Alternative Teacher Certification

Admission Requirements

Applicants seeking Texas alternative teacher certification at MCC should meet the following criteria:

  1. hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution of higher learning
  2. have 24 college hours in teaching field with 12 of those hours at the Junior/Senior level for high school core courses
  3. 2.5 GPA on last 30 hours of college work or accumulative GPA
  4. Take Accuplacer or THEA Exam (must have taken the Accuplacer or THEA/TASP within the last 5 years). The Accuplacer can be taken in place of THEA. Passing scores on THEA are 230 in Reading, 270 in Math, and 220 in Writing. Passing scores on Accuplacer are 78 in Reading, 96 in Math and S 80+ and 5 in Writing.

According to Texas Administrative Code, Title 19, Subchapter A, Rule 230.5, anyone seeking admittance to an approved teacher preparation program must be assessed for college level skills in reading, oral and written communication and mathematics.

The applicant who meets these criteria will need to complete the following:

  1. application
  2. official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended
  3. application fee ($40)
  4. three (3) professional references
  5. interview (Students entering the bilingual certification will need to interview both in English and Spanish. The student must also pass the TOPT test to be certified.) suggested resume form

Important: Effective August 1, 2007, once an individual is accepted into the MCC Alternative Teacher Certification program, he/she has five years from the date of acceptance to complete the program. If the individual has not completed the certification program within the five years, he/she will need to reapply into the program. In addition, the Program Director can drop students from the program in less than the five-year period if the student is not demonstrating progress in his/her certification.

Acceptance

Applicants who complete the above steps and meet the academic qualifications for the certification specialization they have chosen will be invited to schedule an interview.

Once the interview has been completed, all references checked, all transcripts received and reviewed, a decision concerning the student's acceptance into the program will be made.

When admitted to the program, the student will complete the following courses:

  1. Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities (secondary, middle, or elementary) - Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities (88 class hours). This course covers the theory and practice of Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities.
    Preparation for the following Texas State Exams:, TExES 100 (elementary), TExES 130 (middle school), TExES 130 (secondary) and the TExES 160 (EC - 12) will be the major emphasis. These courses cover the theory and practices essential to good teaching methods, as practiced by Texas’ best teachers. In addition, the practical classroom aspects are observed, studied and debated.
  2. Content area teaching methods - (each certification area will require a different content area specialization class; not all content area specializations will be needed).
    MCC currently offers certification in Art EC-12, Business Education, Bilingual Generalist EC-4 & 4-8, ESL Generalist EC-4 & 4-8, English Language Arts and Reading (Secondary), Family and Consumer Studies, Generalist EC-4, Generalist 4 - 8, Health Education EC-12; Health Science Technology Education (HSTE) 8-12, History (8-12), Life Science (Secondary), Math (Secondary), Music EC-12; PE EC-12; Science (4-8), Science (8-12), Social Studies 4 - 8, Social Studies (8-12), Spanish (Secondary), Special Education EC-12, Speech Communications (Secondary), Technology Education (6-12), and Theater Arts EC-12.
  3. Internship - once a student has secured a position as a teacher in a school system, the student must enroll in the next Internship class. The student becomes the teacher of record for the class, drawing district pay as a teacher (amount may depend on certification in some districts.)

The student must retake a class if a grade of "B" or better is not received in the Alternative Teacher Certification Program.

Certification

Once an applicant is accepted into MCC's Alternative Teacher Certification Program and has a teaching position, the student must apply for Probationary Certification whether or not the public/private school district requires such certification. Students must apply for certification with the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC). After successfully completing the Internship class, passing all necessary examinations, and meeting all MCC requirements, the student will want to apply for full standard certification.