Hi everyone! I have been teaching for 11 years and I have two state certifications (general ed and special ed) already. However, I have really only been teaching ESL students for my entire career. I absolutely love teaching ELL students! I am not a push in teacher, I am their classroom teacher (teaching all subjects). But I am now being told that I can no longer teach ESL classes unless I hold the state certification. I would need to go back to school to take all of the required courses which I estimate will cost somewhere between $20,000 to $25,000. I am already at top pay and the city I work for does not give extra pay for additional certifications or extra masters degrees. So the cost will be out of my pocket with no financial gain in the long run. My question is should I go ahead and get the certification or not? What would you do if you were in my shoes?
If it were me, I would either find a cheaper program or move to a position for which I am already certified. There is no way I would pay as much money as you've stated with no financial gain or upward movement. But I would also be willing to try something new - a different type of position. I can't make that decision for you. I guess it depends on how much your heart is in ELL and how willing you are to try something new. If you think you'd be willing to step outside of your comfort zone and into a new position that you are certified for but have never done before, then I'd try that first, before spending all of that money.
As bella mentioned, this is a personal decision that you need to make for yourself. You should think about whether or not you would be able to recoup your $25,000 investment in yourself. Of course, if money is not an issue, go for it!
The OP should not do it if it’s going to cost multiple tens of thousands of dollars with no monetary incentive. It’s not fair that they would have to spend that kind of money with no reimbursement or any kind of advancement on the horizon. I’m a big fan of doing what you love, but only when it’s fiscally responsible to do so. I’m so sorry you have so much debt... Have you budgeted how much of a monthly payment you will have to pay when you finish?
You are at year 11. $20000 is going to take a long time to recoup. I’d stay in your current school, let them place you in gen ed. Most likely you’ll end up with some ELL kiddos in your classroom and your years of differentiating for ELLs will help your gen ed kids greatly.
No way, especially since there is no financial incentive to do so. I would consider it only if the district were going to pay for the classes. Even then, I'd really think about if it was worth it to put in all of that time and effort to take the classes for no financial gain. I'm not sure if you've already factored this in, but I would also consider that if you're taking out loans, you'll likely end up paying far more than the original cost in interest. Another thing to consider is if there may be changes to your role at any time in the future. Our EL teachers used to teach pull out classes, and it was considered a really desirable job within the district. A few years ago they switched them to push-in, which most of them hate because now they're basically glorified paras. Within the last year or so, they've moved them into more of a consultative role (spending most of their time meeting with teachers) so now they spend very little time actually working with students. What if you spend all of that time/money and they change your position? What if funding levels change or they redistribute funding and decide they need you in a regular classroom position instead anyway? Around here, such things happen with little to no warning. Of course only you can make the decision for yourself, but I think it would be crazy to pay $25,000 to do your job. I'd let the district move me into a position I was certified in. At the very least, you should try a regular classroom for a year and see how it goes. If you absolutely hate it, then you can reconsider going back to school. For that amount of money, it makes sense to at least try being another position first. You never know, you may love it.
What type of program are you pursuing for ELL certification? If you already have a teaching license, I believe there are "add on" license programs where you only have to take a few courses. I just receiving my middle school math initial license and I am adding on a sped license to another program. I looked at sped programs where you have I take 8-10 classes and it costs 30K. However, I found a few programs where you only have to take a few classes. My program is 3 online classes and it costs $775 per class. It's very affordable and I get grad credits. I would definitely look into cheaper options for certification.
In my district, a teacher with 11 years in would never be at risk for losing their job due to budget/position cuts. It's possible to be moved to a different area that may not be your top choice, but not at all possible to lose your position all together. Even if that's not the case where OP is, OP already has a sped certification that could "save her" if necessary in the future. I'm in an area with a high EL population and EL MA degrees are a dime a dozen. Given our population, most people choose that for their MA degree. I actually would have done that myself, but found a "teacher leadership" program that was 1/3 the cost. Sped is far more of a shortage area.
Make a list of the pros and another of the cons. See which one is longer. If you're trying to make informed choices on your lists, shop around for TESOL / ELL Certification programs you can do quickly and / or online. There are a couple of scammy programs out there, but there are some gems as well. If you are finding the cons outweigh the pros, I suggest looking into SIOP classes. SIOP is a method for bringing many TESOL theories into your content teaching. My last school offered it to some of the ELA and Math teachers, and it has been extremely useful with adjusting my lesson planning and my overall work with my EL students.
If you only want to teach ELLs, then you might have to find a way to make it work. I’d ask if the district will help you get certified based on your success in the past. They certainly shouldn’t want to lose you. Move to Texas. Once you have your initial certification, you pay to take a test, pass, and pay for your certification. That’s how I got my ESL cert.
Thank you to all of you! I have decided to stick with my current certifications and teach with them. Your advice really helped me out! Thanks again.
