Middle Grades Education

Overview

The program is designed to offer a comprehensive study of the specialized skills needed to teach and support students in grades 4-8. The program offers a wide scope of course content that focuses on theoretical and pedagogical issues while incorporating research, assessment, and technology integration. Diverse field experiences throughout the program help to prepare teachers to support the diverse needs of students. 

The program is designed for: recent college graduates with degrees in fields other than education; re-careering professionals; paraprofessionals who have bachelor's degrees; teachers who hold non-renewable certificates and who want to earn Clear Renewable master's level certificate; and teacher candidates from a wide variety of academic majors who are interested in earning both initial certification and a master's level teaching certificate. 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion of the program, students will be prepared to: 

• Understand the social, behavioral, emotional, cognitive and physical characteristics and needs of the preadolescent student
• Understand how students differ in their approaches to learning and how the learning environment can be adapted to meet the diverse needs of middle grades
• Design and implement an integrated, developmentally appropriate curriculum for at least two content concentration areas that considers the social, behavioral, emotional, cognitive and physical nature and needs of middle grades students. 
• Develop and implement a wide variety of formative and summative assessment strategies 
• Integrate research based strategies and instructional technology effectively into all components of the middle school curriculum.