49-Year Old Father/Husband Needs Feedback

[drandalray]

This is my first post and I want to start by saying “thank you” for providing such a useful forum. The amount of information available from all of your posts is wonderful and I appreciate all of you sharing so generously of your time and knowledge.

Quick background summary: I am a 49-year old father and husband in MN who never completed his degree out of high school. Instead, I graduated from a technical school. I have been in the Information Technology field for almost 30 years. I started as a programmer but have been doing mostly project/staff management for the past 15 years.

I have also been involved in coaching youth basketball for the past 5 years and truly love it. So much so that I want to do it on an ongoing basis. I’ve attempted to get one of the few coaching positions (9th grade level) in my area the last couple of years but they usually go to teachers who want to earn a little extra money. (By the way, my long-term goal is be a high school coach.)

I decided the best way to get one of these positions is by getting a degree and a teaching certificate. As a result, I had my transcripts sent to Excelsior and subsequently enrolled. I have a total of 38 credits from my previous college experience.

I thought a BS in Technology or MIS would be the best way to go since that’s my background. However, I’m not really interested in furthering my IT career. I’m more interested in getting a degree as quickly as possible. I don’t really care what it’s in. So I recently started thinking that a Liberal Arts degree might be the way to go.

One last thing – The coaching positions are typically filled in the September – October timeframe so I’ve set a personal goal of completing my degree by then.

So, based on all this information, here are the questions I’m hoping I can get some feedback and advice on:

- Is my plan of getting a degree and a teaching certificate even realistic?

- Is the Liberal Arts (LA) degree the best way to go if I want to get a degree as quickly as possible?

- Will an LA degree hinder my efforts of getting a teaching certificate?

- Would I be better served by going after some type of physical education degree?

- Is the 6-month timeframe for degree completion realistic for a father with a full-time job?

I apologize for the long post but I’ve really been struggling with these issues and I think it must be holding me back from taking the first step beyond enrolling.

Thank you in advance for the feedback and advice. I appreciate it.

Randal

[gcalvin]

You're already enrolled at Excelsior and they have already accepted 38 credits from your transcripts. That leaves you 82 credits to go. This is very definitely do-able in six months. Liberal Arts is definitely the way to go. If you can manage to take some Phys Ed courses locally (I doubt there are many on-line Phys Ed courses available ), then it might not be a bad idea, but I don't think it would be a requirement. Still, talk with somebody at the school district to be sure.

I imagine you have already fulfilled your Written English Requirement. What is your status on Information Literacy? If you need to take Excelsior's on-line course, it's an easy one-credit set of readings and quizzes that you should be able to breeze through in two or three evenings. But get it out of the way early.

You may also have to take their new "Research and Writing in the Majors" course. This is another one-credit course which mainly involves writing an 8,000-word research paper. Prerequisites are the WER, Information Literacy, and of course choosing a major. I would recommend Psychology as probably the easiest major to fulfill with standardized tests.

In fact, I would strongly recommend you start preparing for the Psychology GRE exam which will be given in April. You have to register for it by early March. Buy a copy of the Princeton Review Cracking the GRE: Psychology book. It is excellent prep not only for the Psychology GRE, but for quite a few other CLEP, DSST and ECE exams. If you take the GRE Psychology and pass it in the 80th percentile or higher, you get 30 credits for that one exam -- 18 at the upper level. If you start your reading and preparation now, there's no reason you can't succeed at that level.

Also, start looking at your actual educator license requirements for Minnesota. You have some Praxis exams you will need to take, in addition to earning your degree. Since they are scheduled at specific times, you should work out a calendar for getting those out of the way in your time frame. I doubt there is any requirement for having your degree before taking the Praxis exams, but check it out.

Finally, talk to your Excelsior College advisor. Let them know about your goals and your time frame. You will find them very helpful, I think. If you tell us about what credits you have so far, we can probably help you with a list of exams to get the rest. Make sure you communicate that list of exams to your Excelsior advisor, and get official approval that it will fulfill your degree requirements.

I'll bet your wife and kids are excited for you! Keep them informed, and let them help you prepare, study, and "keep score" of your progress. This will be a lot of work to complete in six months while working full-time, but you can do it!

-Gary-

[will2k]

Originally Posted by gcalvin

GRE Psychology and pass it in the 80th percentile or higher, you get 30 credits for that one exam -- 18 at the upper level.
-Gary-

Can you please explain this... is it only for Liberal Arts majors? Is it only for Excelsior?....I would love to take this exam

[ShotoJuku]

Welcome Back.....To School!!!

Speaking for myself, I, like you, decided to go back and finish what I started nearly 4-years ago (I was 45 then). Since that time I completed 2-degrees am am currently working on my third and considering a fourth. Your goals are quite realistic and achievable - GOOD LUCK!!

[barcotta]

I have no personal knowledge in this arena, but I have poked around a little bit as I have similar interests and this program sounds very attractive: WGU - Education Online - Teachers College, Teacher Education

Check it out and follow the other great advice that preceeds this post--especially the advice related to confirming the best strategy based on the local environment in which you wish to work.

Your goal is VERY doable. Plan carefully and then just start knocking down the requirements. I view this whole path to a degree as nothing more than a series of hurdles and hoops. Good luck and have fun!

[barcotta]

Here's my two cents with regard to your specific questions:

- Is my plan of getting a degree and a teaching certificate even realistic? YES!

- Is the Liberal Arts (LA) degree the best way to go if I want to get a degree as quickly as possible? I BELIEVE IT IS.

