What is required to teach K-12 Art in WA state? (credit, find a job)

[ElektroDragon]

My wife and I have been living in WA state for almost 4 years now, and she'd like to try to get into teaching now as she's turning 30. She has had great difficulty so far obtaining this information, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

What form of college degree is required to teach Art at K-12 schools in WA? My wife has a pretty recent Associate's in Commercial Art from a NY state public community college. Would she need to get a Bachelor's in Fine Art, or a Master's in Fine Art to teach Art in WA? And what extra teaching degrees and certifications would she need?

How likely is it that any of her credits from the completed Associate's Degree in Commercial Art from the SUNY school would count towards the WA state Fine Arts or Teaching degrees she may need?

Thanks for taking the time to possibly help us! If you know any Art teachers, please point them to this thread! She has tried e-mailing admissions offices, etc. with these questions, but amazingly they can't give any simple, relevant answers (if they answer at all).

[sean98125]

Certification - Teacher

[hamellr]

Luck in finding an open job and getting yourself to the top of the list is the most important requirement.

[duckieee]

One thing she should take into consideration about wanting to teach art is that many schools are doing away with the traditional art teacher, and replacing it with an art docent, which is more times than not a parent volunteer - at least in the elementary schools. It's not much different in high schools where they have an art teacher who teaches at the high school level at multiple high schools in a district.

In the state of Washington I'm pretty sure there is only one 4 year university that offers a degree in Art Education. Some people will get a degree in Art and then their Masters in Teaching (MIT), which seems like the route you are talking about. To see about coursework transferring, she needs to find a school, and sit down with someone and go over her transcripts from her SUNY. If she has her AA completed, it should transfer over as a whole and allow her to start working towards a BFA if that's what she wants. And then like I said, afterwards, she would probably need to complete a MIT program which is typically about a full year. You can also find information about other pathways on OSPI that another poster linked.

If she wants to teach elementary art, I would highly recommend getting a degree in elementary education and a minor in art because with budget cuts, integration of the arts is a teachers best friend. I don't know much about secondary art education other than it's really difficult to find a job teaching art in the high school setting in a public school.

Hopefully I helped you understand a path to get a teaching certificate.

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by duckieee

One thing she should take into consideration about wanting to teach art is that many schools are doing away with the traditional art teacher, and replacing it with an art docent, which is more times than not a parent volunteer - at least in the elementary schools. It's not much different in high schools where they have an art teacher who teaches at the high school level at multiple high schools in a district.

Correct, or teaches art and 2-3 other classes. That would require an education degree and a masters is preferable to be able to compete. There is just no money left in the budget for art any more, as teachers are still being laid off, class sizes increased and schools closed. At our district music is the same way now,
after cutting those programs they are expecting to be able to keep all of the rest of the teachers for the fall.