By Elisa Anderson
Although The Wall Street Journal stated in a recent article that colleges are making it easier for teachers to be admitted into post-graduate programs and receive post-graduate degrees, BYU and other Utah educational institutions are not following the same trend.
Requirements for admission into education graduate programs in Utah are fairly similar to each other. BYU, The University of Utah, Utah State University and Westminster College require applicants to have a teaching degree or be in the process of receiving one.
Each school requires evidence of a completed bachelor''s degree from a regionally accredited college or university. Applicants must also have a GPA of 3.0 or higher, and almost all the schools require the applicant to take the Graduate Record Examination or the Graduate Management Admissions Test.
President Bush''s 'No Child Left Behind' Act of 2001 requires teachers to be 'highly qualified' and states that a graduate degree is one way to meet that standard.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Cambridge College, in Massachusetts, does not require applicants to take an entrance exam or have a minimum grade point average to be admitted into the master''s program in education.
Students complete half of the required coursework in a five-week summer program and graduate in six months. Almost all the grades given out are 'A's. After completing the program, students are guaranteed a pay increase within their teaching job.
The Wall Street Journal stated that almost all school districts give a salary increase for a master''s credential.
Noelle Van Maren, an administrative assistant and undergraduate in the School of Education at Westminster College, said if a student chooses to go to an easier school for their degree, it is their own loss.
'Although it might not be fair, it is the reality, and I am sure that those programs do not offer as much support, and they are probably not as good in quality,' Van Maren said. 'So it''s really their loss. The real reason for getting a Master''s is not to get paid more but to further develop your own knowledge.'
Others think pay increases should not be based on a master''s credential.
'We ought not automatically reward teachers with a salary increase for master''s degrees,' Jennifer King Rice, who recently wrote an analysis of 80 studies on teacher training, told The Wall Street Journal. 'We should reward instead specific, demonstrated mastery of content and teaching methods.'
Candace Steadman, director of development of the School of Education at the University of Utah, said the decision to employ a teacher is made by the employer at each school district.
'The school districts have to decide whether they want someone who went to a regular formal instructional program versus an online school or a University of Phoenix, if you will,' she said.
Bob Gentry, personnel director for the Provo School District, said when hiring teachers, they look at whether or not the applicant has a teaching license. Letters of recommendation are also used in considering employment, but the school from where applicants received their degree is not as important.
'I''ve seen good people from all the schools,' Gentry said. 'It isn''t as much the school as it is their understanding of the curriculum and their ability to deliver the curriculum.'
However, Gentry said although it is only necessary for an applicant to have a certificate or license, it is true that teachers are paid at a higher scale if they have more semester hours of education.
Each higher level of degree -- bachelor''s degree, master''s degree and doctorate degree -- indicates a percentage of increase in their salaries, Gentry said.
'Now the question is, can a person go out and get a master''s degree and qualify for that with only a semester''s worth of work?' Gentry said. 'That brings up a good question, because we don''t have any policy that would say you have to have so many hours in order to get your master''s degree. We''ve assumed that a master''s degree is a 64 semester hour program.'
Steadman said she hesitates to recommend a program that is a six-month, in-and-out program, that does not have any requirements because the faculty of those programs are not tenure track faculty and many of them don''t have Ph.D.s. They have master''s degrees and they''re adjunct faculty to that institution.
'If you go to the University of Utah, or BYU or any school in the state or the country, for that matter, which is a formally accredited university, students will be studying with faculty who are tenure or tenure track and who have Ph.D.s,' Steadman said. 'Depending on the type of education you want, that''s a consideration for you. But if you really want to study with those who have experience in research and writing in the field, I would go with a regular mainstream academic institution because the faculty are better prepared.'