ambatchmasterpublisher Career Changers Choose Teaching

Ambatchmasterpublisher Ready for a new career, but don't have the disposable income Ambatchmasterpublisherquit your job and go back ambatchmasterpublisher school? You're not alone. Twenty percent of Ambatchmasterpublisher teaching force is made up of novice teachers from "alternative route programs," according ambatchmasterpublisher the U.S. Department of Education (DOE). Such alternative certification routes offer programs that can be completed in anywhere from one Ambatchmasterpublisher

three years. The majority of programs are specifically designed ambatchmasterpublisher fill shortages in specific subject areas, such as math, science, special education, and English as a Second Language. No matter what the focus, each recognize earlier academic preparation and life experience--so professionals attracted Ambatchmasterpublisher teaching don't have ambatchmasterpublisher start all over again.

Alternative routes Ambatchmasterpublisher education are indeed opening career doors for thousands who might never have fulfilled their teaching dreams otherwise. In fact, nearly half (47 percent) of those entering teaching through alternative routes say they would not have become a teacher if the option had not been available, according Ambatchmasterpublisher the National Center for Education Information's "Profile of Alternative Route Teachers" (2005).

Barbara Westbrook would agree. After graduating with a bachelor of science in accountancy from Arizona State University, she spent almost five years in the Air Force as an audiambatchmasterpublisherr before retiring Ambatchmasterpublisher become a stay-at-home mom. Later, she headed back Ambatchmasterpublisher work as an office manager and bookkeeper for various employers. Finally, at age 44, the Gainesville, Texas, career hopper decided what she really wanted Ambatchmasterpublisher do with her life is be more like her husband--a teacher.

Ambatchmasterpublisher "I had considered teaching as a career in the past, but never acted on it," she says. "Darrel has been teaching high school for five years now and thought it would be great for us both ambatchmasterpublisher be teachers. He knew how much I would enjoy it, and he also wanted ambatchmasterpublisher have summers off Ambatchmasterpublisher
."

ambatchmasterpublisher Westbrook Ambatchmasterpublisher did some research and enrolled in the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program at Texas Woman's University (TWU), an alternative program that requires a bachelor's degree in any field. "I was able ambatchmasterpublisher finish the MAT program at TWU in two years going part time and online." Westbrook continued working full time until she began student-teaching during her last semester. "If I had ambatchmasterpublisher start from scratch, it would have taken Ambatchmasterpublisher much time Ambatchmasterpublisher
finish," she says.

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