Becoming a teacher in California

Parents Forum
1

My daughter is considering a career in teaching, either as an elementary teacher or an art teacher. My dh and I have degrees in other fields and from another state. I’ve been doing some preliminary research into colleges that would be a good fit for her (a 3.2-ish student), but I am confused about the path she needs to take. Bachelor’s is given. Is a Master’s necessary? Also, how does a Teaching Credential fit into the picture? That’s where I’m getting confused. Is it on top of a Master’s degree or in place of one?

Thank you in advance for any guidance you can give us.

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I’m not a teacher, but my kids went to school here in California. In addition to the bachelors, you need to go through a teaching credential program and pass a test to become certified. There are exceptions to the certification process, but they tend to be reserved for teachers in subjects that are hard to fill, like math. A masters is nice, but that in itself doesn’t substitute for the teaching credential.

https://teach.com/states/become-a-teacher-in-california/

In the school district where I live, which is in the San Francisco Bay Area, the cost of living is so high that a lot of the teachers can’t afford to live here. So they end up leaving after three or four years and head to cheaper areas of California, or out of the state altogether. I believe you’ll find the same thing in other big, California cities.

3

Typically teachers in California get their Bachelor’s degree, then complete either a one year credential program or a two year Masters. There are actually some Master’s that do not include all the steps required for credentialing, as they are primarily intended for credentialed teachers, so that’s one pitfall to avoid. Most secondary teachers major in the content area they plan to teach in. I’m actually not sure what future elementary teachers generally major in. You DO NOT need a Master’s to teach in CA, but teachers do need a 5th year of post-baccalaureate study. Most teachers start out with just the credential program and some go back for their Master’s later in their career.

I think there are a few 4 year programs, credential plus Bachelor’s, but that is not the usual path. The CSUs are probably where the majority of California teachers get their credential, but there are a lot of options, at a variety of price-points. Most programs require passing scores on the CBEST plus any other exams, before admitting someone into the program, so staying on top of those requirements is important if someone wants to enter a credential program straight after undergrad.

4

https://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/teach may be what you are looking for.

5

I’m a high school math teacher from NY, so I’ll leave the CA info to those from CA.

I would caution her against any program that means she’ll graduate with a Master’s before getting teaching experience.
Teachers are typically paid on a scale, where experience and grad credit each move you along to a higher rate of pay. LOTS of districts are hesitant to pay extra money for an unknown quantity-- a teacher with lots of graduate credits who simply can’t cut it in a classroom. What most of us do is go back to grad school part time once we have a job.

As far as her concentrations: know that most schools have one, maybe 2 art teachers, so it’s pretty competitive. Elementary ed is also a really tough job market in most areas of the country.

So have her consider minoring is something else… literacy or math or ESL or something that will help make her degree a bit more marketable. And have her use every single possible observation opportunity as a chance to network. Make sure that she’s always dressed in her professional best, that she’s early and not chewing gum-- every single little detail that you can think of. Get her into the habit of writing thank you notes every time she observes-- both to the teacher and to the administration for letting her observe.

6

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/pol/tsa.pdf lists historical teacher shortages (by subject and geographic region). For California, it does not look like general elementary education or art are common shortage subjects, so it may be more difficult to get a teaching job in those areas than in those areas where there are frequent shortages.

7

My daughter just completed the MA Art Education program at NYU. She rec’d her BFA in art first, graduating May 2016 with a concentration in sculpture. As a teacher myself, I encouraged her to first get a degree in the subject she wished to teach, rather than a dual art and education degree for undergrad. The BFA concentration requires many more art and art history classes and is a stronger art degree.

For graduate school, she looked into programs for initial certification in Art Education. These programs are for grad students who have not taken education courses as undergraduates and do not have student teaching experience.

NYU’s program allowed her to complete her degree in less than a year, graduating with a MA in Art Education. She started in the fall semester, took January classes, spring classes and finished the degree with summer courses that ended last week. She student taught in elementary and high school settings from December through May.

