Get teaching credential or master's...or both? (California)

[Atma Weapon]

Originally Posted by Vendetta

im in ny, but my teaching license (which would certainly be expired by now) was in another state. the license means fuckall at the university level. it might make a difference at community college, but to that I have no idea.

i actually received my license as part of my masters--it was one of the requirements. another thing to keep in mind: in most districts, having a masters gets you a salary hike. the teachers license does not. in some districts, it can be as much as 10k extra.

i dont even know where that masters degree is...it's virtually useless now :-/

A teaching license/credential are the same thing? And they can expire? How long are they good for? Sorry if these seem like really basic questions, but CA's teaching credential website is basically useless.

[Forever Domon]

I would recommend both. The masters will set you above and apart from most secondary teachers, which is something you will greatly need in this job market. It wont get you into college/university academia, but itll but you in the upper tier of high school education.

[OneWhoKnows]

Originally Posted by Atma Weapon

LOL that wasn't me, that was a friend of mine. That's hilarious you remember that though.

Haha, and I hardly even remember my own birthday!

Do you know what school you want to pursue your degree at? It might be worth contacting an adviser there.

[Vendetta]

Originally Posted by Atma Weapon

A teaching license/credential are the same thing? And they can expire? How long are they good for? Sorry if these seem like really basic questions, but CA's teaching credential website is basically useless.

They would appear to be, yes. Looks like CA is good for 5 years, I think that was similar to my professional license, though I can't be sure. CA's credentialing website seems far from useless, there appears to be a wealth of info found even here: http://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/leaflets/cl560c.pdf

[Atma Weapon]

Originally Posted by Vendetta

They would appear to be, yes. Looks like CA is good for 5 years, I think that was similar to my professional license, though I can't be sure. CA's credentialing website seems far from useless, there appears to be a wealth of info found even here: http://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/leaflets/cl560c.pdf

I must've been in a rush when I was checking out the site because I never came across that, thanks. What was your master's in that landed you your job teaching history/govt at the high school level and how did you end up getting a PhD in something completely unrelated?

[Vendetta]

Originally Posted by Atma Weapon

I must've been in a rush when I was checking out the site because I never came across that, thanks. What was your master's in that landed you your job teaching history/govt at the high school level and how did you end up getting a PhD in something completely unrelated?

My masters was in education (I actually have a second masters as well, in educational policy...but that one is still useful). The PhD, though sounding completely different, isn't really. Research methodology is needed everywhere--I actually did 2 years of applied educational research before moving to epidemiology. It's all the same thing--research design, applied statistics, psychometrics. The things I'm measuring are just different (eg, no longer working with test scores and attendance rates but with glycated hemoglobin and diabetes prevalence/incidence rates). I love the ability to jump content--before choosing epi I was also looking at working for game companies, google, research firms, etc.

[Cannonbear]

i am going through the credential program in CA right now.

I hate it. Every bit of it. I wanted to teach, worked in a school for three years, now i just want to walk away and find another avenue to reach and interact with special needs people. I cannot stand it.

I will probably go for my master's instead, just gotta make the appointment.