Master of Arts in Teaching (Dual Certification-Special Education & Elementary Education) - SEDD

Program Coordinator: Shridevi Rao, raos@tcnj.edu

Forcina Hall 308, 609/771-2308

Important Links

MAT (SEDD) program planner 2007-08

Application & Deadlines

Quick Links

Prospective Students

Description and Prerequisites

Current Students

Internships

Applying for Student Teaching

Praxis Exam

Graduating from the MAT Program

DESCRIPTION AND PREREQUISITES

This Master of Arts in Teaching Program (SEDD) is a 39-credit program that culminates
in a Master’s degree along with dual certification in Special Education and Elementary
Education. Encompassing skills in the areas of positive behavior supports, differentiated
instruction, curriculum adaptation, literacy and math, this initial certification program provides
students with a comprehensive repertoire of strategies designed to prepare them to teach
diverse learners. All of our courses are based on the current best practices in the field.

Prerequisites for this program include a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited or approved
institution, 60 credits in undergraduate liberal arts and 2 courses each in English, History,
Math and Science or an undergraduate major in a content area. Students are also required
to submit GRE scores. For students who are currently employed in a school, this program
provides you with an opportunity to work and complete your graduate degree at the same
time through an alternate route track.

INTERNSHIPS

1. EDUC 694-Internship I/SPED 691 Internship I

EDUC 694 is the first internship in the program. Full time students and students who are currently
not working register for EDUC 694. Instructors for EDUC 694 arrange for the field placement that
is tied to this course. Students registered for EDUC 694 should expect to be in the field initially for
five half days in the semester and then eventually towards the end of the semester, for five full
days in the semester. There is also a seminar that meets on a weekly basis in conjunction with this course. Students registered for EDUC 694 are not required to submit a STEP application.

SPED 691 is a course that is equivalent to EDUC 694. SPED 691 is ONLY meant for students who are currently working in a school. This internship provides students who are working in an instructional setting to complete this internship “on the job”. In order to register for SPED 691, the placement has to meet certain criteria:

The setting has to be a school, not a hospital or an out patient program
The setting has to be elementary-K through 5

The setting should have students with disabilities as a part of the setting

The school should be willing to assign a mentor who can observe the graduate student and provide feedback on teaching

The setting should provide opportunities for students to plan and execute small group and large group lessons.

SPED 691 is ONLYoffered in the Fall semester.
All students applying for SPED 691 have to fill out the STEP application.

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2. Internship II (SPED 695) requirements for the MAT program

All students enrolled in the Master of Arts in Teaching program have to complete Internship II-Student teaching experience. Students are required to have completed all other coursework before enrolling in Internship II. In some cases, students might be allowed to take one additional course along with student teaching.

This is a program that culminates in certification in elementary and special education. Thus Internship II has to be completed at an inclusive-elementary setting. Please contact your advisor for details on the nature of the placement required for this program.
If you are planning to do student teaching “on the job”, you need to first discuss your plans to do so with the administration of the school district. Student teaching is an experience that involves designing and executing lessons for a variety of subject areas. It also requires that you eventually take over the instruction and planning for the class. If you are currently working as a ‘teaching assistant’, this may conflict with the responsibilities of student teaching. You need to discuss your situation with the district to make sure they will support you with this experience. Some students have resolved this by taking a leave of absence.

In addition to the above requirement, please refer to the STEP Guidelines and Policies for Student Teaching for additional details.

Student teaching is comprised of several key assignments. Apart from lesson planning and lesson execution, candidates are required to design and implement a Teacher Work Sample project. This is an intense project that includes the design and implementation of a unit. Apart from the TWS, MAT students enrolled in EDUC 615 will also be completing an electronic portfolio and an inquiry project. Students are strongly advised not to register for more than one course with student teaching.

Evaluation of student performance in the internship experiences is based on the required assignments as well as the performance in the field based components of the experience. Student performance in the field will be evaluated through the use of the teaching performance assessment checklist, the teaching dispositions checklist, lesson observation rubric and the departmental checklist.

APPLYING FOR STUDENT TEACHING

In order to apply for student teaching, students are required to fill out the STEP application and provide other supporting documents. Please refer to the STEP application process for details.

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PRAXIS EXAM

All students enrolled in this program are required to take the Elementary Education Praxis Exam. It is recommended that the exam be taken in the middle or towards the end of your program. For alternate route candidates, you need to take this exam before you apply for a CE (Certificate of Eligibility).

New Jersey: Praxis Test Requirements

GRADUATING FROM THE MAT PROGRAM

Completing all the requirements of the program

You need to check with your advisor that you have completed all the requirements for your program. You are not ready to graduate if you have even one course or even a one credit independent study left to complete.

Applying for graduation

You must apply for graduation using TESS and submit the Conferment of Degree form. There are three graduation times each school year: May, August and December. May applications are due in January, August applications are due in February and December applications are due in September. The graduation application fee is $75.00. Students who apply after the application deadline will be charged a $35.00 late fee.

Taking the Elementary Education Content Knowledge Praxis Exam

All MAT students need to take the Elementary Education Content Knowledge Test (#10014) or the Praxis II Exam. Information about the tests is available at ETS. If you have not taken the test already, you should make arrangements to take it soon. The praxis scores are needed for certification and graduation.

Prerequisites

If you had prerequisite courses that you were asked to complete as a part of this program, submit the transcripts related to those courses to Shri Rao at the beginning of the semester when you are graduating.

NJ health requirements

NJ State Department of Education "Health & Hygiene" requirement for initial teacher certification is: Any college-level course in biology, nutrition, general health/wellness, or military basic training is acceptable. The course must appear on a 4-year college transcript (ok if listed & credited as transferred in). Candidates who do not have a course in any of these areas must take a T/F test at any NJ County Superintendent of Schools Office. The list of County Superintendents is on the NJ DOE website at www.state.nj.us/education This, and other certification information is located at the TCNJ certification website, at tcnj.edu/~educat/ (in menu, go to TCNJ Certification/Praxis tests).