There are other programs than offer accelerated programs like this–but some programs would have made her attend classes over a 2 or even 2 and 1/2 year period of time. So it’s important to research this. What may seem like a more expensive program, in the end may save you money, if you hit the job market a year or so earlier with the same degree.

D was hired in February by a principal of a highly rated NYC public school while she was still attending classes and student teaching. She initially met the principal at a job fair sponsored by a Brooklyn School District. Over time D has been contacted for several other positions as well. Currently, there seems to be an abundance of art positions in the city, both through the Board of Ed, charter schools and private schools.

Not once did anyone seem to care that she was entering the job market with her Masters, although it does pay several thousands higher than someone without the degree. In NY public schools, all teachers need to get their masters within 5 years of teaching anyway.

While D was one of the first students in her program to land a position, all of her classmates (12 or so) have been offered art teacher positions.

The MA art ed degree and her visual art certification in NY State will only allow D to teach visual art positions. However, if she wanted to teach elementary or another subject area, she could get additional certifications now that she has her initial certification as a classroom teacher. She would need to take some more classes based on the certification area and pass a content area test.

Those classes could go towards her masters plus 30 salary step.

I know nothing of the requirements for CA, but it still may pay salary-wise to pursue a masters degree.

Good luck!

8

For Ca it is helpful to be bilingual.

9

I probably should have mentioned in my previous post that I am a credentialed and employed CA teacher.

Receiving a CA credential requires coursework that includes how to teach English Language Learners. I believe this is equivalent to an ESL add-on in other states, but here, everyone has it. Being bilingual can help, but without a BCLAD, meaning certification allowing you to teach in the second language, it doesn’t actually count for much, as it is understood that we all have learned how to teach EL students.

The CA budget has been strong for a couple of years, and the toll from the education budget cuts of the recession have led to an approximate drop by 50% in credential programs. This means we have teacher shortages in some areas. There are some regions that are still tough for hiring, but overall hiring prospects for new teachers, including at the elementary level are pretty positive. Art is a different story, and I am getting the feeling that the budget situation may be tightening up. I think an elementary teacher able to cast a broad geographic net would almost certainly be able to find something, but am a little less sure about art.

10

Sonoma has the Hutchins program for elementary teachers. Special Ed or ability to teach in another language is helpful.

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Elementary schools in our area of So. Calif. do not have art teachers. Unfortunately, it is a program that was cut quite a while ago due to budget constraints. Sometimes the PTA or some equivalent group will raise money to fund a part-time program, but there are few such programs. There are still art programs in most middle schools and (as far as I know) all high schools, but jobs in that area are extremely competitive. We have a friend who subbed as an art teacher for several years in hopes of landing a permanent position, but he finally gave up and moved on to a different career. She might have better luck with elementary education here in California.

12

Yes, teachers can increase their salaries by credits, in steps. Locally, from the bottom (BA and BA+15 w/o credential, but working towards it) to the top (credentialed BA+90). And a Special Ed credential, Masters and PhD degrees get extra $ per/yr. And they’re bonuses paid for “hard-to-recruit” positions too.

13

In our northern California school district, art was cut from the budget many years ago, but was being funded through grants for special art programs which did not have a dedicated art teacher. Art in middle school was cut 12 years ago. Art is available in the high schools, and will continue to be available, due to the CSU/UC’s art/visual arts requirement for admission.

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@ams220 wrote: “Receiving a CA credential requires coursework that includes how to teach English Language Learners. I believe this is equivalent to an ESL add-on in other states, but here, everyone has it.”

ESL requirements vary quite a bit from one state to another. In Maryland, an ESL add-on would qualify someone to teach the language in an intensive setting that could be run as a stand-alone course (pretty common in secondary schools here) or as a pull-out (pretty common in elementary schools here). They also might do push-in or co-teaching with subject area instructors. Most teachers who want to do ESL from the get-go get their first certificate in that, and pick up something else (reading and special ed are pretty common) along the way.