What is the best accredited online school to go for elementary special education?
I was supposed to move to Chicago in September and start school but there have been some family issues that are now keeping me from going. I am not sure where I will be in the next few months, however I still really want to be in school.
I would like to know of some accredited online colleges that I can get a Bachelors Degree of the Arts in Early Education or special education that except FAFSA?
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Employers want hands on work. They don’t want to hire someone who went to school in their pajamas for 2 years. Plus, these online schools will cost you 25,000+. Anyone who spends 25,000 on an associates degree is a total idiot. Don’t do it.
If you must take online classes, take them through your local community college. At least your credits will transfer. It will only cost you maybe 2k (at the most) a year.
Socially Awkward (and many others) is very wrong on this one – we’re talking public school employers here and they could care less where you went to college as long as you have a teaching certificate from your state. That’s all that most care about at all when hiring new teachers. If you have a clear and full teaching certificate to be considered “highly qualified teacher” then you’ll be treated as is everyone else with the same certificate.
Your state will be particular about where you go to college though. Make sure it’s properly accredited and approved by your state for teacher certification.
Western Governors is pretty well respected and regionally accredited. They are also NCATE accredited and used to working with many states. They offer a BA in Early Education and a BA in K-12 Special Ed. (and many other areas for teacher certification). You’ll be expected to do student teaching wherever it is you live. Be sure you really mean “Early Education” (preK-3) and not “Elementary Education” (K-8)
http://www.wgu.edu/degrees_and_programs
Western Governor’s is the only NCATE teacher certification wholly online in the US. Don’t expect it to be easy – they’re pretty serious about what they do there.
Understand, Chicago presently has an overage of teaching candidates – if you plan to stay there then you might want to consider other possible careers.
Add: PE2008 apparently doesn’t hire teachers. Call your local school district and see what they tell you. That’s what matters, not whether I or anyone else thinks they’re any good. Western Governors is placing teachers in some of the best schools in the country and in some DoD schools – not easy jobs to get.
Present academic research from USDoE doesn’t support the presumption that “You will also probably not be as well-educated in general.” The research says you’ll be better educated – people that spent too much time in a classroom aren’t liking hearing that. Wonder why? Read this one: http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf and leave what those of us on YA! have to say as “opinion” – USDoE is a pretty serious organization to disagree with.
It’s not CoachT’s ‘opinion’ here. The United States Department of Education concluded that “Students who took all or part of their class online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction.”
Those people that disagree may want to reconsider their opinion of online education – it would appear that it is the “way of the future”. Traditionalists can fight it all they want to but the reality is that online learners are outperforming the classroom and HR people have started noticing that. “Old School” is “old hat”.
It’s ok if some people want to stay in 1981, the rest of us don’t have to. ☺
Add again: PE, that study is citing research from 2002,2003,2005 – in the world of technology (and DL), that’s “forever”. Look at some new studies and see what you find. Yes, there is still some negative impression. It has gone down a lot in recent years. But this question is about one particular industry (public schools) that doesn’t operate as does corporate America. The OP didn’t ask about entry level positions in the areas you’re citing. Show us something about public school teachers.
We can quote from that study though “they did not view the online degree as a hindrance to a recipient’s chances for employment.” and “most of the respondents made no distinction between an online degree and a traditional degree when considering applicants in the hiring process.” Those are significant findings too. And those are from your citation.
I can show you some research that tells us people will never want a computer in their home too – it’s not valid anymore. ☺
Try searching on this website http://homegear.com/r/?q=23133149&r=2116 to find a list of schools that match the criteria you are looking for. Also, a lot of regular schools offer online classes or weekend/evening programs, so you should look in to something like that locally as well. Maybe you can talk to someone from the school you were planning to attend to see if they have any suggestions or any online classes that you could take for this upcoming semester. Good luck!
CoachT is wrong on this again.
While it is true you can get a teaching certificate with a high quality on-line school, there is still significant bias against on-line schooling, which would follow you your entire career, from the hiring decision to promotion in future years You will simply not be competitive all along the line (“all else being equal”) with someone who has a campus-based degree from a highly ranked school. You will also probably not be as well-educated in general.
The truth of this is most evident by the anxiety on-line school graduates exhibit to hide the fact that their degree is online. A typical question is “Will anyone know my degree is on-line”? That worry speaks volumes about the (lack of) respect shown to online degrees.
ADDED
Some quotes from the paper below:
‘Findings suggest that when companies attempted to fill management or entry-level positions in accounting, business, engineering, and information technology, 96 percent indicated that they would choose the candidate with a traditional degree. When comparing traditional degree to hybrid delivery, 75 percent would still prefer traditional over the hybrid. In addition, 72 percent answered “yes” to the question of whether the type of degree makes a difference in the decision to select a candidate.”
“This literature review spanning nearly seven years largely suggests that there still may be a marked stigma attached to online degrees throughout the hiring process within those industries studied. In summary, all scholarly research to date has concluded that the “gatekeepers” have an overall negative perception about online degrees. This was particularly evident at the level of a bachelor’s degree for those seeking an entry-level position”