my daughter will be graduating in May '16 with her undergrad degree. She’s looking at going to grad school to get her elementary education credential. Any suggestions on schools would be appreciated.
Are you from California? There is no funding or financial aid for OOS students and our Southern California schools are very expensive.
Presumably your daughter wants to be an elementary school teacher; I’m not sure she needs to go to a “best” program for that. She just needs to go to a good one.
UCLA, UC-Irvine, UC-Riverside, and UCSD all offer master’s degrees that allow students to earn the elementary multiple-subject credential.
UCSB offers a one-year, post-baccalaureate program that leads to a teaching credential; students have the option to earn an M.Ed if they want.
Cal Poly SLO, Cal State Northridge, CSULA, CSU Long Beach, and CSU Fullerton offer programs that lead to a clear credential to teach elementary school. The programs are similar but set up slightly different - some of them offer one-year accelerated programs designed for post baccalaureate students, while some are essentially the same course completed by undergrad student getting a BA in elementary education but can be completed within 3-4 quarters for most postbacs. I’m sure other CSUs offer this too; these are just the ones I checked.
As for privates, USC, Biola, Claremont Graduate University, Chapman University, and Mills College, all offer a master’s in education with an elementary credentialing program. Asuza Pacific has the credentialing program without a master’s.
Pretty much any CSU (not Cal-Maritime) will do the trick. Since student teaching assignment often leads to a job-offer, it is probably best to attend a school near where she’d like to live long term.
second the recommendation for any cal state if a credential is the only goal. That being said, don’t forget that teachers with a Master’s get an automatic pay boost – forever.
Uhh, no. Any school will do for elem educ. Even National University.
Are you in education @bluebayou? Because I don’t know any elementary school teachers with degrees from online universities, and I’d think one would be making it more difficult on themselves if they went to an online school and/or didn’t attend at least a respectable university. By “good” I don’t mean it needs to be top 100 or something - just a decent regionally-accredited university. But it’d be interesting to know if that’s not the case!
sorry, I must have mis-interpreted your post, since you used the adjective, “good,” and then immediately referenced the UC’s. While great academics, they can be overkill for most elem teachers. (And, not to mention, difficult to get into.)
The Cal States produce the vast majority of teachers in Calif, but they tend to be full and inflexible with schedules.
Thus, programs like National continue to be attractive. (Personally, I’ve never understood why the Cal States don’t offer an evening/weekend program at top dollar – for those willing to pay – and just put National out of business.)
But to answer your question, yes, I know a LOT of teachers with a credential/MA from National University which, btw, started as a bricks and mortal nonprofit schools. It is “regionally accredited” has more respect than say, Phoenix. National has only recently added online courses.
Ah! Makes sense. I referenced the UCs because they are public universities and probably cheaper than most of the privates that OP could go to, but I agree - totally overkill for most elementary school teachers.
And that’s good to know for future reference, re: online schools and teachers! (And yeah, you’re right about the Cal States needing to offer more flexible programs for working adults. For some reason, it seems like the private universities have a monopoly on flexible programs.)