Pros
In center-based early intervention/early childhood program: -great learning experience if you are interested in center-based early intervention -teachers have the opportunity to supervise others, develop IEPs, learn about OT/PT/ST if therapists in your building are skilled and collaborative -day-to-day can be positive if your program coordinator is a good manager -very good curriculum and philosophy on early childhood and inclusion, but I'm sure its implementation varies from center to center
Cons
In center-based early intervention: -large class sizes -minimal hours for children with special needs -make more the first year as a teacher (w/ hourly rate plus sign-on bonus) than you will any subsequent year- no cost of living increases, no raises -teachers take on roles of case workers like doing intake forms -any absence is covered by a temp agency person who likely knows nothing about teaching or working with children with special needs -forced vacations, i.e. you must use a lot of your PTO hours in December -poor tuition reimbursement, relatively expensive benefits (I pay less through private pay than I did at KenCrest- and for nothing special) -priority #1 seems to be $$$, and they do not pass this along to the people doing the daily work and mission of the organization