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Master of Teaching

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Our Master of Teaching program prepares students for initial teaching licensure eligibility in Virginia. Students can choose from concentrations in early and elementary education, or secondary education (biology, chemistry, earth science, English, history, history and social studies, mathematics, physics).

The early elementary concentration is part of our extended teacher preparation program, which allows undergraduate students to receive both their bachelor’s degree in a Liberal Studies for Early and Elementary Education as well as the M.T. degree simultaneously. In order to qualify for this program, your bachelor’s degree major must match your M.T. concentration (for example, those pursuing the biology concentration for the M.T. degree must major in biology for their undergraduate work).

The Master of Teaching degree can also be pursued as part of the RTR program, an innovative graduate teacher residency that pairs residents with an experienced mentor for our most challenged schools.

Starting in 2019, RTR has expanded and now includes the high-needs and hard-to-staff schools in the metro-Richmond school districts of Richmond, Petersburg, Chesterfield and Henrico. If this interests you, please send your unofficial transcripts directly to the program at teachRTR@vcu.edu.

Student teaching requirements

All students pursuing a secondary education endorsement within the Master of Teaching program will student teach in the spring semester. To do so, students must take and pass the Virginia Communication and Literacy Assessment and their subject-specific Praxis II exams before the fall semester of the academic year in which they will student teach. Please review our Teacher Preparation Application or the testing requirements for more information on both of those requirements. Interns and student teachers are typically assigned to public school teachers who have been trained as part of our Clinical Faculty Program. Learn more about this program.

Additional coursework

Some concentrations of the M.T. degree, such as the English education concentration, history/social studies education concentration, and the secondary science concentrations (biology education, chemistry education, earth science education and physics education), require extra coursework in order to teach in Virginia.

For more information about the additional requirements for these areas, please contact the concentration coordinator below or select the appropriate link:

Please keep in mind, however, that the exact course requirements may vary depending on when you matriculated into the program, so please consult your adviser or the program coordinator with any additional questions.

We do not offer academic credit for life experience; you will have to take courses or, in some cases, ask that courses be transferred from another institution to VCU; we accept up to six graduate credits of courses that are equivalent to those that we offer in our program.

CONCENTRATIONS/VCU BULLETIN INFO

Program Concentrations

PROGRAM BASICS

How to apply: Graduate application
Semester of entry: Spring, summer or fall
Application deadline: Feb. 1 for fall and summer admission, Oct. 1 for spring admission
This degree can also be pursued as part of the RTR program.
Application Resource [PDF]

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

  • VCU Graduate School requirements
  • Received or pursuing a bachelor’s degree with a major matching the degree concentration (or an appropriate liberal studies major for those in the early and elementary education concentration)
  • Written essay addressing your career interests
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Transcripts from previous academic work
  • Satisfactory GRE or MAT scores
  • Completion of the Teacher Preparation Application* and testing requirements for Virginia licensure are found on this page.
    *VCU extended teacher preparation students have already completed the Teacher Preparation application as part of your undergraduate program.

FOR MORE IN-DEPTH INFO

Major Maps

The VCU central advising and the School of Education team collaborated to put together a useful tool to help future SOE students. Please use the major map as a guide to maximize your undergraduate program in preparation for your VCU School of Education master’s program. Note: Students completing their bachelor’s program outside of VCU can also use this tool to get a sense of activities to engage in while preparing for their future graduate program at VCU.

  • M.T. with a concentration in elementary education (currently our LSEE program map) - Major Map
  • M.T. with a concentration in secondary English - Major Map
  • M.T. with a concentration in secondary history/social studies - Major Map

The School of Education (SOE) degree programs that lead to professional licensure are designed to prepare students to meet the requirements for professional licensure in the Commonwealth of Virginia as outlined by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). The SOE has determined that the curriculum includes applicable educational prerequisites for the following professional licensure(s) and/or certification(s) as outlined on this page of our website.

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Jenna Lenhardt, Ph.D.

Contact Dr. Lenhardt with initial inquiries.

Quayle D. Agurs, RTR Recruitment Specialist

Contact Quayle D. Agurs for RTR program application.

ElizabethEdmondson-122

Contact Dr. Edmondson for biology education, chemistry education, earth science education, mathematics education and physics education concentration inquiries.

Katherine Dabney, Ph.D.

Contact Dr. Dabney for early and elementary education concentration inquiries.

RossCollin-122

Contact Dr. Collin for English education concentration inquiries.

Gabriel Reich, Ph.D.

Contact Dr. Reich for secondary and history/social studies education concentration inquiries.