HOUSTON – The Houston Independent School District is asking anyone interested in becoming a certified teacher to enroll in their alternative certification program or ACP.
The program is dedicated to finding individuals who are passionate about becoming full-time teachers and has been offered for several years now.
The ACP is also free for candidates who accept teaching positions with HISD.
Brittany Dominguez completed the one-year program last year. She’s now a seventh-grader teacher at Ortiz Middle school in southeast Houston.
“There’s never been a single day that I’ve gotten up in the morning and thought to myself, ‘I don’t want to go to work,’” Dominguez said.
She added that the program set her up for success.
“I did a lot of training sessions that taught me how to implement best practices in the classroom,” said Dominguez.
HISD told KPRC2 that the state’s largest district has about 800 open positions.
The list of openings is a bit higher when compared to most years, according to HISD recruiter Conya Barreras, who blamed the pandemic and said she was hopeful that most of the crucial vacancies will be filled soon.
“Which would be science, your math, your special education, your ESL, and your bilingual,” said Barreras.
Along with the ACP, the district is implementing one of the most competitive salary compensation packages of any Houston area school district.
- A new teacher’s annual salary begins at $61,500 and comes with a $2,000 signing bonus for all new teachers.
- The school district is offering up to $5,000 stipends for teachers in critical shortage areas, and $5,000 stipends for all special education teachers and bilingual education teachers.
For more information on the program or to apply, you can visit houstonisd.org/acp.