CLEP exams

Discussion in 'CLEP, DANTES, and Other Exams for Credit' started by mattbrent, Mar 9, 2008.

Loading...
  1. mattbrent

    mattbrent Well-Known Member

    My wife is a special education teacher. She earned her MAEd from the College of William and Mary in 2003, which was before teachers were required to be considered "highly qualified" in their subject areas. For her, she had to have her coursework evaluated to determine what she is highly qualified in. The result was that she is highly qualified in everything at the elementary level, and reading at all levels. Her license, however, is K-12, and she is currently employed at the high school level. She needs to become highly qualified in the other subjects as well. I've suggested taking CLEP tests, based on what I've read here. But I really know nothing about them, so I have a few questions.

    Exactly how do they work? Obviously you take the test, but then what? Does the local community college just automatically give you credit? I wouldn't want her to take a bunch of these tests if she's not going to get credit for it, so I want to make sure.

    Any advice would be appreciated. THANKS!

    -Matt Brent
     
  2. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    CLEP and DANTES (DSST) exams measure knowledge that should generally be gained by taking a college course in the subject of the exam, with appropriate credit awarded by earning a passing grade. In other words, if you take & pass the CLEP exam US Government, then many schools will award 3 semester credits for the subject of US Government. You have to be enrolled in a degree program at a school which accepts the exams (or a credit bank) in order to gain credit, since the accepting school awards the credit, not the College Board or DANTES.

    These exams are generally used to satisfy general education requirements at the undergrad level, I'm not sure how they could benefit your wife.

    CLEP - http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/exams.html

    DSST - http://www.getcollegecredit.com/
     
  3. mattbrent

    mattbrent Well-Known Member

    No Child Left Behind states that all teachers must be considered "highly qualified" in the subjects they teach. I teach history, so to be highly qualified, I simply need a degree in history, which I have. My wife however, being a special education teach, has a bit of a different situation. Since she is not actually teaching special education, but more or less acting as a specialist in schools, her BA and MA in special education do nothing towards being highly qualified, as that deals solely with the subjects in which you are teaching.

    Special education teachers work with core content teachers, so the SPED teachers' version of highly qualified is a bit different. Rather than having a degree in each subject area they assist in (which would be very unlikely) these individuals must do something slightly different to obtain highly qualified status. They can sit in something called a HOUSSE, which is basically a fancy 30+ hour workshop on a subject, to become highly qualified in that subject, OR they can take a few college courses for credit in those subject areas.

    Here's an example. Let's say my wife wants to become highly qualified in history. While I, the regular ed teacher, must have a whole degree major in the subject to become "highly qualified" because I teach that subject all day, she does not need to go that route. She can take a few courses (I believe it's 9 credit hours) in the subject to become highly qualified in it. While in undergrad, she earned 6 hours in US history, and therefore only need 3 more credits. I would like to assume she could simply take a CLEP exam and the community college would award her the 3 credits, and then she'd be "highly qualified" in history. Does that make sense?

    Virginia also has established that once a teacher gets their initial license and initial endorsement, he or she can simply take praxis 2 tests in another subject, and upon passing, earn the endorsement for that test. So, my wife could technically pass the Social Studies praxis (which is what I had to take) and pass it to become highly qualified in Social Studies. However, she would also become endorsed to teach Social Studies as a regular education teacher. That's not what she wants, and praxis tests are also quite a bit more expensive than CLEP exams.
     
  4. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    I see what you mean now.

    If the objective is to simply acquire 3 semester credits in History, then the CLEP exams US History I & II or Western Civilization I & II might fit nicely; just make sure they don't duplicate credit already on your wife's undergrad transcript. DSST offers several History exams, which also count for 3 semester credits.

    As for getting the credit, a credit bank as offered through TESC or Excelsior might be the best way to get the exams turned into credit; a community college would most likely require your wife to register for and take one course through them before accepting exam credit.

    Another option might be to see if your wife's undergrad alma mater would add the exam credit to her transcript so she would have 123 credits instead of 120. Send a donation check with the request. :cool:
     
  5. ShotoJuku

    ShotoJuku New Member


    Hello Matt -

    For info on CLEP & DSST exams I would suggest that you check out www.instantcertonline.com/forums - Good Luck!
     

Share This Page