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Five-Year Teacher Education & Post Baccalaureate Programs

Five-Year Teacher Education & Post Baccalaureate Programs

Five-Year Programs

The Graduate School of Education (GSE) offers several five-year joint bachelor’s degree/master’s degree/initial teacher certification programs. Rutgers undergraduates do preliminary coursework during their sophomore and junior years and are admitted to the program during the spring semester of their junior year. Their professional education sequence intensifies in the senior year. Students then qualify to have their baccalaureate degree awarded by one of the undergraduate liberal arts colleges. They continue with the professional sequence the summer after graduation. Students return in the fall to complete a student teaching internship with related coursework and continue with full-time graduate study, including a field-based research project, in the spring. The master of education degree is conferred upon the completion of all five-year program requirements. After the master’s degree is awarded, the GSE will make a recommendation to the New Jersey State Department of Education on behalf of the student to receive a Certificate of Eligibility with Advanced Standing as a teacher. Broadly, our program helps students to:

learn pedagogical content knowledge of subject areas, i.e., content specific teaching methods in the discipline(s);
acquire a grounding in the historical and philosophical contexts of the discipline that they will be certified to teach;
develop curriculum, apply instructional strategies and class management techniques, construct and implement assessments; and
gain the knowledge and skills of integrating technology into instruction.

They gain this knowledge through a healthy mix of practical, hands-on learning and classroom experiences.

Explore the Undergraduate Minor in Education offerings for detailed information. For a listing of useful student resources within the university, visit Information for New and Current Students.

Urban Social Justice Focus

GSE Urban and Social Justice Teacher Education Program Statement:

The Graduate School of Education’s (GSE) Teacher Education Program is designed to develop teachers to be engaged in and committed to excellence, equity, and social justice in their teaching practice. New Jersey is a uniquely diverse and urban state as defined by the following: large numbers of students from historically marginalized linguistic, economic, and cultural backgrounds; high-poverty districts or schools; and population density combined with educational inequality. The GSE Teacher Education Programs aim to develop a diverse generation of teachers prepared according to the New Jersey Professional Standards for Teachers with the skills and dispositions to both teach and advocate for all students, as well as to learn from students and their communities. Teachers prepared at the GSE will learn to critically analyze the social politics of urban, rural, and suburban schools and use that analysis to advocate for each other, their students, and the families that they serve as they engage in the most effective instructional practices built upon deep knowledge of their students. GSE Teacher Candidates benefit from working with some of the best education faculty in the world and gain real-world experience by partnering with carefully selected mentor teachers in districts/schools serving economically, racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse communities in New Jersey. In order to cultivate the unique set of skills for success in our nation’s increasingly diverse schools, GSE Teacher Candidates do their clinical work in school- and community-based placements in urban partner districts that are part of the GSE-Community School Partnership Network (GSE-CSPN).

An urban and social justice teacher education program prepares candidates to:

develop meaningful understandings of diverse students and their experiences and communities, and the social, economic, historical, and political dimensions of urban settings and schools;
effectively teach diverse students, including those from historically marginalized linguistic, cultural, and economic backgrounds;
identify and disrupt instances and patterns of discrimination and marginalization, and develop their students’ critical and active citizenship capacities;
balance constructivist, student-centered approaches with explicit instruction and scaffolding;
deeply understand their disciplines, research-based current/best practices in their disciplines, and student learning in their disciplines; and
be caring, competent, rigorous, and reflective practitioners.

Post-Baccalaureate Programs

The GSE is proud to offer over 50 concentrated areas of study leading to an Ed.M. degree. Each is designed to provide students with the opportunity for real-world practice while positioning them at the cusp of cutting-edge research in their field of interest. This blend of theory and practice — facilitated by world-class faculty and paired with the GSE’s community-wide commitment to equity and social justice — equips alumni with a holistic understanding of the current state of education and the specialized skills needed to set them apart from their peers and fellow job- seekers. Students seeking to enroll in an Ed.M. Program have a range of both licensure and non-licensure concentrations to choose from — including, but not limited to, early childhood education, school counseling, literacy education, language education, dance education, special education, mathematics education, elementary education, social studies education, science education, and foreign language & ESL education.

Is an Ed.M. Degree Right For You?

The Ed.M. Program at Rutgers GSE has been designed to support all students in achieving their unique educational and career goals.

You should apply for the Ed.M. Program if you…

already hold a bachelor’s degree in an unrelated field, but are seeking initial certification in teaching or related service area (e.g., School Counseling, Counseling Psychology)
are already a licensed teacher, but are seeking additional certification (e.g., Teacher of Students with Disabilities Certification, Learning Disability Teacher Consultant or Reading Specialist, etc.)
are already a licensed teacher, but are seeking administrative licensure (e.g., Principal and/or Supervisor Certification)
wish to develop an enriched understanding of a specific subject area or advance your career with additional knowledge (e.g., College Student Affairs, Literacy Education)

Ed.M. without prior teaching experience:

Bachelor’s degree or on track to graduate before beginning, no other requirements
(some require GREs, no minimum score).
Adult & Continuing Education
College Student Affairs
Counseling Psychology
Dance Ed (non-certification)
Education, Culture, & Society
Educational Leadership (non-certification option C)
Educational Statistics, Measurement, & Evaluation
Language Education (non-certification)
Language Education Ed.M. (non-certification)
Literacy Education
Mathematics Education
School Counseling certification
Science Education (non-certification)
Social Studies Education (non-certification)
Social Studies Education (with certification)
Special Education Sequence for Applied Behavior Analysis
Special Education/General Studies

Ed.M. with certification that requires prior licensure/experience:

Requires bachelor’s degree, NJDOE certificate of some sort, 0-3 years teaching
experience (depending on program).

Educational Leadership with Principal certification (option B)
Educational Leadership with Principal and Supervisor certification (option A)
Language Education with ESL endorsement
Language Education with Bilingual/Bicultural endorsement
Language Education with ESL and Bilingual/Bicultural endorsements
Reading Specialist/Supervisor dual certification
Special Education with Learning Disabilities Teacher-Consultant certification
Special Education with Teacher of Students with Disabilities certification

Five-Year Teacher Education Programs

Explore GSE’s Five-Year Teacher Education Programs below.

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