DanGenck wrote:However, we are getting off topic a bit. Did anyone on this board actually get the state certification through their college? I would be interested to know how difficult it was at other schools than SJU.
NIU offers a teacher certificate program which is fairly "easy" in my opinion. Basically, you need a 2.5 gpa at your undergrad school in whatever you want to teach, but what you want to teach can be fairly liberal. In Illinois, a Business degree and a few english/philosophy classes can qualify you to teach pretty much anything at the HS level. To get the actual certificate is 35hrs, i want to say, with a semester of student teaching afterwards.
Apparently, majoring in education in Illinois is like jumping through hoops for 4.5 years, so majoring in whatever you want and getting a certificate in teaching a year later seems like the more worthwhile situation to me
Also, in Illinois, anyone with a Bachelor's degree is qualified to teach at private institutions. While each individual school has there own requirement I'm sure, any college grad probably has a shot at teaching at some elementary parochial school if they so desired.