Second Masters vs. Ed.S.

My wife is looking at programs in educational administration. She earned her BA from the University of Delaware and her MAEd from the College of William and Mary. She has been teaching students with special needs for five years and is looking at moving into administration, and of course needs the coursework to do so. Because we live in the middle of nowhere, we're looking at distance learning options for her. We've found quite a few, but I have a question. Since she already has a masters, is there any difference to obtaining a second masters versus an Ed.S.? I'm talking about marketability and such. does an Ed.S. look better, because technically it's basically the same amount of coursework from what we see.

And also, on a similar note, anyone know when APU will launch their M.Ed. in Educational Leadership?

Thanks,
Matt Brent

 

From the APUS website www.apus.edu , it looks like their M.Ed. has already been launched.

 

Hi Matt - I don't know too much about this stuff but I have two suggestions. Your wife ought to do some reseach to discover the credentials of the people in your neighboring communities who hold the positions that she would like to obtain. In my community the EdD is the standard for school administrators. She might want to seriously consider enrolling in a doctoral program and leaving those other degrees in the dust.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Surprisingly, we've already done that. There's no consistency. The principals in our division only have a masters. Our superintendant and assistant superintendant only have a masters. Technically, having a masters in administration is all someone needs to become an administrator at the school level. However, there are no set requirements to become administrators of programs (Director of Special Ed, Reading, etc.). People don't need any special certification for these central office type administrative positions.

To get an administrative license, she doesn't even need another degree. With her current masters, she could just take about 3 courses and do an internship to get her admin license. We were just wondering about the status of a 2nd masters versus an Ed.S. Obviously the Ed.D. or Ph.D. would be best, but I don't think she wants to go through all that.

But thanks for the comments. Keep them coming!

-Matt Brent

 

Their M.Ed. in Instructional Leadership is available. This, however, doesn't offer the courses necessary to become a licensed administrator. The catalog lists the Education Leadership concentration as becoming available in Spring 2008 (which I'm assuming is now, since this is referred to as the spring semester) and the School Counseling concentration as becoming available in Summer of Fall 2008.

I've read in other posts that some folks seem to be "in the know" with APUS, and was wondering if they knew when the courses would start being offered for the Educational Leadership concentration.

Thanks,
-Matt Brent

 

The school system may grant your wife a salary increase if she earns an Ed.S ( I'm sure she knows this ). A doctoral degree will cost more in terms of money and time. If there is a significant difference in salary increase, your wife may transfer the Ed.S credits and pursue a doctoral degree. She could take extra courses for state certification in educational administration. I believe that a doctoral degree is overkill if employment in higher education is not her ambition.

 

For teachers, our current division pays $2,000 more if you have a masters, and $2,700 if you have a doctorate. Administrators are on a totally different salary scale that is different than teachers. Teachers are placed on one of the steps on the scale and then given the additional income for a masters. Administrators are just placed on the scale based on their experience and education, so it's not so clear cut for them. Either way, administrators still make about twice as much as teachers.

 

Interesting, what is the average pay for administrators relative to teachers in your area?

 

Your wife could earn a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study (C.A.G.S.) which is similar to an Ed.S., at Northcentral University then transfer all the credit to the Ed.D. program if she decides to move on later;

http://ncu.edu/academics/cags/cags.aspx

 

Thanks. The difficulty with distance learning in regards to this specialization is that the commonwealth of Virginia requires certain coursework that not all programs have. For example, the program has to include courses on supervision of instruction, educational law, educational finance, human resource management, curriculum and instruction, the principalship, etc.

It stinks because the administration endorsement is different than teaching endorsements. For teaching, a person just need X amount of credits in whatever subject. You could take credits at 10 different schools and still be okay. With administration though, you have to go through an actual recognized program. That's where the issue lies.

We have a regional center for the George Washington University about an hour or so away from us. They have an Ed.S. program in administration that one of her friends went through. The program there is about $10,000. That's not too bad. The sad thing is that GWU has the exact same program available online, but it's about $30,000. We're already in a super amount of debt from my student loans, so we're cautious about getting into a great deal more.

 

No, we actually live in Gloucester, so the closest GW center to us is in Newport News. UVA actually has a center in Richmond with the exact same program. UVA is also a lot cheaper. However, GW does have the online program, it's just a great deal more.

By the way Steve, how are you liking the Instructional Technology program? A friend of ours who works for Loudoun county went through that program and really liked it. When I was trying to do Virginia Tech's program, we were discussing the differences, and what she described seemed much more suitable.

-Matt

 

Matt

I have always heard and read a lot of information pertaining the diffierence in recognition between the Ed.S. and the Ed.D.
I am sure you understand that the Ed.S. is a "specialists" degree and is considered (too many) a mid-point towards the doctorate.
Many degree programs offer the Ed.S. to those in administrative or guidance positions...who are not sure about the doctorate work...which I think many are afraid of the writing of dissertations (IMO).

Many of my HS administrators have Ed.S.'s, and feel confident about their acheivments, however, they are a little worried about the work in the actual doctorate programs.
Even though, and many districts in public secondary education grant salary increases for this level and then their are some that do not. For example, my school district offers salary increases for advanced education in the following manner:
Master's Degree.... + $3550.00 Specialist's Degree.....+ $5500.00 Doctorate's Degree......+ $7450.00

In many cases, school districts will NOT offer salary increases for a 2nd Master's.....in fact of all the people who I have worked with and took classes with in the public education realm, not one person has mentioned that their school district recognizes a 2nd Masters for salary increases.
Now if your wife wants to pursue a 2nd masters for enrichment purposes and/or the possibilty of moving into teaching post-secondary education at the cc level..by all means, go for it. There is nothing wrong with that!

I wanted to do a 2nd Master's specifically in Environmental Science & Education from NOVA, but my school district indicated that is a nice complimentary degree for your resume' and cv, but we will not recognize it and pay you more - you are better off getting a Ed.S. or Ed.D.

So that is what I am doing.....going for the doctorate and having the oppertunity to incorporate the Environmental Science aspect into my program!

Hope that provides some insight.
GOOD LUCK!

 

Thanks Nobycane,

Many of the districts near us in Virginia draw do not offer payment for a second masters or Ed.S. However, some offer payment for Masters + 30, which pretty much means they'll pay you for dual masters, an Ed.S. or graduate work towards a doctorate. However, this additional payment applies to teachers, not administrators. If my wife were to complete an administration program, she wouldn't stay teaching if she had the credentials to become an administrator. This is why I was asking if there was really a distinction. If she were to apply for a job, would the human resources people see the second masters as equal to the Ed.S.? The University of Virginia's program in administration is the same regardless of whether you go for an M.A. or an Ed.S. The only difference is that to obtain the Ed.S. you already have to have a Masters in something, which she does.

I've tried to talk her into going for an Ed.D. The College of William and Mary has 48 credit Ed.D. programs which are very affordable. The problem is they are offered in the afternoon, so there would be no way for her to get to the campus in time. That's why we were looking at online options.

Thank you for your insight though!

 

By the way, my Ed.S. was shorter than my master's degree by six semester hours. If it's cheaper and easier, why not go for the higher degree?