WGU Master of Arts in Teaching Social Science

[Leherself]

One thing to look into is that teacher licensing varies from state to state. I'm not sure where the op is from, so I have no idea what other options might be available in their state.

In Alaska, there is no accepted alternative route to certification. The closest we get is that someone with a bachelor's degree can be hired on a provisional license if they've already enrolled in a traditional licensure program. WGU's self paced online program is a *much* more flexible option than any of the local universities would be. The downside of choosing that route is that the only school districts that mess around with provisional licenses are rural Alaskan school districts. And "rural" in Alaska means living in a tiny village (less than 1000 people), often off the road system (only accessible by small aircraft, or sometimes boat), with limited amenities.

My SO teaches high school in a tiny village of 500 people, where there's no running water except in the buildings owned by the school (thankfully that includes teacher housing. But just consider what it's like to teach high school in a location where teenagers have limited access to running water... well, your nose adjusts eventually...). Having been out there to visit quite a few times, I don't know that I have any interest in teaching in that kind of environment. There's also the cultural considerations - rural schools are primarily Native Alaskan schools, and Native Alaskans have a colorful and not-very-nice history with public education. Getting parents to get involved with their kids education in some of these places is quite challenging, especially as an outsider. Two of his coworkers this year were hired on provisional licenses, and completed their student teaching as part of their first year teaching at the school.

I'm considering becoming a high school social studies teacher myself. I haven't decided which career transition method makes more sense to me - an unpaid student teacher stint in the urban area where I already live... or a year of teaching at a rural school. Since I don't consider getting student loans to cover my living expenses to be a viable option, it's going to take some consideration.

In any case, there's no point in enrolling in WGU unless and until I'm actually ready to make a career change. Right now I'm hoping to build up my savings so I can cover a semester of not working - that'll give me the most flexibility to consider my options, but I'm not entirely sure what route I'm going to pick at this point.

One source of disappointment for me is that I have the Post 9/11 GI Bill, and the entire WGU degree is considered to be an online program. Even the portion of the degree that you complete in person, as a student teacher, only entitles you to the online housing stipend rate (I actually talked to the school VA reps on this one, to confirm it). So I'll only be getting paid $700 a month by the GI Bill during student teaching, instead of the local rate of $2100 a month for students that are attending school in person. I could sign up at a local school to complete my teaching degree, and get paid more by the GI Bill... but I'd have to quit my current job before I even started the degree, instead of being able to wait to quit until my last semester the way I would with WGU.

It's all about trade-offs, really.