Teaching high school computer science (California)

First you have to get throuhg all the stuff for an educaiton degree

Most of the high-school "computer science" courses in AZ are taught as a sideline by a math or other teacher who has an interest and maybe even a minor in CS.

School size and location could be factors. Not sure about California, but aside from the educational degree, probably any teacher who had an interest and was willing to teach it I think. At least that's how it is at our (small) school, in rural Oklahoma. The high school computer science teacher actually has a background in computers, but she was hired to teach the business classes. In the grade school, I don't think anyone teaches computer per se.

Is that all just as clear as mud?

I live in CA. The one teacher I know well who taught keyboarding/computer science was certified to teach basic math and algebra. He had no special cert in computer science. This was 3 years ago. Things may have changed.

Ok, so I'm from the UK, but this might help.
My computer science teacher came to the school from government service, where he used to design the software that went in the military's missiles. Even better than that, his name was Doctor Bond. How cool is that?

JoNightshade said:

Well, here's my scenario, which I want to make sure is plausible:

Guy gets credential while in college. Ten years later, school is hurting for a keyboarding/compsci teacher, and even though his credential is expired (do they expire?) they hire him.

Click to expand...

As a reader, I would question him being hired "even though his credential is expired" part. Surely that's not legal? And, the school could lose funding for it? (Unless they have a procedure in place to get him re-certified.)

It seems a bit like a hospital hiring a "doctor" who doesn't happen to have a license to practice medicine.

So your basketball player is in computer science? High school?

As an Oaklander (god help me) - and married to a high school english teacher who doesn't happen to teach in Oakland - I checked with him and his alma mater website San Francisco State University. They have something called a DESIGNATED VOCATIONAL EDUCATION CREDENTIAL.

Before I point you to the link, there is the concept here of CLEARING your credential which must be done every 5 years. Effectively, you need to take X number of continuing education credits within that 5 year period to ensure that you are a teacher with the most current required teaching "techniques". Or something like that. I just double checked with him and there isn't a yearly renewal - definitely 5 year. Like I said - he is a high school teacher and that is a different credential than elementary and middle school.

And yes, there are some districts within California that allow teachers who have expired credentials - or working on emergency credentials which essentially is having passed the CBEST exam. I believe there is an expectation that they are of intent to complete their credential. Yes, they are in crappy areas that no one wants to work. Districts track their school performance with a metric of how many credentialed vs non credentialed teachers they have on staff, so someone teaching with an expired credential would be "known" - maybe not by name, but by number in the school "scores".

Additionally, my husband got his credential through an alternate credential program at San Francisco State where he taught on his emergency credential during the day and then went to school to complete the actual one at night. For a full year. Our first year of marriage. That was fun. Never saw the guy.

Finanlly, here is a link and the particular slice I'm thinking applies, (http://www.sfsu.edu/~bulletin/current/programs/credpro.htm) but this is the slice I'm referring to:
REQUIREMENTS
Preliminary Full-time or Part-time Vocational Education Credential
Five years of work experience directly related to each subject to be named on the credential. Forty-eight semester units of postsecondary vocational training related to the subject may be substituted for a maximum of two of the five years of work experience (as specified in Leaflet CL-698A from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing). At least one year of the required work experience must be within the three years immediately preceding the issuance of the Preliminary credential.
Possession of one of the following: a high school diploma; diploma based on passage of the GED Test; or foreign equivalent of a high school diploma.
Demonstration of knowledge of the principles of the Constitution of the United States. Applicants may satisfy the U.S. Constitution requirement either by course work or examination. The Teacher Preparation Center can provide a list of testing options that meet this requirement.
ISED 706 Principles and Methods of Adult and Vocational Education (3)
ITEC 711 Instructional Computing in Elementary and Middle Schools (3) or
ITEC 712 Instructional Computing in Secondary Schools (3)[/SIZE][/SIZE]

Good Luck!