The Master of Arts in Teaching: Elementary Education is designed to deliver outstanding teacher preparation.
Licensure: Upon successful completion of Elementary Education: Licensure degree requirements, candidates are eligible to apply for a Professional Educator License (PEL) with an elementary endorsement from the state of Illinois for grades 1 through 6.
Non-Licensure: Upon successful completion of Elementary Education: Non-Licensure degree requirements, candidates are not eligible to apply for any state of Illinois endorsement.
Pathway 1: Upon successful completion of Pathway 1 degree requirements, candidates are eligible to apply for a Professional Educator License (PEL) with an elementary endorsement from the state of Illinois for grades 1 through 6.
Degree Requirements - Licensure
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Prerequisites to Professional Courses | ||
| EDUC-6150 | Foundations in Education | 3 |
| EDUC-6250 | Integrating and Assessing Learning in Diverse Classrooms | 3 |
| EDUC-6350 | Theories of Learning, Language Acquisition and Cognition Across Cultures | 3 |
| Professional Courses: Students must be admitted to Teacher Candidacy to continue | ||
| EDEL-6901 | Teaching English Language Arts: Content | 3 |
| EDEL-6902 | Teaching English Language Arts: Methods and Assessment | 3 |
| EDEL-6908 | Teaching Science: Content, Methods and Assessment | 3 |
| EDEL-6910 | Teaching Social Studies: Content, Methods and Assessment | 3 |
| EDEL-6918 | Teaching Physical Education and the Fine Arts: Content, Methods and Assessment | 3 |
| EDEL-6919 | Teaching Elementary Math for 21st Century Learners | 3 |
| EDEL-6922 | Professionalism, Leadership, Communication and Ethics for Pre-service Elementary Teachers | 3 |
| EDUC-6290 | Characteristics and Instruction of Exceptional Learners | 3 |
| Student Teaching Internship | ||
| EDUC-6985 | Student Teaching Seminar 1 | 0 |
| Select one: | ||
| EDUC-6921 | Student Teaching: Elementary Education | 6 |
| EDUC-6925 | MAT Capstone 2 | 3 |
| Total Hours | 36-39 | |
- 1
To be taken concurrently with student teaching or capstone.
- 2
This course may only be taken with special approval of the Director of Field Experience and the Division Chair
Students may not take a course as Pass/Fail if the course is mandated by their licensure program through ISBE, excluding the student teaching internship, MAT capstone, and the edTPA courses.
Students must have a grade of C or higher in all master's courses and content coursework for successful program completion.
Required Content Coursework (18 semester hours):
- Requires grades of C or higher in college-level coursework (not remedial) to fulfill content coursework requirements.
- Must be completed at regionally accredited institution(s) of higher education and be documented on official transcript(s).
- 3 semester hours: English Language Arts (composition or literature)
- 3 semester hours: Mathematics (algebra, geometry or statistics)
- 3 semester hours: Science (biological or physical science)
- 3 semester hours: Social Studies (history, government or geography)
- 6 additional semester hours from required categories above or fine arts, speech, psychology or humanities.
Clinical Experience (Pre-Professional Hours)
- Minimum of 100 hours (all pre-professional hours are embedded in the MAT coursework).
- Each course will describe the number of hours required to be completed in classrooms and the nature of the experience that a candidate must complete.
Pathway 2: Pathway 2 graduates are not eligible for any state of Illinois endorsement upon completion of this program.
Degree Requirements - Non-Licensure
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Prerequisites to Professional Courses | ||
| EDUC-6150 | Foundations in Education | 3 |
| EDUC-6250 | Integrating and Assessing Learning in Diverse Classrooms | 3 |
| EDUC-6350 | Theories of Learning, Language Acquisition and Cognition Across Cultures | 3 |
| Professional Courses | ||
| EDEL-6901 | Teaching English Language Arts: Content | 3 |
| EDEL-6902 | Teaching English Language Arts: Methods and Assessment | 3 |
| EDEL-6908 | Teaching Science: Content, Methods and Assessment | 3 |
| EDEL-6910 | Teaching Social Studies: Content, Methods and Assessment | 3 |
| EDEL-6918 | Teaching Physical Education and the Fine Arts: Content, Methods and Assessment | 3 |
| EDEL-6919 | Teaching Elementary Math for 21st Century Learners | 3 |
| EDEL-6922 | Professionalism, Leadership, Communication and Ethics for Pre-service Elementary Teachers | 3 |
| EDUC-6290 | Characteristics and Instruction of Exceptional Learners | 3 |
| Total Hours | 30 | |
Students must have a grade of C or higher in all master's courses and content coursework for successful program completion.
Required Content Coursework (18 semester hours):
- Requires grades of C or higher in college-level coursework (not remedial) to fulfill content coursework requirements.
- Must be completed at regionally accredited institution(s) of higher education and be documented on official transcript(s).
- 3 semester hours: English Language Arts (composition or literature)
- 3 semester hours: Mathematics (algebra, geometry or statistics)
- 3 semester hours: Science (biological or physical science)
- 3 semester hours: Social Studies (history, government or geography)
- 6 additional semester hours from required categories above or fine arts, speech, psychology or humanities.
Clinical Experience (Pre-Professional Hours)
- Minimum of 100 hours (all pre-professional hours are embedded in the MAT coursework).
- Each course will describe the number of hours required to be completed in classrooms and the nature of the experience that a candidate must complete.