Rivet School Walks with Students on the Educator Pathway

written in partnership with study.com

Navigating Individualized Routes to a Teaching Career

If you're like many aspiring teachers, you find the traditional route to a degree and certification challenging, frustrating, and sometimes impossible to fit into your busy life. Even alternative pathways, such as evening classes or summer course schedules, don't provide the necessary flexibility to juggle work, family, and other responsibilities let alone time to take a beat and prioritize wellness and mental health.  

Not every student is the same, so what works for someone else might not work for you. You need a program that gives you the freedom to fit school in when you can, resources to complete the work, and support to answer your questions and help you cross that finish line to enter your own classroom as a teacher.  

Rivet School provides exactly that with online, self-paced, competency-based education for students in the Educator Pathway Program. "What competency-based education means is instead of demonstrating your understanding or mastery of the skill by taking a test, getting a grade, or doing multiple assignments which then culminate in a test, you do research to find solutions to a problem or scenario. You are getting hands-on skills and practical knowledge," said Tanise Smith, a College Coach at Rivet School. "Instead of three units per class, it's three assignments per goal. So one goal is equal to one class."

In addition to the more equitable method of education that a competency-based program offers, Rivet School's coaches provide the information, motivation and encouragement, and wraparound services you need to realize your dream of becoming a teacher.

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Students Reflect on Their Journey

‍Making a Difference with Community-Related Coaching

Empowering students is the focal point of Rivet School, and the coaches reflect the student population that they serve. Your assigned coach is matched specifically to you and will walk with you through your program from start to finish.

Coaches, like Tanise Smith, provide regular support, feedback, encouragement, and help connect you to services and resources you need to get you across the finish line and into a classroom.  

"Onboarding is a 6-week free trial period, unique to our program, where you get acquainted with your program, meet your coach, set expectations, and get a feel for the system. You can even start your submission process, receive masteries, and receive feedback," said Tanise to a new cohort of Rivet School students. "I encourage students to lean into the program, pausing, give yourself grace, and not have an adverse impact on your career journey. When we set your pace, we set it with a buffer. So I'm intentionally pushing you to reach your goal with the notion that we're going to give you grace for those weeks where life is life'ing."

When life happens, your coach is also there to find you the assistance you need to get through the rough spots so you can get back on track toward your degree. Those wraparound services can mean emergency funding and grants, community referrals, and mental health resources.

Students Praise Their Coaches

Easing Student Stress with Resources & Support

Your success not only depends on the effort you put into your education but also your ability to participate, and several things can influence that.  

Financial Support

Because Rivet School sets tuition cost based on the federal Pell Grant, the undergraduate program is affordable on its own. However, scholarships and grants significantly reduce the cost of the Educator Pathway Program, and you can earn a degree with little to no debt. Rivet can help you find interest-free loans or other sources of funding as well. In addition, Fellows can apply for up to $600 each year from an emergency fund and can access up to $100 a year for professional development, which can include paying for exam fees or continuing education costs.

Technical Support

Rivet School is aware of the digital divide that prevents students from being able to access education but doesn't let that be a roadblock. If you need a laptop or a quiet space to study and work on your projects, that's another service that you'll have with Rivet.  

Testing & Certification Support

Exams will be part of the process to get your teaching credential and Rivet has you covered there, too. Through the partnership with Study.com's Keys to the Classroom, you have access to free Praxis, CBEST, and CSET resources and practice tests to help you ace your teacher certification exams.

Community-based Resources

All work and no play can lead to stagnation and burnout, which is why Rivet School offers free access to their virtual health and wellbeing platform. Coaches encourage students to take care of their mental health first and can connect them with local health and wellness resources.  

‍Students Describe Their Support Experiences

Helping Teacher Support Staff Step Toward Their Future

Nearly a third of Rivet School students are classified school staff who are enrolled in the Educator Pathway Program. "We partner with different school districts to recruit school staff who don't have a bachelor's degree and have been in these communities for many, many years as such dedicated educators but can't unlock the official teacher position because they don't have a bachelor's degree," said Tammy Huynh, the Senior Career Program Strategist at Rivet School.  

For paraprofessionals, teacher assistants, and instructional aides who dream of teaching in their own classroom someday, that dream may not be as far off as they think. For those who already have some college credit, Rivet can help identify transferable credits and fill in any gaps in general education coursework.  

Students Aspire for More

Educator Pathway Paving New Roads

Starting in California, Rivet School brought affordable, accessible, flexible teacher education to students in the Bay Area. Since then, the Educator Pathway program has expanded to Chicago, New Orleans, and Las Vegas - cities that have high teacher shortages and a substantial lack of teachers of color.  

These cities benefit greatly from Rivet School's model, with coaches and resources that represent the community and student populations they serve. "When we're thinking about our expansion, we want to make sure we're hiring people who are from those communities, so they have that shared experience and perspective to be able to guide our students," said Tammy. "Luckily, Study.com is already there. They already have the resources we need to support those future teachers. We've also been able to tap into existing partnerships with different school districts in those cities, and they're able to tell us in real time what's going on with the process to become a teacher there. We're really relying on them."

“We are mindful of the diverse needs of our students as we expand to new regions,” says Bianca Delgado, Digital Content Strategist at Rivet School. “As we grow, we have intentionally hired coaches embedded within each region’s community to ensure our support continues to be highly-personalized and effective. What works well in California might not resonate with students in New Orleans, for example.”

The average time students typically take to earn a bachelor’s degree is 15 months. To sweeten the deal, Rivet continues walking on the journey to the classroom with up to 9 months of career coaching after graduation. This plus the teacher certification assistance, coaching, graduate school partnership, and wraparound supports make the Educator Pathway Program a full-package deal.

Study.com Author: Alina Lehtinen-Vela