PORTERVILLE COLLEGE EDUCATION CAREERS PROGRAM
The Education Careers Program at Porterville College provides future educators with information and resources to succeed in their education at Porterville College and beyond. The services offered include counseling and advising, career path guidance, workshops, information sessions, university campus tours, and more! Keep up with our virtual newsletter for our latest events and for resources that benefit future educators
SPRING 2024 EVENTS
FALL 2023 HIGHLIGHTS
Check out some pictures below of the events we held during the FALL 2023 semester. We are so excited to create memories and help you all with resources during this semester!
Careers Options
Speech-Language Pathologist
Speech-Language Pathologists Do
Speech-language pathologists assess and treat people who have communication disorders. Speech-language pathologists typically do the following:
- Evaluate levels of speech, language, or swallowing difficulty
- Identify clients' goals for treatment
- Create and carry out an individualized treatment plan that addresses specific functional needs
- Teach clients how to make sounds, improve their voices, and maintain fluency
- Help clients improve vocabulary and sentence structure
- Work with clients to develop and strengthen the muscles used to swallow
- Counsel clients and their families on how to cope with communication and swallowing disorders
Work Environment:
Some speech-language pathologists work in schools. Others work in private practice or in hospitals or nursing and residential care facilities. Most speech-language pathologists are full time, but part-time work is common.
Education Needed:
Speech-language pathologists typically need at least a master’s degree in speech-language pathology. All states require that speech-language pathologists be licensed. Requirements for licensure vary by state.
Pay:
The median annual wage for speech-language pathologists was $84,140 in May 2022.
Job Outlook:
Employment of speech-language pathologists is projected to grow 19 percent from 2022 to 2032, much faster than the average for all occupations. About 13,200 openings for speech-language pathologists are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
Reference:
What is a Behavior Intervention Specialist?
A behavior intervention specialist, also called behavior interventionist or behavior therapist, works with children to treat their behavior, help them develop life skills and improve their social interaction. This term can include those who work at any certification level. A behavior intervention specialist prioritizes inclusion to improve the quality and experience of education for their clients and other children.
What do behavior intervention specialist do?
A behavior intervention specialist works primarily with children in a variety of environments like homes and schools. They use applied behavioral intervention techniques to developing children's skills so that they can better respond to their environment. They might work with children who have diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or anger problems. The job includes three types of duties: Performing psychological analysisA behavior intervention specialist has a background in psychology that prepares them to observe clients and create treatment plans to help them adjust certain behaviors. This involves:
- Performing psychological analysis: A behavior intervention specialist has a background in psychology that prepares them to observe clients and create treatment plans to help them adjust certain behaviors. This involves:
- Providing treatment: After analysis, a behavior intervention specialist helps implement their treatment plans to increase a child's social and emotional skills. Here are some steps involved:
- Communicating: A behavior intervention specialist works to educate those who might interact with their clients and the general public. They mainly they help inform parents and teachers who work with their clients so that they can consistently apply treatment plans at home and school. They also increase public awareness of behavioral patterns by sharing information about diagnoses.
Steps to become Behavior Intervention Specialist
- Earn a bachelor's degree- to work at higher behavior intervention levels, obtain a bachelor's degree in early childhood development, education, psychology, nursing or a related field. Taking behavior-analytic coursework can help prepare you for later certification exams. You might look specifically for applied behavioral analysis classes and coursework on interventions for behavioral adjustment.
- Continue your education- If you'd like to become a Board Certified Behavioral Analyst, you next complete a master's degree. You can use behavior-analysis coursework, faculty teaching and coursework or postdoctoral experience to qualify you for the BCBA exam.
- Gain experience - Receiving any certification requires completing a certain number of hours of supervised experience, or fieldwork, in an area relevant to the work you'd like to do. After selecting your focus, find an organized and experienced supervisor. It's important to keep good records of your fieldwork because the BACB may verify this experience through an audit process at any time. Your amount of fieldwork depends on your route to certification. Depending on what level you are aiming for and what education or experience you already have, it can range from 500 to 2,000 hours.
