Should I Go Back to School? - Aurora,IL

I wrote privately to you. There are many benefits and drawbacks to the LBSI certification through NIU's master's program.

IL districts have salary schedules, and the pay is more for a master's, even with no experience. Getting a job with a master's in anything than special education will be difficult. I've heard of elementary positions having 100 candidates for 1 position! But do not think that special ed positions will be a cake walk... some districts are laying off special ed because of a reorganization of resources and formats.

It appears that teachers with experience in co-teaching and RTI (Response to Intervention) may have an edge, no matter the degree. These are major areas of concentration for the NIU LBSI cert.

Good luck with your choice!

Hi-

You can get your teaching cert without a masters which I recommend doing. I made the mistake of getting my teaching cert and masters at once and cannot find a teaching position because I am overqualified and due to the union, they need to pay me more because of my degree. It is horrible. There is no teacher shortage like everyone thinks. I graduated from NLU and that doesn't matter out there like they tell you it does when you are attending there. They kinda brainwash you into thinking they are an awesome school and that everyone who graduates from there will get a job asap. That's not the case. Like the other person wrote, you have 100 people going for 1 job. I regret getting my masters! Good luck in your decision!

I did an MS in Early Childhood Development through Erikson Institute and I have never regretted it. It was a huge commitment and it took a ton of time and energy, but it made me better at what I do for sure. (It did not increase my salary more than a couple bucks an hour though. But I did pay for school mostly with a grant and I worked part-time to pay bills while doing it. ) They also have an MS in Early Childhood Education with cert that has a great reputation. The school also has a very high teacher placement rate. Call them or check out www.Erikson.edu.

Good luck!

Good luck to you! If you choose to do a Masters of Arts in Education (which I did to become certified), find a program that does NOT require a Masters thesis. My program did, and it was way more work than it was worth. If you can find a program without this, go that route.