Curriculum and Instruction

Faculty

Maria V. Acevedo Aquino, PhD, University of Arizona

Curriculum as Inquiry
Early Literacy and Global Children’s Literature
Intercultural Understanding

Mary Brady, PhD, Boston College

Administration and Program Design
Curriculum Development for Students with Severe Disabilities

Rachel Chazan Cohen, PhD, Yale University

Early Childhood Program Evaluation and Policy
Parent Engagement in Early Childhood Programs
Parent-Child Interactions

Donna DeGennaro, PhD, University of Pennsylvania

Educational Technology
Learning Sciences

Anne Douglass, PhD, Brandeis University

Early Childhood Social Policy
Children, Families, and Early Childhood Programs
Leadership and Management

Arthur Eisenkraft, PhD, New York University (Director, Center for Science and Math in Context [COSMIC])

Science Education
Physics
Secondary Education

Angel Fettig, PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Early Childhood Special Education
Inclusion
Social Emotional Development

Rona F. Flippo, EdD, University of Florida

Early Childhood Education
Reading and Literacy Education
Teacher Education
Teacher Competency Testing Issues

Michael Gilbert, PhD, University of Washington

Mathematics Education
Mathematics
Curriculum and Instruction
COSMIC

Lisa Gonsalves, PhD, Boston College

Literacy and Assessment
Urban Education

Janna Jackson Kellinger, PhD, Boston College

English Education
Secondary Education
Queer Pedagogy
Technology in Education

Jack Levy, PhD, University of Southern California (Chair, Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction)

Multilingual/Multicultural Education
International Education

Denise Patmon, EdD, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Language Arts and Literacy Instruction
Multicultural Literature
Elementary Education
Teaching Writing, PreK-12

Patricia Paugh, PhD, Boston College

English Language Arts and Literacy Education
Early Childhood Education
Elementary Education
Urban Education

Lianna Pizzo, PhD, Boston College

Early Childhood Language Development
Bilingual Education
Deaf Education

Angela Stone-MacDonald, PhD, Indiana University

Early Intervention
Early Childhood Special Education
International Special Education
African Diaspora Studies

Peter Taylor, PhD, Harvard University

Science, Technology, and Society
Social Analysis of Ecological Change
Reflective Practice

Monica Yudron, EdD, Harvard University

Early Childhood Education: Teacher and Leader Development
Early Childhood Program Evaluation
Prevention and Intervention for Young Children and their Families
Classroom Composition and Child Development in Early Childhood Education and Care Contexts

The Program

The Teacher Education MEd Program is housed in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD), in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Students seeking licensure may specialize in early childhood, elementary, middle, or secondary education through different tracks. Master’s degrees with initial licensure are available through prescribed courses of study approved by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Candidates seeking middle or secondary school initial licensure may also do so through a graduate certificate program. For special education programs, please see “Special Education ” in this publication.

Early Childhood Education:

MEd track with initial licensure (37 credits)

MEd track without licensure (36 credits)

Early education research, policy, and practice (post master’s certificate)

Elementary Education:

MEd track with initial licensure (36 credits)

Middle/Secondary Education:

MEd track with initial licensure (36-39 credits)

Graduate certificate with initial licensure (27-39 credits)

Initial Licensure*

Initial licensure may be sought in

Biology
Chemistry
Earth science
Elementary education
English
History
Mathematics
Middle school: math and science
Physics (Secondary only)
Spanish

* For English Language Learners, see the Applied Linguistics Department. For Latin and classical humanities, see the Classics Department.

Programs Leading to Licensure

The College of Education and Human Development’s licensure programs have been approved by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. In all its licensure programs, the College of Education and Human Development seeks to prepare thoughtful and responsive educators who demonstrate a command of the best pedagogical methods and practices for educators, as well as of the academic discipline they teach.

UMass Boston’s MEd Programs with initial licensure are approved by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and offer three areas of specialization: early childhood, elementary, and middle/secondary education. Both middle and secondary school areas offer further subspecialties in terms of subject-matter concentrations. While the initial licensure track consists primarily of courses in pedagogy, completion of the middle and secondary programs is conditional on meeting a field-of-knowledge requirement, normally through presentation of an undergraduate major in the field to be taught. In addition to coursework, the tracks require 75 to 84 hours of monitored prepracticum, half of which must be completed in an urban setting with an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse student population, and a semester-long practicum with accompanying portfolio. A 27-credit graduate certificate with initial licensure is also available at the middle/secondary level, consisting of 21 credits of coursework and the practicum.

Candidates for professional licensure at UMass Boston are prepared to demonstrate the skills, knowledge, and dispositions to become thoughtful and responsive educators in command of an advanced body of knowledge in their subject area. Recognizing that the role of the professional educator is to transmit complex ideas and knowledge in developmentally appropriate contexts, the College of Education and Human Development has structured its requirements so that our graduates will have the ability to convey a deep understanding of their specific field of knowledge to their students.

A teacher holding an initial license in Massachusetts may obtain professional licensure in the College of Education and Human Development either through the 36-credit MEd track with professional licensure or—if he/she already holds an advanced degree—through the 12-credit post master’s certificate with professional licensure. In both programs, (18 and 9, respectively) must be taken at the graduate level in the relevant academic discipline.

Please note: The initial license is good for five years of employment. At the end of that time, the additional work required for professional licensure must be completed. The professional license must be renewed every five years. Recertification will require “professional development points” and the payment of a recertification fee. Official policies regarding the recertification of educational personnel are published in a booklet available from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 75 Pleasant Street, Malden, Massachusetts 02148-4906, or at http://www.doe.mass.edu.

Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure

All students must pass all required MTEL exams prior to entering the practicum.

Transfer Credit

Students may, with approval of the relevant graduate program director, transfer into their UMass Boston MEd degree program a maximum of 6 credits (two courses) taken at external universities and a maximum of 6 credits taken as a nonmatriculated student at UMass Boston. Please see the general statement on transfer credit in the “Academic & Administrative Policies ” section of this publication for more details.