- The exception to this fieldwork requirement is the Registered Behavior Technician level. Because this level is designed for those without specific experience or education, it requires an initial competency exam but doesn't require fieldwork to get the initial certification.
- Become certified - After you finish your education and gain experience, you can begin the certification process by sending in an application and fee. The process consists of taking a multiple-choice exam. The RBT exam has 80 questions covering skill acquisition and professional behavior and takes ninety minutes to complete. The BCABA and BCBA exams cover behavior-analytic skills and client responsibilities and take four hours to complete. After finishing the exam, you find out immediately whether you pass, and you can retake the exams if you need to.
- Becoming certified by the BACB is different from completing a certificate program from a university. Most employers across the country accept the BACB certification levels. A certificate from a university program may qualify you for some jobs, but it may not be nationally recognized.
Average salary and job outlook
The average salary for a behavior intervention specialist in the U.S. is $44,022 annually. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), all behavioral disorder and mental health counselor careers are projected to grow 25% from 2019 to 2029.
Alumni Spotlight
Julisa Andrade
My Journey to Become a Teacher My name is Julisa Andrade-Bedolla, and I am currently a third-grade teacher at Alta Vista Elementary School in Porterville, California. I have been teaching third-grade for 2.5 years. Prior to becoming an elementary school teacher, I attended Porterville College where I obtained an Associate of Arts in Social Science and in Liberal Arts: Arts & Humanities in 2018. Subsequently, I transferred to Fresno Pacific University where I obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts in 2020 and a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential in 2022. I am now one semester away from obtaining a Master of Arts in Teaching at Fresno Pacific University. My goal is to obtain a Master of Arts in Teaching to enhance my instructional skills and be better equipped to address the diverse learning needs of my students. I also hope to become a college instructor in the future to support future educators. With the dedicated support of my Porterville College counselor, Ana Ceballos, I was able to successfully graduate from Porterville College and transfer to Fresno Pacific University. I was also able to become part of the California Mini-Corps Program with her guidance. This program gave me an opportunity to provide tutoring services to migrant students in Porterville during my educational journey at Porterville College. It also opened multiple doors for me in the education field and placed me in the school I am currently working at as an elementary school teacher. Furthermore, with the support of my Mini-Corps coordinators, Leonor Serna and Cynthia Escudero, I was able to acquire a greater love for teaching and learn new teaching strategies that are essential to my current teaching practice. As an elementary school teacher, I can attest to the challenges and joys that come with this profession. Each day brings new opportunities to inspire, nurture, and ignite the spark of learning in the hearts of students. A message I have for future educators is: Education is not just about imparting knowledge; it is about fostering curiosity, instilling confidence, and cultivating a love for lifelong learning. Your role as an educator will extend far beyond the classroom; you will shape the future leaders, innovators, and changemakers of tomorrow. Remember, you will have the power to shape the future, one lesson at a time!
Alondra Diaz Cortez
My name is Alondra Diaz Cortez, my major is a bilingual elementary teacher. I transferred from Porterville College to Fresno State I am currently in the ITEP program from Visalia (which is an extension to the main campus). I am from the United States and Mexico. My career goals are to become a teacher and help students learn in a fun and positive way and make sure that they feel that school is a second home for them. My experience at PC was great I found a lot of people who helped me all the teachers and my counselor Ana Ceballos were always there when I needed something. I also found a lot of programs that helped me for example, the EOPS program which has a lot of benefits, it helps with books and other things. There is also a mini corps program that helps students who want to become teachers to have experience in the field and it’s a work that a lot of people who want to become teachers should try because it’s training to become better-prepared teachers. Some tips I can give to future teachers and other students are to never be afraid to try new things to get the experience that they need and that “ The pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow” which means that all the effort that you are making today one day will be worth it.