Teaching credential in CA
 

Hi all!

I'm an undergrad right now, and I want to get my teaching credential. Right now, I love San Jose State. I'm from San Jose, too. I know I should probably go to school in this state, but should I look into other places besides SJSU? I realize I should PROFESSIONAL advice, but hey, GC is close enough!

Haha in all seriousness, I've been talking with an adviser at UCSC about this, and she insists that I should apply to SJSU and only SJSU. Isn't that suicide? Ah!

You should apply to the school that has the teaching program that best fits your needs. Not all teacher preparation programs are the same.

I myself got my BA from Long Beach State but received my teaching credential through the University of La Verne. La Verne had a much better program for me personally and I chosen to remain at La Verne to receive 2 Masters and a credential in Reading.

I suggest you scout around and look at what other schools have to offer in terms of their education programs.


ETA: You might want to read this thread.
To get a teaching credential in CA, you'll have to show Subject Matter Competency in your chosen area (primary or secondary). Your program will either help you with this or you'll have to take the CSET exam. Also, depending on your school, you might have to take the RICA if you're Multiple Subject.

SJSU has several options that are appealing to me, but I'll obviously look into it some more.

Oh, and I passed the CBEST! Woo! The CSET sounds awful, though. I've never heard of the RICA...I'll do some googling.

Do you think going to school where you want to teach later is any benefit? I want to teach in Santa Clara county, so I would think my time at SJSU would be helpful. Not sure if that's true, though.

The CSET can suck but if you study well, you should do fine.
The RICA is only administered for primary teachers. If you plan on teaching middle school or high school, you don't have to take it. It's basically a writing test where you have to justify the use of particular teaching strategies for the scenarios they give you. It's laboring & time consuming but not too difficulty.


It depends on the individual. I chose to work 32 miles from school but my close friend works in the same district (Bonita Unified) that La Verne is in. Again, it's just a matter of preference.

Hmmm...ok, lots of good food for thought. Thank you so much for your insight! I'm researching schools more now. I have a list of all of the CA credentialed programs, and I'm going through them one by one. I still have a while til I need to apply (next year) and this is fun for me. :-)

Let me know if you need any help or more info.

I have cousins that live in Santa Cruz. One of them goes to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and is an AChiO there. I forgave her for not going SK since she's really happy. ;)

Speaking from experience, the credential program at CSULB was a total waste of time. They focused more on theory and less on actual practice(when ina classroom, theory goes out the window and practice becomes law). Being that I had already been teaching for 3 years when I started ( two at LB and one in a public HS) I thought the program sucked. There were only two classes that I actually learned useful things in while there.The only thing I could tell you about doing your credential where you want to teach is it may give you an "in" for student teaching, beyond that, find a program that current students of the program and past students of the program endorse.

Co-sign. Find a program that students and former students can vouch for. The worst thing is to be bored and end up finding that your classes don't teach you what you need to actually be in a classroom environment. I highly endorse and recommend the program at La Verne because while intense and has a lot of work involved, you spend a lot of time actually being in the classroom and learning hands on instead of through books. I enjoyed my program at La Verne which is why I chose to stay there and get my Masters through them.

Thanks for the advice!

I'm taking a class called Intro to Teaching, and we're doing 30 hours of classroom observation this quarter. I found out today that I'm going to be in a kindergarten classroom. Yay! I also have an interview to be a learning assistant at a different school. I would be working with a 4th grade class. Wish me luck!

Good-Luck Lucy!

Good luck!

Oh yeah, update on the learning assistant thing. It's for 3 hours 5 days a week which totally doesn't fit into my schedule. Ahh!

I started my observation hours, though, and I like that a lot. I'm in a Kindergarten classroom, and they're super cute!