Hi all 
I was wondering if there is a way to get the teaching credential for California without going to a graduate school. I’m not looking to get a Master’s degree, I just want the credential. I took the CSET (California Subject Examinations for Teachers) for World Languages in Japanese. I passed two and trying to pass the last one, but what do I do after I pass all three exams? Do I need to do more in order to be qualified to get a teaching credential here in California? Help is much appreciated. Thanks!
Have you had a student teacher teaching experience?
Read up on the state requirements:
http://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/leaflets/cl560c.pdf
Do you have a bachelor’s degree already?
In CA - as in most states - you have to complete an approved teacher preparation program in order to get certified to teach. (The link aunt bea provides says that.) It doesn’t have to be a master’s degree; however, in your case, it may make more sense to get a master’s.
I checked out a couple CSUs and it appears that you can compete the single-subject teaching credential as a post-baccalaureate student. CSU-Long Beach has one in Japanese. It appears that this program is 30 semester credits plus student teaching, which should probably take you 1.5-2 years full time. A couple of CSUs seem to have this option - Fullerton and CSULA seem to have it.
However, if you’re going to spend 2 years earning the credential, you might as well get a master’s rather than taking postbacc classes.
Some schools (Sonoma and Sac for example) offer accelerated programs that you enter as a college freshman. Four years later you are placed in a k-8 classroom as a teacher at a local public school.
Worth a look.
Is it because the masters can reduce employability? Is there any credence to the claim (maybe not overly common but it definitely does exist) that people with masters can be disadvantaged for a K-12 teaching job?
For some employers in K-12 teaching, I could see job applicants with masters being at a disadvantage because they cost more than people with some postbacc courses but w/o a masters.
But, if the masters has a non-negative (or positive even) bearing on employability for the targeted employers, then a masters may make more sense than mere postbacc courses.
I greatly appreciate your response. juillet, that is very nice of you! Is is not worth studying in a post-baccalaureate program for 2 years? My plan is to get the credential for now, but later pursue in further studying in MA. Thank you so much for looking up though. I will definitely look into the schools you mentioned.
I think this is a good question and worth investigating. I always had the impression that a master’s was a huge plus in education; a lot of districts are either requiring or strongly preferring new teachers with advanced degrees. Because it’s a state job with a salary schedule, MA-level teachers don’t get paid a whole lot more than BA-level teachers. For example, in New York City, a brand-new BA-level teacher with no experience gets paid $45,530; a brand new MA-level teacher with no experience gets $51,425. The difference stays the same even when you get 22 years into a career, with MA-educated teachers making only about $6,000 more than BA-level teachers. In my old school district in metropolitan Atlanta (DeKalb County), the difference is even smaller - $41,262 for brand new BA-level teachers vs. $43,795 for brand-new MA-level teachers.
Asking some teachers already in the system for their ideas on this question might be a good idea, but my thoughts are that an MA is probably more of a plus - particularly in more glutted areas of the profession like English or social studies.
Well, my question is - why would that make sense for you?
If the credential is going to take 2 years anyway - and an MA would take the same amount of time - why would you want to do a post-bacc credential rather than an MA, which will net you more money and may make you more eligible for special positions (like teaching honors or AP classes)? I think this is particularly the case if you are teaching a lower-demand but oversupplied area - you might check and see if Japanese is one, but I suspect that it could fall into that arena particularly in California. Although the difference might be smaller/a drop in the bucket to the school district based upon the value that you bring, that salary difference might be more meaningful for you. Even if you delay your MA by just 5 years - a $6,000 difference over 5 years is $30,000, which could be the downpayment for a house, a year’s worth of tuition for hypothetical future children, or a good rainy day fund. Even just a $2,000 difference over 5 years is $10,000, which is a sizable amount of money.
If you are considering private schools, teaching credentials are usually not required and having a Master’s is a plus.