Why spend the money to get an non-ALA accredited degree? Many states
do not require such a degree for school library media jobs. I feel
that I am extremely fortunate to be within commuting distance of a
university that is ALA accredited, but the majority of school library
media specialists are not that lucky. Many many many of these people
are working full time while pursuing their master's degree. While
there are beginning to be more online components, it is still
difficult and expensive to get the degree entirely online. For me,
the choice was quite easy since the ALA school and the education
college (not ALA) were pretty much equidistant from my
home. Differences in tuition were not extreme at that point
either. And again, fortunately the ALA school had geared their
program so that course work could be completed during summer sessions
and night classes. However for many of my colleagues here in the
state, this school is not within commuting distance. Living near
campus for 8 weeks during a summer session is simply beyond the
financial and logistical capability of many teachers, particularly
those with young families. As a SLMS, the way of increasing my pay
is to get a masters and additional credits. So, if the ALA school is
not available to me, then I will go to a school that is available.
What is the solution? More ALA schools need to offer more options
for the non-traditional student. More classes that are entirely
online, more courses offered off-site etc. Tuition costs need to be
examined as well. This fall a 3 cr. grad. class will be roughly
$1800 at the ALA school and $1200 at the non-ALA school in my
area. That difference is a lot for most students pursuing a master's
degree. When you compare that cost to a 3 cr. grad. level course
done by correspondence that is priced at about $300, the differential
is even more pronounced.
So, I have an ALA masters. My school district doesn't care whether
it is ALA or not. My state department of education doesn't care
whether it is ALA or not. And with the current cost of tuition, all
of my additional credits are now coming from correspondence
professional development classes from Fresno Pacific or LaVerne. I
suspect that I share these characteristics with many of my colleagues
here in the state and on LM_Net.
At 09:33 AM 8/11/2007, Sarah wrote:
>I'm not sure why anyone would spend all that money to get an unaccredited
>degree. It just seems like an awfully big risk, especially given that EVERY
>job I've ever considered--both school and public--has required one. It is
>possible to work as a librarian without your MLS (especially, for example,
>in VT, where I grew up), and there are always people who are the exception
>to the rule in various jobs, but just like with a law, medical, or business
>degree, there has to be some standard by which the degree program is judged.
>Otherwise, what's the value in having librarianship be a professional degree
>at all? (Perhaps that's debatable?)
>
>Here's a link to the ALA's standards:
>http://www.ala.org/ala/accreditation/accredstandards/standardsnumpara.html
>
Anne
Anne Oelke
mailto:anne@oelke.com
Pfaff 2140/44/70, Singer 221 (Featherweight), Singer 237,
Singer 72W19 Hemstitcher, & Serger
Sew Happy in Wisconsin
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