alt.education

"Wide Eyed in Wonder" wrote in message
news:a86d5e65-e0dc-4f7b-9b27-b431d37bcba5@q78g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
Not being one to avoid confession or run from confrontation, I wanted
to inform others of my recent change in my Education training. I
fully expect this change to be attacked by those with a personal
vendetta against me (I offended them in the past or such), but I
wanted to get it out in the open, so we can move on from it.

I guess I should give a little context. I had finished a Religion
degree from Liberty University. It became necessary for me to get a
job to cover my wife's lost income, when she stopped working, due to a
disability. So, I started school for a MAT degree to cover the
requirements to teach Elementary Education, having enjoyed teaching my
daughter at home for many years. Actually, I didn't need the degree,
being qualified, already, for a temporary teaching certificate from
Florida (have the Statement of Eligibility, now), and I could use
their ACP program or EPI to finish the rest of the requirements. But,
I figured that, with my wife's disability, I couldn't teach right now,
anyway. So, I started the degree program. In ONE semester, I
completed 19 credits of teaching courses, including Schools and
Society, Human Development and Learning, Diversity and Inclusion,
Classroom Management, Testing, and Instructional Presentation and
Follow-up...among others. However, at the end of the semester, I
didn't feel I had really LEARNED anything (already knew most of it and
didn't need to do much studying to get near perfect scores on my
papers and assignments). Meanwhile, I had racked up a large student
debt. So, I started looking for other options. This led me to ABCTE.

ABCTE is a competency passing program. You gain your certificate by
passing exams on your subject area and teaching knowledge. It is
basically the effect of having passed the state subject test (which
I've also done) and the state teachers test. After you demonstrate
your knowledge by passing these difficult tests (only 40 percent
pass), you still must demonstrate your teaching ability in the
classroom (just like every other teaching training program) to be
fully certified, which requires passing the 12 Accomplished Practices
(closely tied to the interstate required competencies) by
observation. At present, ABCTE is a fully accepted method of gaining
certification in Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Pennsylvania,
New Hampshire, and such. As of this last week, Missouri's state
Senate approved a bill to use ABCTE, as well. It goes to the House
there, next, and the state governor is already behind the program.

http://www.teachermagazine.org/tm/articles/2008/02/27/08apfastrack_web.h19.html?levelId=1000&rale2=KQE5d7nM%2FXAYPsVRXwnFWYRqIIX2bhy1%2BKNA5buLAWGegsFpgXDqNgzw%2FaQd%2B%2BGs0SMTaI4jLGV2%0AUEL6asgoqj5M8TedylhpFKr1PsMxom5lABWlfYE5qh2r5t1O5h1bnl6t7YmGv%2BdjJVY3kL1ti6w4%0AWdpxNZXwKv8o5rTZEIUwMk751Pix8KVYhLckZbmjdBVY%2ByuszoyO08d5n%2F1cuVdtnMhkrENK1nkF%0AnIxDzKuo7XZ6XX3t1IVx9zQ8zkbluq%2FYEhd1uWiRyCP5rtNQlNUR5NpugIBfSLwr2TreANZx4Ln9%0AW3E%2Fjhn3Kaxm2gQtpfoENeGLxi8ramC018o%2FmuH%2F0EURqRTtkcgj%2Ba7TUJQeYmNFXnHsAYYg%2BOmb%0AOqvMNcztvEH5lt4%2B3OCj%2BvO831s9poYBSvNcyXJfTSjmSJn9kv%2BmFN0nRKCc44vD%2Bwk%2FA1MZcjaM%0AwPgpt0APWcbq69jBJTCa798pHMR8i%2FmXcQqZJcLv%2FMLX3kg9NmauPZcuuq%2FYEhd1uWiRyCP5rtNQ%0AlGQmorKkjSeKUGn2RmsxT%2FZiPADH6%2BFquOoRm%2F%2F5CeGAn7Wm4FxnoJ7FPvwtWnIzHmI8AMfr4Wq4%0A6hGb%2F%2FkJ4YBdhxsakm3yXhexM7SwWz6kVI2zBGZWBWNW6EcvM0Mhz%2F0bJOLSyIHoRO7UpMmRtaKr%0A0m94MUYVc4CDkTdUd5cmaqVZC8Ez4uuCR9bk9jnJbVmOOfNFUwaidqALL3Kf7DrJmSO35wxFm31Q%0ArneG5pBW%2FRsk4tLIgehE7tSkyZG1oqvSb3gxRhVzgIORN1R3lyZqpVkLwTPi64JH1uT2OcltWY45%0A80VTBqJ2oAsvcp%2FsOsmZI7fnDEWbfVCud4bmkFb28ScwMiv3IvAJ%2FNaTkC6KiuYzRU3tYys%3D

There are some teacher unions that fear this program could...I
guess...put them out of business. However, it just makes sense, in
our age of accountibility assessment, that passing a teacher
assessment program would prove you able to enter the classroom and
(with observation) be fully certified.

So, this will be how I will finish my requirements, and the whole
program will cost me less than half of the tuition for ONE semester at
my other school. This makes sense to fill the teacher shortage need
in America, and I am glad to use their program for myself.

Now....let the "attack the religious nut / conservative" session
begin, with all the lies and hypocrisy I expect.


You really *are* going to have to do something about that
persecution complex, Kenneth.