While enrollment in teaching certification programs continues to rise, a problem is presented for recent graduates in the field: an oversaturation of the education job market.
Of Westchester”™s five state-approved graduate teaching programs, only one school had higher than a 15 percent rate of its 2014 grads going on to earn full-time public education positions within five months of graduating, according to figures provided by the state Department of Education.
Manhattanville College, the county”™s most successful program in terms of teacher placement in 2014, saw 17 percent of its May graduates earn a full-time public teaching position by October of last year, when the report was compiled. Sarah Lawrence College saw 7.1 percent of its grads earn the same positions, while Mercy College and The College of New Rochelle saw figures of 4.6 and 4.3 percent. Iona College saw a total of 0 percent, a figure that state Department of Education spokesman Dennis Tompkins confirmed was accurate.
The report does not take into account private teaching positions or full-time positions in separate industries. The main reason for the small percentages, Tompkins said, is there are simply fewer jobs to meet the increased number of certified teachers coming not just out of Westchester”™s programs but also those around New York. The state average was just 7.2 percent.
“It”™s obviously a very competitive market within New York state schools,” Tompkins said. “But we still have shortages in certain areas like science, math, physical education and some languages.”
Included in the reports are figures from the county”™s 2013 graduates, which aren”™t much more promising. Graduates of Iona saw a 12.5 percent full-time public teaching success rate a year and a half after graduating, while those from The College of New Rochelle saw the highest percentage at 33.9 percent. Mercy College had a 26.4 percent placement rate and 7.1 percent of Sarah Lawrence graduates found full-time public teaching work.
The Manhattanville School of Education, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month, boasted a 26.2 percent rate among its 2013 grads. Officials from the school declined to comment on the recent job placement statistics.
Students are often placed in urban public schools during their student-teaching placement, a semester-long period working in an area school district that marks the near-end of the certification process. Mercy College”™s School of Education, for example, holds a separate partnership with Yonkers Public Schools that provides math teaching candidates a year of experience working with K-12 teachers in the district. The hope is to not only allow students real-life experience working with children but also to bolster their resume and increase their odds at securing a full-time position after graduation.
According to a report by the Empire Center for Public Policy, a New York research organization, teachers in Westchester County earn among the highest salaries in the state. Scarsdale School District, paid its teachers an average of $137,017 per year, the state”™s highest in 2012-13.
Teaching jobs can be lucrative because of benefits, the potential for tenure and summer months off from work. Most in secondary education require a master”™s degree or a doctorate, which oftentimes can mean accruing large amounts of debt before entering the job market. Organizations like Teach for America allow recent grads to teach for at least two years in low-income neighborhoods in return for partial or full loan forgiveness.
Due to the introduction of new certification exams, the process toward certification has also become more complicated in recent years. In 2013, the state Department of Education updated the Content Specialty Test to better reflect career-ready expectations and to align with Common Core standards.
Depending on subject matter, students must also take and pass the edTPA and Academic Literary Skills Test, which can cost several hundred dollars out-of-pocket.
