Hi,
I am planning a move from California to the Philly area (probably Montgomery county) and I'm an MSW who has been working in private schools as a counselor for the past 8 years. I am not certified as a school counselor in CA, but am considering getting certified in PA to open up my options. Does anyone out there have experience getting certified while coming from out of state or already having an MSW and a bunch of experience? I don't want to do a whole master's program, and would rather not spend a bunch of time working for free doing something that I have been doing for pay. Is there a way to get around some of this?

Also, if you have info on the job market for school counselors and/or social workers/public health professionals (I also have an MPH and have done a bunch of health education) in the Philly area that would be great!

Thanks so much!

The school district of Philadelphia is always looking for capable professionals and there are a number of ways to earn your certification while working. Here is a link to their employment opportunity page from the web site.
http://www.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/recruitment/

Former school counselor here.

If you want to get certified in PA, you have to take a class for a semester while working at an internship under a certified school counselor. Then you take the Praxis exams - 4-5 of them in total (although 3-4 can be taken in one day). When/if you pass, you'll receive your certification in April or so, and you're certified for 5 years. If you want to renew your certification, or bump yourself up to an Educational Specialist II class, you have to complete 180 Act 48 credits, or your certification will run out.

http://www.schoolcounselor.org/conte...&contentid=243 gives you a brief description of certification by state.

As for jobs, you can check out www.pareap.net - many schools use this to find qualified educators.

If you want to work in the SDOP (School District of Philadelphia), there's a giant rigamarole involved, including paper tests, oral tests, interview, etc. And THEN you get put on a waiting list, hoping that someone leaves or retires.

I don't know if you'd actually be put on a wait list, as the Philadelphia School District is usually desparate for certified teachers, as are many cities. And it used to be that when you applied you got assigned to a school/grade by the district. Now they are moving towards more site seletion - individual schools get more say in hiring their own teachers. Don't know exactly how that works now.

But in any case you said you're thinking of living in Montgomery County - I believe you need to be a Philadelphia resident to teach in Philadelphia schools. Don't know how strongly that's enforced though.

That rule no longer exists.

There are far more teaching positions than counseling positions. There's usually only 1-3 counselors per school, depending on the size. There is a wait list for counselors, especially if you score lower on your tests than others - after all the testing is done, you're ranked. So if, for example, you're #5, and are wait listed, and the next year comes around and no one has been taken off the wait list above you and 2 more people test and do better than you, you're bumped down to #7.