Residency in 07, now I need help for me, Special Ed, HELP!

Ok, I"m trying to look into my future to get a degree in Special Education. The goal is to go back pt in DH's second year of residency, then when residency is over, to go full time. We want the town we go for residency to be an place that we could stay. So that means making sure my educational needs will be met there.

I've been researching as much as I can, with no outside help, on schools for special ed. In St. Louis I have three schools with very good programs, that have very good reputations, and grads are being hired at even private schools geared towards special needs children. So in St. Louis I feel set. Here comes the confusing part for me:

So I got a membership with the National Association for Special Education Teachers. They have a whole area under careers backed full of great information. They have a link for the National Clearinghouse for Professions in Special Education (NCPSE) who along the the Council for Exceptional Children, put together criteria that they have to for them to edorse a college's accredidation. Well I looked up the towns we are going, and in St. Louis. Well in St. Louis only one of the schools of the three with special ed degrees came up. This very much surprised me as the other two colleges are VERY well known in the area, and I already know that the grads are being hired in even private schools. I have a call in the two schools to find out why they aren't on the list. Here comes the hard part for me, the towns were are looking at to move some don't have any schools coming up, or schools that don't provide a masters, (which I am going to get). How much weight do I put in this accredidation that the NCPSE and CEC have given out. It's scary to go to a town I know nothing about - this is my future too. DH thinks maybe I'm giving this accredidation to much weight, but what if we move, and I find out the schools programs stink, and yet we all as a family want to stay in that town. I don't want to sacrifice what I"ve had to hold off for so long. I went to school in 00-01 pt, then got pg and had to give up school for the time being.

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know what to think. I realize this is a pretty specific question, so no one maybe able to help but an thoughts would be great! Sigh... I'm tired

[DCJenn]

You're definitely over-stressing the importance of the accreditation. Special Ed is in such demand that ANY degree in Spec Ed will be accepted by nearly any educational institution.

Jenn

It's not that I'm worried that I won't get a job. I want excellant education for myself. I don't want to go to a school that has only a soso program. That's why I'm wondering how much to give this accredidation.

[madeintaiwan]

Julie,
This is so tough because it really depends on the state that you are teaching in. Like say CA, they do not practice reciprocity. You have to pass the CBEST to teach there. Also, private schools can do whatever they want. My cousin counseled at a Charter school and is unqualified to counsel in public schools with the Masters Degree that she has. Your residency will only be 3 years or 4 years tops. If you aren't planning to go back to school until PGY- 2 it will probably take you 3-4 years (if you go full time) to get your Bachelor's then another 2-3 to get your Masters. How many units do you have? And alot of times depending on how much time has passed and where you took your classes they may not even count. I had a good number of my JC credits not count towards my BS. I had to retake a lot of my core classes because they were not approved by my university. And by the time you are ready to teach who knows by then the requirements might have changed. Most big (as in state or U) schools should have accredited programs. I think that you should take your classes, get your BA then get your MA if that's what's required and go from there. A BA in special education from an accredited university should be like any other BA received from an accredidtied university. A degree should be a degree. What you might find is that certain states have required certifications. If you are only going to go pt while DH is in residency chances are that you won't be done with your BA at that time anyhow. I needed 180 units for my BS. And I did 120 in a year and a half but I took 16-18 (4-5 classes) units per quarter and I went to both sessions of summer school. Try not to stress about it. Just take it step by step. If you are going to start at a JC, find out what will transfter to a university. If you are going straight to a university, I would start researching what their requirements are to apply and start working on applying to schools. You might need to take some tests or classes or something. I don't know how works other than the straight out of high school route (GPA, letters of rec, SATs) or transferring from a JC (GPA and required classes). I would start there first. You have to get into a program first, everything else will follow. And when you are in your program they will inform you about getting jobs and the like. Hope this helps.

[DCJenn]

Davita is dead on about the requirements varying from state to state. What most likely is that you can get your M.Ed or your MS and when you move, you'll have to either get a provisional position or fulfill some state designed process. DC just fired a whole host of teachers who had a year to get their stuff together but didn't.

Jenn