- Will an LA degree hinder my efforts of getting a teaching certificate? I THINK AN LA DEGREE IS ONE OF THE MORE POPULAR DEGREES UNDERLYING TEACHING CREDENTIALS. I DON'T KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE, BUT FROM WHAT I'VE HEARD--IT'S THE MORE SPECIALIZED DEGREES THAT CAN SOMETIMES BE A PROBLEM IF THEY DON'T MATCH WELL WITH K-12 SCHOOL SUBJECTS

- Would I be better served by going after some type of physical education degree? I DUNNO.

- Is the 6-month timeframe for degree completion realistic for a father with a full-time job? YES, YES, YES! (if you have the support of your family)

[Blitzstudie]

I got beaten to the punch ! Cinderly had most of the advice I was going to give..The A-1 thing I would do is check with the HR people for the district, they will be familiar with both what the requirements are AND what the most needed emphasis areas are. Math and science are normally the biggies and you will be a hot property if you have a degree in one of them. As another poster noted you can get 30 credits by taking the GRE..he mentioned Psych which is prob the best best for quickness depending on the kind of stuff you are good at BUT they offer Chem,Bio,Math and since you have an MIS background Comp Sci. Excelsior has some sort of portfolio evaluation service to earn credits for work experience and with 30 years in a field I would think you could pick up substantial credits. If they are in business/MIS this might be the way to go degreewise in regard to time. Many states require student teaching hours, check with the HR person on this. In our area they are so desperate for teachers they have a alternative licensing program for career switchers like yourself..again check and see if they have one. You might also look at Teach For America - Home or similar programs as a route to get certified.

It is a personal choice but my advice is to set yourself up to be in the drivers seat even if it takes longer. Coaching as far as the schools are normally concerned is a secondary skill...so if you can fill a slot like math or science you will have your pick over someone with a social science/psy ed degree. You can always get a Masters to add to your resume in something that will help the coaching part of the resume. Why rush into cutting your salary in half If you are gonna make the move, do it right.

FYI My Mom was a teacher and teacher of teachers for 30 years

Blitz

[Blitzstudie]

Originally Posted by will2k

Can you please explain this... is it only for Liberal Arts majors? Is it only for Excelsior?....I would love to take this exam

EC is the only one that gives 30 credits..12 lower and 18 upper...I think TESEC gives some (18)?, dont know about Charter Oak..Empire State isnt in the big 3 but I think they give 18 also you will need to check directly with any of the others besides EC as this is just what I recall.

EC gives the 30 credits for a score of 80th percentile or better on any of the GRE Subject Tests...GRE Subject Tests Overview

If you score less than the 80th percentile, then the amount you get is less...roughly it works out to like 3 credits per 5%. Tests are given 3 times a year April,Oct and November and cost $130 bucks.

If you have further questions about the schools, you might want to ask in that forum, for others start a new thread here.

Blitz

[drandalray]

As I mentioned in the beginning of my original post, you guys and gals are truly amazing with your excellent advice, feedback, and ideas. I'm truly overwhelmed by and grateful for your replies.

One risk of posting a 'thank you' so early in the thread is that it might prevent others from responding because they might think 'oh, he received all the information he needs'. Please don't let that stop others from replying if you'd like to add to the discussion. You can never have too much information, right?

Again, a big THANK YOU to all.

Randal

[barcotta]

No problem. I was happy that someone joined the forum who was older than me! Makes me feel young again.

In any event, If I could have changed one thing on my path to a degree, it would have been to eliminate some of the time I spent chasing dead ends. If you sign up for InstantCert, you can literally spend every available moment studying flashcards and preparing for the next test. Instead, I looked into an easy Keyboarding class for elective credits (books ended up being too expensive and too many on-site requirements for something I already knew) and ICDL to convert basic computer knowledge (spent a few hours trying to hunt that down--ultimately didn't pursue it) and AP classes from high school (apparently I didn't take any although I thought I had), etc.

If I had converted all that time to preparing for the next CLEP--I'm sure I could have acquired at least nine more credits. Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't research and plan, because you have to--but this forum is a LOT more developed than when I joined less than a year ago so you should be able to eliminate some of the waste I experienced.

In connection with that, I, and others, have decided not to pursue alternative means of obtaining credit, such as portfolio assessment, due to the time and money factor. To me, it looked expensive and somewhat uncertain--plus it looks like you have to bug a lot of people to vouch for you and then provide documentation of your knowledge, etc. At the rate of people like gcalvin--you could have completed 2-3 years of credit by the time you're done with that!

That's not to say that it wouldn't make sense for you if money is less of a factor and you have substantial, easily translatable knowledge, but I thought I'd throw that out there for you to consider.

If I were you, I'd pick a test that you're pretty sure you'll need regardless of the route you take, sign up for InstantCert if you haven't already and start studying the flashcards. Within a week or less you could be ready for something like Sociology and knock out three credits--all while you're figuring the rest of this out. Believe me, once you take a few of these you'll realize how EFFICIENT it can be.

Also, one thing I did that was VERY efficient was use my music knowledge to test out of 12 credits at my local community college using their Credit by Examination program. I learned that those programs are seldom used except for foreign languages, but my school and all but one teacher were very cooperative and I knocked off 12 humanities credits in two days. In addition, I also was able to get 4 credits from a super-easy work/study program. Then there's the famous FEMA credits you'll find folks discussing here...

More food for thought...