Major Requirements

The M.S. program is available to those seeking advanced study in education, but not a teacher certification program. It is a 30 credit flexible degree program, which encompasses a number of fields of practice in education. Each program of study is developed individually with an advisor in a specific content area of teaching and/or areas of special interest. Consider these examples:

• A social studies teacher, one could elect courses on contemporary pedagogies, learn how to nurture literacy skills within a curriculum, learn how to address citizenship and counter the effects of the media on student biases, or study with world-class political scientists at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship.
• An art educator could expand an understanding of curriculum by teaching in specialized workshops for children, could engage in an art medium with which they are less familiar through the School of Art and Design, or could studying cross-cultural arts and interdisciplinary curricula.
• An elementary education teacher could learn how to promote reading progress among students for whom this is a challenge, how to teach children for whom learning English is difficult, or how to adapt instruction to the unique needs of children with different learning styles.

These personalized plans of study will also incorporate the following elements:

• At least one course in basic research methods, in analysis of research or in tests and assessments
• At least four graduate level courses in the student’s field of teaching certification
• At least one course from outside the area of teaching certification

At the end of the program, students must successfully complete two requirements: compilation and presentation of an acceptable Professional Portfolio, and a Master’s Intensive Exam.

Special permission is required for application to this program.