Secondary Education and K-12 Health and Physical Education
Welcome to the Secondary Education and K-12 Health and Physical Education Department. The department offers undergraduate and graduate programs for those who wish to be certified to teach children from grades 7 – 12. The graduate program leads to a Master’s degree, M.Ed., with teaching certification. The M.Ed. can be completed as a one-year residency model or as a part-time program. We are proud of our programs, our faculty, and our candidates who exit the programs prepared for success as teachers and leaders in various education contexts. We invite you to explore our programs and opportunities.
Program Overview
Undergraduate students who are interested in becoming teachers of grade 7 – 12 students.
Our program has a variety of field experiences in different grade levels and settings
throughout the four-year program.
Graduate students who are interested in becoming teachers of grade 7 – 12 students
and have a content background in Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth and
Space Science, English, History, Political Science, or Geography. Our program helps
students earn an M.Ed. and teaching certification either in a one-year residency model
or a two to three year part-time program.
MISSION STATEMENT
We educate teachers to be leaders and inspire learning in students.
CORE VALUES
The Department of Secondary Education fosters in its teacher candidates a deep respect for, and understanding of, the knowledge and skills that each of the major disciplines cultivates and advances. Our candidates engage in a sequence of cross-disciplinary seminars that integrate content knowledge with the relevant theories, research, and practices of learning at the secondary level. They apply those understandings in meaningful, active, and practical clinical experiences. Teacher candidates acquire an appreciation for the assets that all children bring to their classrooms and develop the skills for differentiating and educating diverse student populations. They cultivate the dispositions, knowledge, and skills to become educators, leaders, and life-long learners in their profession and in the global community.
PROGRAM OUTCOMES
Following the path of our mission and values, graduates will attain:
- Mastery of Effective Teaching Practices - Graduates inspire learning in all students and are required to master instructional
strategies that will engage students in an active sense-making process.
- Promotes learning in all students
- Displays evidence of a variety of effective instructional strategies
- Teacher Knowledge - Development of a deep understanding of content and its integration into practice
order to support methods of inquiry in their respective disciplines.
- Shows understanding of content and content related practices
- Supports methods of inquiry through teaching practices
- Leadership Abilities - Graduates are leaders in their classrooms and communities. They cultivate professional
dispositions and responsibility to become self-directed practitioners, leaders, and
advocates for their students, schools, communities, disciplines, and profession.
- Demonstrates professional dispositions
- Communicates effectively and advocates on behalf of students, communities, disciplines, and profession.
