Fast Route to Bachelor's

[smiley5044]

Hi! I am located in Arkansas and currently work as a paraprofessional in a school district. I want to teach in Elementary. Currently, I am open to getting my Bachelors degree in whatever I can quickly (it doesn't have to be elementary education or early childhood development) and then going into an Alternative Pathway to Licensure (like ArPep). I prefer Open book, open note courses like Sophia for obvious reasons (non proctored, work at your own pace) but I am flexible. Math/Science are not my strong suits. 


Your Location: Arkansas, United States
Your Age: 32
What kind of degree do you want?: Bachelor's 
Current Regional Accredited Credits: Unsure
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: Sophia Credits
FOSM 1110 Nutrition CR 3.000
FREL 1999 Art History I CR 3.000
FREL 1999 Environmental Science CR 3.000
FREL 1999 Human Biology CR 3.000
FREL 1999 Introduction to Ethics CR 3.000
FREL 1999 Lifespan Development CR 3.000
FREL 1999 Precalculus CR 3.000
MTH 1210 Introduction to Statistics CR 3.000
MTH 1212 College Algebra CR 3.000

Any certifications or military experience?: No Military Experience. Children's House Montessori Teacher Certification (3-6 Years Old) MACTE Accredited.
Budgetrefer less than $20K
Commitments: Will commit as much as I can; I work full time in public school system and am a spouse and parent
Dedicated time to study: 3 hours per day
Timeline: 12-18 months, preferably less
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: Possibly a grant.


Here are my Community College Courses Passed. 
COM 2200 Intro to Human Communications B 3.000
ENGL 1104 Written English I C 3.000 
PSYG 1101 Introduction to Psychology A 3.000 
SPN 1101 Elementary Spanish I B 3.000 
ENGL 1108 Written English II A 3.000
FREL 1999 Music A 3.000
FREL 1999 Human Growth & Development B 3.000 
FREL 1999 Personal & Community Health B 3.000 
FREL 1999 World Civilization II B 3.000
BUSN 1100 Keyboarding A 3.000 
FREL 1999 Intro to Philosophy A 3.000 
FREL 1999 World Literature I A 3.000 
FREL 1999 Abnormal Psychology B 3.000 


I really excel around child development and loved that for my 2 year Montessori certification program. I love being with children and learning about them. I have leaned into WGU for the competency-based program but am not sure about it.

[jg_nuy]

UMPI has a BLS with a minor in Educational Studies, as well as other options. Here is the Wiki with the degree plans https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:UMPI

General requirements https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...ts_Roadmap

BLS Educational Studies plan https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UM...egree_Plan

[bjcheung77]

Welcome to the board, +1, I agree with the UMPI BLS with minor in Educational Studies. I suggest you apply, send all transcripts, and have everything evaluated to see where you stand. You can create a spreadsheet with the requirements and info on the WIKI, you'll know what you're missing and where to get those credits from. Make sure to take at least 10 classes at UMPI for residency requirements of 30 credits, the minor by itself may not be enough, thus, I recommend completing the 3-4 classes that can go towards the MAOL if you want to get a Masters later on.

[smiley5044]

I've been looking into this some today. I think I'd need a regionally accredited program. UMPI is not, correct?

[bjcheung77]

That's incorrect, our recommendations are mainly for Regionally Accredited institutions first. In fact, all the sub forums, the institutions are all Regionally Accredited. You need to take some time researching before asking that question, if you quickly go to UMPI webpage or the WIKI pages, it'll have that information at your finger tips...