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Program Overview
Secondary Education graduates hold teaching positions in the United States and around the world. They find teaching jobs in public, private, and charter schools-typically the jobs they want, in the places they prefer.
Collaborate with faculty on current research and gain invaluable experience teaching at the middle and high school levels. Specialize in the area you plan to teach in either a 1-year or 2-year program that includes licensure. Deepen your understanding of subject matter for teaching, focusing on eliciting students' ideas about subject matter and connecting students' ideas to that subject matter, all while partnering with schools as a member of a teaching team.
- Secondary licensure in Grades 6-12
- Social Studies
- Science (biology, chemistry, earth science, physics)
- Mathematics
- English
- Licensure in Grades K-12
- Music
- Licensure in Grades preK-12
Careers
Of job-seeking Secondary Education graduates, 96% were employed or attending graduate school within four months of graduation. Examples of careers for program graduates:
- Eighth Grade Science Teacher, Jefferson Middle School, Champaign, Illinois
- English Teacher, Los Gatos High School, Los Gatos, California
- History Teacher, IB School Quito, Ecuador
- Science Teacher, Hume-Fogg High School, Nashville, Tennessee
- Teaching Assistant, Fulbright Western Hemisphere, Buenos Aries, Argentina
Program Facts
Program Director: Heather Johnson
Admissions Coordinator: Angie Saylor
Admission Term: Summer (1-year program), Fall (2-year program)
Credit Hours: 30-32 hours for those seeking licensure in Math, Music, Science, and Social Studies; 31-35 hours for those seeking licensure in English
Priority Application Deadline: January 3* for fall entrance
*We will continue to accept applications after this date, but applications will be evaluated for admission and scholarships as space and funds are available.
Program Curriculum
There are two coursework tracks to the Secondary Education degree, allowing you to complete the master's degree in one year (June through May) or over four semesters in two years.
Making your choice for the 1-year or 2-year program depends upon your point of entry into the program, how many courses you want to take each semester, and whether you want to pursue opportunities that involve being in schools full time during your second year of the two-year program.
Coursework
Our Commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
As a secondary education program, our mission is to engage teacher candidates in justice-oriented, disciplinary pedagogies. We work to understand the systemic inequities in our schools and society. We care deeply that teacher candidates bring their humanity to this work, in a way that develops and sustains their cultural identities.
Our vision is to prepare teachers to teach toward a more just society, to build teachers who embrace their students' humanity as they:
- bridge theoretical and practical models for teaching,
- implement curricula focused on rigor, joy, and socio-political consciousness,
- develop a commitment to work toward educational equity and access, and
- envision their role in working toward productive system-level change.
Our vision embraces the notion that our students are both honoring their own positionality and seeking to understand and embrace the same in their students.