college in the USA, I’m just missing these undergrad liberal arts credits. I can’t start my education masters until I have these credits. I don’t want to spend thousands of dollars getting these credits if I can help it, since I am not applying for certification in liberal arts.

Would you mind me asking where you got your Bachelors & PhD in Biology?  I'm really interested in the PhD in Biology, particularly, I have my eyes set on the Biological Sciences for a while now and looking into possible Masters & PhD in Biology.  Was yours online or done the old fashion way (B&M??).  I'm also looking for ones that allow independent research, I wouldn't mind paying for flights to defend my thesis and/or dissertation.

I did my undergrad in England and my PhD in the US. If you’re going to do a PhD in a science my advice is to go the traditional route. 

My program required 2 years of advanced science classes (while doing full time research), you needed to have a certain about of research hours, a first author publication, and present at a certain amount of conferences (took me 5 1/2 years). Working in the lab, generating data and then having discussions with your PI and  peers is a vital part of the learning process. 
My PhD was fully funded and I worked as a graduate assistant and got a livable salary. Masters programs don’t require as much research, at my school it was just two years of classes and research (no publication requirements etc.) I’d guess that bioinformatics would be a program you could potentially do independently. 

Finally, I’d give the advice that if you want a science career, it’s not the institution it’s the PI that other scientists care about. There are some amazing scientists in smaller schools doing excellent research with a great publication record, the PI is always in the lab and available to support your and help your grow. Then there are scientists at large labs at places like Harvard who have an army of postdocs and are never available. While Harvard has that name recognition, you’ll get a better education at the smaller school and employers in the science community know that. Of course if you don’t want to pursue a science career, the average person would just be like “wow you got a PhD from Harvard” and you’ll have an advantage over the smaller school person.

---

My guess is that you will need to get these onto a transcript.  You should ask if they accept courses on a credit registry.  Basically, you pay a fee a college and they transcript the credits.  There are three major options:

https://www.excelsior.edu/support-resour...ranscript/   $295
https://www.charteroak.edu/credit-registry/  $850
https://www.tesu.edu/military/credit-ban...m%20(CLEP)

I would verify with the State of NY that they accept credits from a registry.

You might also consider using reciprocity.  Education is a state responsibility in the United States.  This means that there were 50+ systems of teacher certification.  If you can get certified in one system, you might be able to get a second state (in this case NY) to grant certification based on that certificate.

For example, New Jersey has an alternate certification system.  Here's the page that shows the requirements for biology certification:
https://www.state.nj.us/education/licens...2210CE.pdf

Maybe you can get certified in New Jersey and then reciprocity back to NY.

Reciprocity isn't a breeze in NY. NY in general is not a reciprocity friendly state with most licenses. For some reason we like to make things difficult unfortunately. We have 2 certifications here. We don't make it easy.

http://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/cert...other.html

Yup! NY is difficult to get certified in. After I’ve got all these credits  I’ll have to take a content test, edTAP etc. 

Right now I’m working on the Individual Pathway. I’m hoping that the DOE will accept these credits if I can get them on a college transcript. It’s very difficult to get a clear answer from them and they’re difficult to get in contact with.

I don’t mind going the traditional route for a MS in Education.

NYS is shutdown because of COVID. You will have a VERY difficult time getting ahold of anyone from the state. State offices have been closed for months and there's no reopening date.

NY wants you to go to college in NY. They want your $$$. Don't be surprised if you need far more coursework to be eligible for the initial certification.

Before everything got shutdown the DOE evaluated my transcripts and put in writing exactly what I was missing. I have a long way to go but I’m hoping I can get these Core Gen Ed classes out of the way quickly and cheaply so I can start working on my masters. I teach at a Charter school in NYC and they’ll support me with my masters but I can’t enroll in that program until I’ve got these core credits. I don’t want to pay $$$ to do classes that I’m not interested in and I just need to check a box with the DOE. 

This is what they say on their website (right at the bottom) but it doesn’t really give a clear answer. 

http://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/cwks...etreq.html