Courses needed for Elementary Education Endorsement

Howdy Folks!

My wife is currently a special education teacher. She has a BA in Educational Studies from the University of Delaware and an MA in Special Education from the College of William and Mary. She is endorsed in Special Education K-12 (Mental Retardation and Learning Disabilities). We are playing around with the idea of having her get endorsed in Elementary Education. Virginia currently allows teachers to become endorsed in another area simply by taking and passing the praxis II in that area. Unfortunately, Elementary Education is the ONLY area this does not apply to. She would have to get all of the coursework she needs and pass the praxis II. Fortunately, she already has passed the praxis II.

I am trying to map out a plan of action for her which will be the cheapest (and hopefully easiest) route, mostly using CLEP exams and courses with Clovis Community College. Clovis appears to be about $216 for 6 credits. If anyone can inform me of another school which may be slightly less, that would be great too!

Regarding CLEPs, if she sent these to Clovis and was awarded credit by Clovis, is there a way to find out ahead of time what the course equivalents would be?

Here's what she needs:
ENGLISH - 12 Credits
It has to include English Comp, Oral Communication, and a Literature course. She has a 3 credit Communication Course and she passed the AP English exam and UD gave her 3 credits for that. Therefore, she needs 6 credits. Do you think the Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP would work?

SCIENCE - 12 Credits
This has to include a lab and be at least 2 disciplines. She currently has a Physical Science course, which was 4 credits and includes the lab. She also has a Biological Sciences course which is 3 credits. However, this course is the "Biology of Human Sexuality" so we're not sure if they'd take that to satisfy and elementary ed requirement, haha. For Science, she needs between 5-8 credits. Again, I'm looking at Clovis and possibly the Natural Sciences Clep.

MATH - 12 Credits
She has Math 114 - College Mathematics and Statistics, 3 credits. We need 9 credits. I see there's a College Math CLEP for 6 credits, but I'm wondering if that would work since she has a College Math class, even though it has statistics in the title? I know there's also the College Algebra CLEP.

HISTORY - 9 Credits
This has to cover World and US History. She has 6 credits of US History. Therefore, she needs 3 credits of World History. Any suggestions? I know about CLEPs, but history is honestly not my wife's thing (though it's definitely mine) so I'm thinking a course might be the best option here. Although if you all think the CLEP is easy, let me know

SOCIAL SCIENCES - 6 Credits
This must include Geography and Economics. She has a 3 credit Meteorology course which has a GEOG prefix, so I'm sure we're covered there. I took Macroeconomics as an undergrad and thought it was pretty easy. For someone with no econ background, what would you all suggest? Course or CLEP?


She also needs a classroom management course and an elementary instructional strategies course, which would be cake to find. I'm pretty sure UoP has those in the Continuing Ed section, and I know from personal experience that Virginia accepts those. However, if you all have any suggestions for the courses listed above, I'd appreciate input. We're trying to be cost effective and quick While her job is not exactly on the line, it might be at the end of the year. The stupid government keeps changing the "rules" for special ed licensure and highly qualified status, so even though she earned her MA only 5 years ago, it's already out of date according to school administrators. (Mind you, she's the only SPED teacher in our school with a masters, go figure.)

Thanks again for you help!
Matt

 

Hi Matt - Take a look at these courses from LSU. They may not be quite as inexpensive as Clovis but you can accelerate them if you want. Good luck to your wife.

http://www.is.lsu.edu/courselist.asp?level=CO&online=0&nid=102

 

Hello, I know that in NC you can contact a university licensure office and they will develop a plan of study for you and then you can take these classes anywhere and then go through a university to get licensed. Has your wife looked at reciprocity with another state, such as North Carolina? I think the elementary education licensure law is something that is required due to No Child Left Behind. North Carolina allows the add on license via the Praxis II also.

She may want to check with a university in VA first so they can issue her a plan of study then take classes that are equivalent to those online and let the university issue her licensure there.

 

In Virginia you have to do everything through your local school division. At this point were are speculating what she needs. Technically she needs to go to our school board office, fill out a form and pay $25 to have the state evaluate her transcripts and tell her what she needs. They won't say "Oh, you need HIST 123 - World History to 1500 AD" but rather will just say "You need 3 credits of world history". It's vague.

Colleges aren't really that helpful either, because they all seem to disagree with each other. One school's "state approved program" will be somewhat different than another school's "state approved program". It'd probably be easier if she were coming straight out of college, but because she's doing this as an add-on rather than an initial endorsement, it's a bit different.

As for No Child Left Behind, the Praxis II is what makes someone "Highly Qualified". However, each state defines what highly qualified is, so North Carolina's might be different than Virginia's. Here's where it gets screwy. As a special education teacher, she is "highly qualified" to teach elementary school to special education students because she passed the Praxis II, but she is not "highly qualified" to teach elementary school to average students. It's a bunch of crap. But to satisfy the big wigs, we're trying to get her the credits so that she can suddenly become "highly qualified" to teach all elementary students.

Oh, and Kizmet, thanks for the LSU suggestion. We checked them out. They're more expensive than Clovis, but actually CHEAPER than our local community college. Go figure.

-Matt

 

Matt
I used www.josephedservices.com to evaluate my transcripts and advice what I needed for certification. Paul Joseph is based in the Richmond area. I paid a $50 fee and felt it was well worth it. The website will give you lots of information about who he is and what he does.
Kathy