Thanks, redrider! I will investigate and post if I get anywhere. I am applying next year to international schools and need to get the lead out if I am to get anywhere. Worst case scenario would be to work at a Montessori school abroad. It seems that Montessori is making a comeback, so I may have more luck there.

[quote="derPhysik"]I have had doors open because of the state cert. when I know that the school is not confirming validity. One school, very new and in China, admitted that they get fake credentials (but didn't seem to know how to check credentials). Those are just observations related to your post. If I'm not too nosy- why don't you just get the state cert? If you don't want toaddress it, just ignore this post. Good luck, regardless![/quote]

Where I am, state cert. is a one year diploma, full-time study. There are no other options (no part-time, no online, nothing). Financially, I cannot take the time off, especially because I have been working as a teacher already for so long. If I take the year off, I think I would be more inclined to just take a different career path :) There are many international Montessori schools out there, but the $$ is dismal. They seem to be leaning more towards the international standards of providing housing, health care, etc. but salaries tend to be paltry.

I have a Montessori elementary degree, B.A., M.Ed., and 20 years teaching everything. Does anyone have comments about how difficult it would be to get into the international teaching circuit without actual state certification? Any advice on whether direct contact with schools would be a better route for me than the usual (Search Assoc.) middle men? [I have made contact with Search and they didn't quite know what to do with my kind of creds] Thanks in advance!

There seems to be more continuity when the MYP and the DP are contained in one school, eg. a private school. When you talk about the public school boards, the issue is, as ichiro mentions, the DP starts at Grade 11. If the MYP starts at Grade 6, it abruptly ends after 3 years (of the normal 5 year MYP cycle), because then the kids are thrust into high school. Grades 9 and 10 are in limbo until students can start the DP. The MYP is supposed to be modified, with an exit project in Grade 8, but it does short change the program. Assessment is interesting with a general rubric, as opposed to letter/percentage grades. Very holistic and anecdotal. Not a bad thing, but surely shock for students who enter into a traditional-assessment high school.

I tried to sign up for an IB course despite not having any IB experience, nor any affiliation with an IB school. I was told that you could only take an intro course (I took MYP Assessment & Curric) and I did it online. If you try to register for any other level, the admin will e-mail you to tell you that you cannot. It's expensive (almost $700 US) and there was nothing particularly innovative/different. Very holistic, very inquiry-based, very "best practices" approach...all of which seems to be common sense teaching anyway.