Assistance with Education degree options (kinda long, sorry)

I would like some assistance with the two degree options I am looking at for a Master’s in Education/Teaching.

I am a semester away from completing my B.A. in English and I am looking to get certification to teach High School English and Earth Science in either Michigan or Florida.
My major is English so I have completed the required amount of major credits for teaching that subject according to the MI DOE. I still am finishing up the additional credits I need for Earth Science. I would like to start the program in Summer 2009.

I have located two programs that would provide me with certification to teach Secondary Ed as well as a Master’s degree.
One: U. of Michigan Dearborn- local school, nights and weekends, leads to an M.A. in Teaching degree and includes a semester of student teaching. It’s endorsed by the MDOE as one of the best teaching schools in the state and has a good reputation here for academic rigor (although the Engineering programs are what it’s primarily known for). Down side is cost- best I can figure (because UMD has a complicated way of doing tuition and their website is no help) it’s about $16,000 + books for me to finish the MAT/cert. Time to complete: about 18 months or so, puts me past hiring cycle for 2010 school year so would be looking at 2011 school year.

Two: U of West Florida- completely online, offers a TeacherReady cert program first, you can use some of those credits toward their M.Ed. programs. Would provide certification and instruction, as well as has a student teaching component. Cost (since I would be eligible for the online only out of state tuition waiver) would roughly be $10,600 + books, plus driving to Florida 2x to take their cert. tests. Plus side: Can finish the UWF cert program (9 mos. Program) in time for hiring cycle for 2010 school year, then work on Master’s while making money.

I have been toying around with everything in my head and what it basically boils down to is a couple of different factors- 1) Would I prefer online or traditional classes? 2) Is $5,000 more in tuition worth more of a “name”? 3) Does the name recognition mean anything when you’re going into education (i.e. an RA degree is an RA degree and it depends on experience for pay)? 3) Is it better to finish an MAT, then work, or get into the field and work on the M.Ed.?

My answers so far- I like online classes much more than physical classes. However, I may need networking to secure a job in MI as it’s hard to do right now. $5,000 is not that much in the scheme of things, but as I will mostly be a self-pay student, then it does matter.
Oh and I checked Ted's thread on the M.Ed. degrees (thx for all the information!) so I did find U of Wyoming's Education degrees as well (for a good price).
Does UWF have a decent reputation in Florida? What would you do in my situation? Can anyone input their $0.02? I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,
Heather

 

Another option is the University of West Alabama which offers a M.Ed. in Secondary Education designed for certification, in conjunction with Columbia Southern University;

http://www.columbiasouthern.edu/uwa/index.html

Cost is about $11K for the 34-credit program.

 

Let me address the Florida aspect of your question.

The name of the school doesn't matter. What matters is the name you make for yourself and your references.

When I started teaching here in Florida, I had a BA and a BS. The first from the University of the State of New York (now Regents College) and Columbia College from Columbia Missouri. I got the 2nd one because I wasn't sure how the first one would be percervied. The first one would have been sufficient. Florida now allows Nationally Accredited degrees for teacher certification.

Having a Master's degree will not increase your chances. I actually think they would prefer to hire someone with only a BA in order to save money. If your looking at Florida, it would probably be best to wait until you get hired in order to work toward the master's. Also, you would have the advantage of knowing whether or not you enjoy teaching or are successful at it.

You can get hired without an internship in Florida. The state of Florida will count two years of successful teaching experience as an internship.

If I was to start over again I would...

a. find out what the exact requirements are for the area of certification I wanted to teach

b. align my BA degree as closely as possible to those requirements

c. find a flexable master's program to take the eduction courses that may be necessary for certification and concentrate on the minimum courses needed for certification. I would delay the others until I got my career going.

Again, this is all predicated on teaching in Florida and based only on my experience and observation. I have no knowledge about Michigan.

Ted N.

B.A. University of the State of New York
B.S. Columbia College (Colunmbia, Mo.)
M.S. Troy State University (Florida Region)
Ed.S. Nova Southeastern University
Ph.D. Drop-Out (ran out of energy)
MCPO-USN Ret.

 

I think that you've gotten some good suggestions. I'd like to make another. We here at degreeinfo can think whatever we think but the real test is what your future employers think. You would do well to contact a couple of the local school superintendants and ask for an informational interview. Ask THEM. They'll give it to you straight.

I suspect that theyd prefer a Bachelors level entry level teacher although in my neighborhood teachers are expected to eventually earn a Masters degree. My overall impression is that local school systems care less about degree origins than they do about passion and committment to the field.

Beyond that I can only say that you won't ever get rich as a local school teacher so if you can save 5K then it's probably a good idea.

 

It's Excelsior College now; read that alumni magazine before tossing it in the recycle bin!

 

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!
I checked with some FL schools and they actually are not as strict to get a license (I qualify for a Temporary license now, actually), but basically I need a Bachelor's in my subject field and to pass the Professional Knowledge, Subject Area test, and the other test (the exact name of which escapes me at the moment).

I think I may actually go through the NBCTE cert program (which is about $750, so saves me quite a bit of money), get certified, then secure a job. I'll work on my Master's once I get it (which I planned on anyway).

Kizmet, trust me, I know I won't make a ton of money (I actually just left a field making about 175% of what I'll probably get as a first year teacher, so it's a large pay cut I'll take)- I just want to teach. I should have done it sooner but went into IT for the money and I HATE IT. I want to make a difference in someone's life, even if it's small, and I just don't feel like I do it answering website questions and using HTML.
I thought about corporate training (since I do some of that now in my current capacity and the money is much better), but I feel called to get out of the corporate world and into something where I can put my skills to work.

 

Best of luck honey. The world needs more people like you.