Pre-K help needed

[Storyteller]

My friend is 38, no college credits and wants to teach Pre-K.
I told her about Clep/Dantes and IC. At this point, the sky's the limit in regards to schools, etc.
What would you folks recommend for a plan of study? How should she begin? I told her about Cleps - she's interested.
Thanks for your help.

[alleycat]

I would tell her to look at her state Dept of Ed website and see what the requirements are for her state. Most states require a teaching certification or license to teach. So she will have to see what she needs and base her degree around that. I have several friends that teach Pre K and most of them have an Early Childhood back ground. 2 of them got their Early Childhood credits at a local CC and then transfered to a state school. Also she could also look at job listings and see what the requirements are for those types of jobs.

[cookderosa]

My friend is 38, no college credits and wants to teach Pre-K.
I told her about Clep/Dantes and IC. At this point, the sky's the limit in regards to schools, etc.
What would you folks recommend for a plan of study? How should she begin? I told her about Cleps - she's interested.
Thanks for your help.

Her degree will come from her state's community college and it will be an AOS or AAS depending. In other words, she'll likely only get to use about 1-4 CLEP tests at the most. The majority of her courses will be in Early Childhood Education and this is NOT a transferrable degree into teaching K-12. Among the associate degrees, this would be ranked among the LONGEST to complete. She'll likely be there just 1 semester shy of 2 full years (even with CLEP). Also, fwiw, she's signing up for a lifetime of poverty.

(my BFF started in home day care then a large local daycare, but wanted benefits/more money and is 15 years in with our grade school distict as a teachers aid in the same SPED classroom, she got a raise and now is at $10.50 but she's unemployed each summer so she works summers at a daycare for minimum wage. She won't leave the school because it's the highest paying way to use her degree.)

I'd suggest she think long and hard about this career path, especially at age 38. AND, don't take my word for it. Visit the Department of Labor Occupational Handbook to do your own research, then ask 5 locals who have this degree. Just my two cents.

[Lindagerr]

It depends where you teach Pre-K If you can get a job in a public school district it pays a little better. In NJ a Pre-K teacher with a BA can make from about $23K for half day to about $55K with about 10 years of experience. On the other hand if she goes up to K-3 the starting salary for fresh out of school teachers is about $50K.

Have her check the requirements in your state. If I had it to do over again I would check out the requirements for the BA in teaching from Western Governors University. It is all online and they set you up with student teaching and you come out with a teaching license. If you do all of the CLEP/DSST/ECE exams you can before enrolling they will take those (at least they took mine toward the MAT) If she has experience she could probably go through the requirements there quickly.

If she is going to go Alternate Route tell her to be sure to RESEARCH it very well. I did not do enough homework for NJ and even though I have a BA and have passed the exams I am only allowed to teach with a mentor teacher and before I can be fully certified I need to take 290 hours of in seat additional classes which I have to pay for and get no credits for.banghead