I have an adult student who dreams of becoming a teacher. She is in her early forties and currently works in a Virginia school system as a teacher’s aid. She has the summers off. She is a bright student who would be an ideal candidate for credit/ by/ exam. She does have a high school diploma and is a very focused, committed individual. I would like to help her find a respected institution, to which she could apply the GREATEST number of credit /by /exam courses. This would be for state licensure as an elementary education teacher. Any suggested institutions in Virginia (so she could take the remaining courses at in-state rates.) psd
I would suggest that your friend come online and read through the many threads that have been created expressly for that purpose.
Regent University The only school in Virginia that I'm familiar with in Virginia is Regent University (where I'm currently attending). The offer a degree in elementary education, and they accept 30 CLEP credits and a total of 90 transfer credits from other institutions. Also, a lot (but not all) of the program can be done online. They are accredited, and are well respected as far as I can tell. One of their graduates from their Masters in Education won the teacher of the year award for Virginia (or something like that), and I hear that all of their other graduates have been fairly successful. So, if she's interested in becoming an elementary school teacher, she might look into this. Even if she isn't, but might want to get a graduate degree in Education, she might keep Regent in mind. Hope this helps!
Hmm. I'm wondering what happened to my previous reply. But I'll try to replicate it. The three schools that are most generous with credit by examination are Excelsior College www.excelsior.edu, Charter Oak State College www.charteroak.edu, and Thomas Edison State College www.tesc.edu. Check them out and find out which, if any, of them offers an education degree. Come to think of it, Western Governors University www.wgu.edu offers bachelor's and master's degrees in education by competency assessments. You should also join Lawrie Miller's bain4weeks www.bain4weeks.com.
My thanks to Ted Heiks and Kelilea for your helpful information. I was surprised to hear about WGU. This is definitely something I will investigate.
Should your friend ever get to the point where she needs a master's in education, there are some 320 DL options on the MEd Sticky http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27725.
I just checked into WGU. We will talk with them tomorrow. I was very glad to be able to help her with this. The process can be overwhelming.
