R.N.
A friend of mine was planning to start her teacher certification with, I believe, Region 4, which is the educational region in the Houston area. She did quite a bit of research and found that it was the most credible program in the area, offering the most support and mentoring to its prospective teachers. I have a friend in San Antonio who was certified through Texas Teachers and really struggled to find a job. She was a Science teacher, too, so I found it strange that she should have so much trouble, although she was limiting herself to a only a couple of districts. My other friend, however, spoke to her daughter's principal, who said she would never hire someone who had been certified through Texas Teachers b/c they don't offer their students enough support. This was last school year so I don't know if anything has changed since then. I guess basically everything you asked about depends on the program you choose. Try to go with the best program you can find. Good luck!