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Health & Fitness

Looking to Change Careers? You Should Become a Teacher.

With the job opportunities available in Missouri classrooms, switching your profession to become a teacher provides a rewarding, new career for yourself - and a great service to your community.

The American Board is an education 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to building communities by recruiting teachers locally. The organization offers an online teacher certification program that is accepted by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) as an official route to educator licensure. 

The American Board assists career-changers in twelve states with the transition to the classroom. Since the organization’s founding in 2001, tens of thousands of teachers have received their certification through The American Board.

According to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Education, there are critical shortages of English, Math, and Science teachers in Missouri[1]. As a result, The American Board is working diligently to fill local classrooms with role models who are well-suited to address the challenges faced by today’s educators.

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The organization is authorized to certify in Missouri for Biology, Chemistry, English Language Arts, General Science, History, Mathematics, and Physics, all for the high school and/or junior high levels. With an average age of 39, American Board candidates often pursue teaching positions following a career-change in the fields where they have professional experience and/or hold a Bachelor’s degree (a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university is a requirement of the program).

Birdie Pruessner is a recent American Board alum from Missouri who teaches Math and Sustainability at City Academy in St. Louis. According to Pruessner, it is the positive impact that teachers have on their students that inspired her to switch to this particular profession. More recently, Pruessner was nominated by her school administrators for the American Board Missouri Teacher of the Year Award, which recognizes distinguished American Board alumni for their accomplishments in the classroom.

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With the number of job opportunities currently available in Missouri classrooms, Pruessner’s success story is achievable for the members of the High Ridge community who are considering a career-change to teaching.  And with the American Board program, those career-changers can be successfully running their own classrooms and making a difference in their communities within a year.

The American Board will be hosting a series of information sessions about the program and Missouri teacher certification in High Ridge on Wednesday, April 10th at the Northwest Branch Library. Click here to register for the event in High Ridge. Sessions are an hour in length and start at 4:00 and 5:00 pm. Advance registration is highly recommended, as space is limited.

 

There will be more events held Greater St. Louis. Click here to view the upcoming schedule.

Event contact:  Betsey Hamilton, (314) 703-9056, bhamilton@americanboard.org

 

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