Test out?

[sweetcrabhoney]

Hi there!

Can I test out of an education degree? Any examples that are recent you guys can point to? It seems the Wiki has older plans... Unless I'm missing one.

Husband says I should go back to my childhood goal/dream of being a preschool teacher / day care provider.... Now I'm wondering if it's cheaper/ faster.

Thanks in advance!

[clep3705]

It depends. If you want to teach at a private school, it is at least theoretically possible. If you want to teach in a public school, possibly not. Generally speaking, public schools only hire certified teachers, which means that the degree holder did supervised teaching as part of the degree. Think of it as an apprenticeship. There are exceptions when there are teacher shortages. Teacher shortages can be general and throughout an entire region, or they can be subject specific. STEM teachers are often in short supply even when there is a surplus of, for example, history teachers. When a new teacher is hired without certification, there may be additional supervision and on the job (including after school) training to earn a teacher certification.

[sweetcrabhoney]

It depends. If you want to teach at a private school, it is at least theoretically possible. If you want to teach in a public school, possibly not. Generally speaking, public schools only hire certified teachers, which means that the degree holder did supervised teaching as part of the degree. Think of it as an apprenticeship. There are exceptions when there are teacher shortages. Teacher shortages can be general and throughout an entire region, or they can be subject specific. STEM teachers are often in short supply even when there is a surplus of, for example, history teachers. When a new teacher is hired without being a certified teacher, there may be additional supervision and on the job (including after school)) training to earn a teacher certification.

I'm thinking about a preschool teacher ... so I'm unsure if that would need to be certified or not. I'll look it up and see. Thank you for this information -- it's most helpful.

[sanantone]

If you want to teach pre-K in a public school, then you're going to need a degree. If you want to teach preschool, then you probably won't need a degree at all depending on your state's laws. Where I'm from, I see so many day cares posting ads for $9 an hour teacher jobs. All they want is a high school diploma or associate's degree and a CDA certification.

COSC is the only one of the Big 3 that offers degrees related to education. They aren't fully test-friendly, but they will give credit for the CDA certification. Outside of Connecticut, none of these programs lead to a teacher credential.

If you are interested in becoming a licensed teacher and your state has an alternative teacher certification route, then it might be possible for you to completely or almost completely test out of a degree and earn a teaching license. Teachers in an alternative teaching certification program are granted a temporary license for one year after completing a few courses and doing a few days of observation. While teaching under the temporary license, you are a paid teacher in control of your own class, but you will also have a mentor. After the one year is up, you will be granted a full license if your evaluations are good. This is a good option for those who can't afford to do a traditional semester of student teaching without pay on top of having to pay a fee to the school.

[sweetcrabhoney]

So I did some search based on the CDA you mentioned...

I found this:

CDA Training Family Child Development Associates

And saw it's pretty affordable.. Can be done online as well.

Then I went local and tried to find some details about CA

It says for home day care I'd need an orientation

Family Child Care Home Licensing

And the same for one outside of my home ( which I think might be better)

Child Care Center Licensing Information

So it looks to me like a degree is optional... am I reading into this correctly? Or am I missing something?

It seems like a degree would be a good choice because education is power... and it'd give me more options for my future without having to spend a ton of money. No matter what I choice I'd need some general classes still. Which I think means I can still take some CLEPs right?

Education is required for adult day care... I know that; because of the meds mostly.

Thanks for all your help!

[dfrecore]

I know several people here in CA with licensed home daycares/preschools, they do not have degrees. The state has some pretty strict licensing requirements that you have to go through (it takes several months to go through the process), but a degree is definitely not required.

To get a job at a private preschool (non-public-school pre-k program), you have to have 6 ECE units (Early Childhood Education) that you can take at a local community college or university OR go through a local Adult Education program with Home Economics and Related Occupations (HERO) or Regional Occupation Program (ROP) in Child Development Related Occupations . I personally can't imagine paying the cost of a university or for-profit college to get this (yes, you could pay Brandman Univ $500/credit!!!), when community colleges charge $46/unit (about $155 per class), and Adult schools charge even less. Please don't pay thousands of dollars to get this certification!!! It will only take a little time and research to find a school near you to take the courses you need. Almost all community colleges have these classes, plus a daycare/preschool onsite if you want to get a degree/certificate.

[sweetcrabhoney]

I've discovered the same things you have. But I wonder if a degree would make me a better provider... I'm going to look up those facts you pointed out. I promise... I ain't gonna spend $600/credit on something like this.

Thank you so much for your advice and help. It means a ton to me.

[cookderosa]

I have a long time friend who works as a daycare worker for a private company in the summers and during the school year she is a teacher's aid in a special ed 3-4th grade class. Her degree is in Childhood Development- she has an AAS from our community college. You probably don't want to know how hard it is to earn a living in that field, but my suggestion is that you find the most affordable path possible since education dollars spent to work in this field will take a loooonnnnggggg time to recover.

[dfrecore]

I would think that a degree would definitely NOT make you a better childcare provider, as how would most of the 60 units you need to get a degree help with that? College Algebra will not make you a better childcare provider. BUT, I do think that some of the actual courses you would take in the child development field might make you better. And, we all know people who have degrees in something and no common sense, and common sense is one of the most important aspects of childcare that I can think of. And being able to think fast on your feet!

If I were you, I would take the first 2 courses that are easiest to get in your area (ones you can finish most quickly and cheaply) and then get started in your career. THEN, if you like it, take some more classes in the field. THEN, if you are still interested, go finish up that degree. But there is absolutely NO reason to think that you need these classes to get started (other than the state requires 2 of them). Also, even in CA, with our cheap community colleges, it will cost you thousands of dollars to get a degree, and the jobs don't pay very well. There is very little return on investment, and without it being a requirement, there's not a big enough reason to do it.

I would look at the job postings in your area, and then go talk to some preschools, and see what they say as well. I would be willing to bet that most of the people do NOT have degrees (maybe someone running a larger preschool, but not a home daycare/preschool provider or anyone that just works at one of those places). See what the requirements are. Make sure you have the bare minimum required at most of the places around to be able to get a job easily.

Good luck!

[socsci]

I started at Patten University this month working on a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a concentration in Early Childhood Education. It is not testing out but it's completely online and self paced. Each course requires a proctored final exam and a project. The price is very reasonable considering access to all materials is included.

I used Aleks, Straighterline and Sophia to complete a lot of the general education needed then applied to Patten. I was left with 24 courses to complete and started at upper level Child Growth and Development after taking the academic strategies course that all new students must take.

Although there is more work involved compared to testing out i'm very happy with my decision to go with Patten. I feel the project work will push me to study more and gain more understanding about the topics. It will definitely take longer to complete the degree compared to testing out, but I set a target to try and complete a course every two to three weeks.