**cross posted from General board because I'm afraid of the responses there**

My wife is considering getting an online degree in education (was hoping to specialize in English) from an accredited college in hopes of becoming a teacher here in Texas. Online is really the only option at this point with our children and current situation. She is, however, unsure if she ultimately wants to teach middle school or elementary grade level.

If she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education, what would she have to do additional if she wanted to teach English at a middle school level after graduating?

She has no desire to teach at the high school level, but many of the bachelor of science degrees appear to lump middle school and high school together as "secondary" when defining specialties in math or science.

I think she'd really love to be an English teacher at the middle school level, but we aren't finding an online school that seems to offer a specific degree for that specialty.

Any help/advice?

I taught in high school for 22 years but I've been retired for nine.

It looks as if the levels at which you can get certified vary with the subject you want to teach.

Look at this list of subjects, for example, and notice how they are divided by grade levels.

Here is a link to the Texas Education Agency. You might start there.

If she is planning on teaching in the state of Texas generally the major is "interdisciplinary studies". Rather than "elementary education".

Some schools will allow teachers to take the elementary education/EC-6 generalist certification and an English/language arts 4-8 certification on the same degree plan. That's what A&M does.

If a traditional pathway is not in the cards, they could always get a degree in English, online, then go through an alternative certification program.

My understanding is that for middle school and high school you major in your subject area, not education. Once upon a time my plan was to be a high school history teacher. The route was to get my Bachelor's in history and the teacher certification was separate, almost like a minor. I would have had to take a handful of education courses, including a semester of student teaching. There is also an alternative certification process if you decide you want to teach after graduation and didn't do the normal certification process. In your wife's situation, perhaps the best route for teaching middle school would be to get a B.S. in English and then pursue the alternative certification route.