Question concerning DETC degrees and teaching at a middle school or high school

Say for example an individual was credentialed from a RA college or university to teach at the middle or high school level and they wanted to acquire an additional academic background at a DETC school besides the degree they earned at a RA.

Would school districts accept courses to be certified in another subject area from a DETC accredited school? I would appreciate all of your help in this area. Sorry, if I sound so dumb when I ask this question.

 

Hi - It depends on the school district if you are looking to simply add a subject area. We [Aspen, a DETC accredited school] have had school districts accept courses in our M. Ed. but we are careful to explain to our students that the courses are not yet approved for promotion in Colorado - meaning if they are looking for step increases or to move into adminstration they need to wait or go elsewhere. Many states have reciprocal agreements with Colorado so approval here can be good for other states.

Your best bet is to check with the school district and see what they say.

Best,
Mary

 

A general rule would be that they would not. In California (and many other places) you would need to check with the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Conversely, in many states, those determinations are made by the county office of education (because that is where initial application is made for the credential). The reasoning is that they can't have different requirements when you are asking to be certified in a different area. Certification is certification is certification. True whether it is the initial application or some sort of supplementary authorization.

Having said that, there can be rare exceptions. Mary Adams notes that this can be possible with Aspen University. Your best bet might be if the DETC school you're hoping to use resides in the same state as you live (as in the Aspen example).

An interesting sidenote is that California approves non-RA schools to operate within the state, but degrees from those schools are not acceptable to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.


Tom Nixon

 

Thanks so much!

Thank you Ms. Adams and Mr. Nixon for taking the time out to answer my question about DETC degrees and teaching. I truly appreciate your helpful responses.

 

In Florida, degrees from accrediting agencies approved by the United States Dept. of Education are acceptable for teaching certification. I used my MBA from Aspen University (DETC accredited), to receive a K12, Business Education teaching certificate. I can use this certification to teach in any school dstrict in Florida. I decided against teaching full time because I couldn't take the pay-cut.
My DETC degree has worked very well for me. I have used it also to teach at a regionally accredited university and I was told that it would be accepted to teach at 2 local community colleges that are also regionally accredited. I was also accepted at Nova University but decided to attend Capella instead because Nova offered only the DBA while my interest was in the Ph.D. that Capella offered. I contacted other schools regarding their Ph.D. programs and was encouraged to apply.
The point I am trying to make is that it is always good to check the institution personally. Not all rules are set in stone.
Mike.
MBA - Aspen University
Ph.D. - (beginning dissertation in May). Capella University.

 

A degree from Aspen (fka ISIM) has worked well for many of us.

 

It's good to hear that your Aspen MBA has been so helpful.

Just to clarify for others, Florida has a couple of ways that you can be certified. It appears that Mike received his certification for "degreed vocational" teaching. This allows you to teach business education and other areas such as Marketing, Industrial Arts-Technology Education, Home Economics, and Agriculture. This form of certification is not based on the completion of a teacher education program, but rather on the type of coursework and experience of the applicant.

An interesting piece of knowledge, to be sure.



Tom Nixon