Posts Tagged school system
Online Psychology Degree Programs – Let’s Talk About It!
The field of psychology is ever expanding, as more psychologists are needed in school systems, and business, as well as the more traditional clinical role of counseling. The US Department of Labor expects the need for psychologists to increase more than the average occupation into 2014. An online degree program may be the avenue to obtaining the advanced degree needed to practice as a psychologist.
Entry-level psychology requires a masters or doctoral degree. A psychologist with a master’s degree can work in the organizational psychology arena or work with a limited license in collaboration with a doctoral prepared psychologist. A PhD is required to practice as an independent counselor, in a clinical setting, a health care facility or in a school. A PhD is also required for research.
The American Psychological Association (APA) accredits schools of psychology. It is important that the online college or university that you select to attend has this accreditation.
Four out of 10 psychologists are self-employed, and two out of ten are employed in a health care facility. In the year 2004 there were approximately 179,000 employed psychologists.
The median salary for a psychologist was $54,000 in 2004.The average salary for a psychologist employed in another health care providers office was $64,000, in a school it was $58,000, in an outpatient clinic $46,000 and for a private office specializing in individual and family counseling the average salary was $42,000.
Programs for the study of psychology specialize in the following areas: clinical, cognitive, counseling, developmental, educational, neuropsychological, health, forensics, rehabilitation and sports psychology.
Competition for places in a doctoral or masters program is steep. Starting an online college degree program may be the segue to obtaining that degree.
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Why I Should Have Gotten an Online School Psychology Degree
Thinking about an online school psychology degree? I was in your same shoes not too long ago. I have to say, I chose to go a different rout and obtain a doctorate degree in Education Psychology. But I still think about school psychology and wonder if that would have been a better choice.
Don’t get me wrong – I really like Education Psychology but at times it can get very lonely. I have found that working as an Education Psychologist I spend a lot of time alone in my office, working on data spreadsheets and graphs. I don’t interact with parents and students as much as I would like. While much of my tasks revolve around data analysis aimed at improving student achievement and class instruction sometimes I wish the job called for a bit more interaction with others. In this respect, I think a school psychology degree would be a better choice.
School psychologist:
- Work with students (elementary or secondary school)
- Collaborate with teachers/parents
- Address behavioral and learning problems
- Work on improving learning environment
- Have summers off
Sounds like something you would like to do? If so, read on! You may be well suited for a school psychology degree.
Education and Courses
Most States require a specialist degree for someone to work as a school psychologist. Online school psychology degree programs usually require approximately 3 years of full time graduate study and a full year of internship. Because school psychologist work with delegate issues related to student mental health, shadowing and observing the work of an experienced school psychologist is very valuable.
Where would I work with a school psychology degree?
As a school psychologist you could work in various educational settings, from schools and education institutions to clinics, mental health and child unit hospitals. Additionally, you could have your own private practice and work from home. Finally, you could work for government or industry.
Selecting the Best School Psychology Degree Program
There are over 200 school psychology education programs. It’s great to have this much choice but at the same time, it can be quite overwhelming. In selecting a program:
- Consider the program philosophy first. Differing philosophies will lead to different preparation and equip you for different aspects of the job.
- Consider your potential school psychology degree programs faculty base.
- Consult with current graduate students.
Benefits of obtaining your degree Online
An online school psychology degree program will allow for great flexibility in your schedule. You can work from home, thus saving on both gas and time. You can work on your degree at your own pace and timetable. You will not be able to complete the internship portion of your education online, however all your coursework can be completed through distance learning.
Careers and Salary with a school psychology degree
With a degree in school psychology you will be able to choose a career in research, teaching in higher education or working within the school system. With appropriate licensing, you could work in a private practice.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that school psychologist will be one of the fastest growing careers well into 2014. This same source states that the median national wage for a school psychologist is $56,950.
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How and Why Teachers Are Making Math Fun For the High School Student
High failure rates in the subject of math and concerns that students are not learning the math skills they need has caused many parents and teachers to find better sources for supplementing their child’s education. Many of these math resources are found online and to this day are being developed, tested and reviewed due to the high demand for better math skills. Within the last few years the results are in and prove to be highly successful.
Math can be fun but regrettably, students, teachers and administrators are concerned that math has not been enjoyable or fun for the student thus, they lose interest in the process of learning. This has prompted the concerned to research new ways to teach math, new ways to learn math and new ways to enjoy a subject that has a reputation of disinterest among the youth.
These teachers, parents, mathematicians and developers have committed to designing new programs, math games, camps, and stirred up enthusiasm for math over the last few years. They are starting to see a positive result in the college entrance exams.
Homeschool families have had the same concerns of the main stream of educators and in the past teaching homeschool math was approached with tripedation. They were apprehensive and would attribute a low exam score to their skills. Although, a student can learn how to solve equations it was more desirable that they learn solid math skills that would give them a better foundation for their everyday adult life. This experience has caused the homeschool family to make math learning a priority through available materials that can be found online and on hand. This also caused the student to engage in online learning which has been found to be desired due to the visual and electronic preference among this generation.
Many of the problems in math were found in the simple task of how the students were taking notes in class. Teachers and parents realized students were going to class and only writing an equation which could not be reiterated at home or during studies. However, online math tutoring and studies allowed the student to engage in a process that follows the whole audible, visual and tactile educational process.
With this system, the online math courses allowed the student to learn without a “lecturing teacher” at their own pace which was found to be faster. Students proved to learn math skills earlier and faster with this type of “hands on” and activity based learning experience.
Sadly, many classrooms in the public and private school systems did not have this type of learning and did not have the computers to allow this educational provision. As a result, they did not fare as well as the online student with online math resources available to them.
In conclusion, the activity-based curriculum appeals to the different learning styles and ended in higher levels of success whereas the “old school” math curriculum which is spent on practicing math problems and listening to audible lectures did not suffice which ended in low test scores in math.
Hopefully, the future of our nation’s success in math related subjects will be pushed to higher levels of advancement through online math learning and online math resources, the achievement of our future generations will have a new found excitement and enthusiasm for its many dimensions of the subject and our world will be better served in many of the industries that are mathematically based.
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