Teacher Education Graduate Programs Handbook

The Department of Teacher Education offers three types of master's degree programs: Initial with licensure, Blended, and Advanced.

Initial Licensure Programs

• Adolescent to Young Adult Education
• Middle Childhood Education
• Special Education-Intervention Specialist

Blended Licensure Programs

• Early Childhood and Elementary Education
• Special Education-Intervention Specialist

Advanced Degree Programs Available

• Curriculum and Instruction
• Reading Education

For more information visit the departmental master’s master's programs website.

The information provided in this handbook references both OHIO (OHIO) policies and procedures and Patton College of Education (PCOE) policies and procedures. The OHIO Graduate Catalog, the OHIO Student Handbook and the Patton College Master’s Handbook provide valuable information about graduate studies at the university. The Patton College Master’s Handbook is available upon request. You are responsible for knowing university, college, and department regulations and for complying with all applicable policies and procedures.

All candidates for a Master’s of Education degree in the Department of Teacher Education are required to advance in good standing from admission to completion of program requirements. After admission, you must complete the coursework listed in your program of study, the clinical experience requirements of your program, and a capstone experience.

The following sections of this Handbook describe how to complete these requirements.

For program-specific information, see the Teacher Education master's programs page.

Some programs adhere to a prescribed program of study that you must follow. These programs are monitored by the Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS).

For other programs, your Master’s advisor will guide you to develop a program of study (POS) as soon as possible after being admitted. It is expected that an approved program of study will be on file in The Patton College Office of Graduate Student Affairs within the first semester of initial enrollment in the Master’s program and no later than the start of the second semester of enrollment. Master’s students in the Department of Teacher Education are required to purchase a LiveText account to complete course requirements. The Teacher Education POS and corresponding approval page must be filed in the PCOE Graduate Records Office of Student Affairs. The template for completing the POS is available on the Patton College forms webpage.

The official, approved POS establishes the contractual agreement regarding required courses for the Master’s degree. It can only be changed by intentional action. A form entitled "Request for Change in Approved Master’s Program of Study" is used for this purpose, and is available from the Office of Student Affairs in the Patton College forms webpage.

The total number of hours to be taken in a Master’s program varies by program and according to many factors. Every student is required to complete at least 30 semester hours of coursework relevant to the program beyond the Bachelor's degree. For Master’s students in an Initial licensure program, the faculty advisor may require undergraduate courses to fulfill additional teaching field requirements.

For a Master’s degree program of 30 hours, a maximum of 8 semester hours is transferable. For Master’s degrees longer than 30 hours, no more than 25% of the total graduate credit hours required to complete the degree are transferable. To be eligible for transfer, courses must be:

1. Designated as graduate credit at the institution where taken,
2. Letter graded B or better,
3. Cannot have been used to satisfy the requirements for completion of another degree,
4. Earned within the past five years, and
5. Applicable toward a graduate degree at the institution where taken.

Credits requested for transfer cannot have been used to satisfy requirements for completion of another degree. Courses equivalent to those at OHIO cannot be transferred for credit and also be taken for credit at OHIO.

Any request for transfer of credit must be recommended by your advisor and department chair before final review and acceptance by the Dean's office, which forwards the approval to the Graduate College. No letter grades will appear on your OHIO transcript for transferred courses, nor will they be calculated in your GPA. Only courses counting toward an OHIO degree are eligible to appear on the OHIO transcript as transfer credit.

There is no set limit to the number of credit hours that may be transferred for doctoral degrees; however, it is up to the discretion of the advisor whether any credits (and how many) will be accepted as transfer credit.

If a student intends to count a transfer course in their program of study, they should designate this arrangement by flagging the course on the program of study with the letter "T." Students must submit an approved Request for Graduate Transfer of Credit form to the Graduate College, 102 Grosvenor Hall. Before the transfer can be processed, the Graduate College must receive an official transcript from the institution where the course was completed. Courses that are transferred to the DARS are listed as having a grade of "T" rather than a letter grade.

While most Master’s degree program coursework requires work that is completed in clinical settings, not all programs require formal clinical experiences. All initial and blended Master’s degree programs that lead to a teaching license require clinical experiences in the form of early field experiences, a professional internship, or both. All placements for the clinical experiences, including the professional internship, will be made by the Patton College of Education. To complete clinical experiences, Master’s students must comply with the following requirements:

• Anyone representing OHIO has to wear identification. Check your program to ascertain if you need to obtain an official OHIO Patton College photo ID nametag.
• Apply for a Pre-Service Teacher Permit as required by state law. Your program will provide directions on how to complete this process to ensure we and the school district have access to your records. This will also include completing Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification (BCI) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) background checks before beginning clinical experiences. Maintaining current background checks and permit status is required annually for the duration of enrollment at OHIO. Master’s students are responsible for keeping copies of all documentation. You must follow the program and college guidelines to ensure we receive appropriate copies and/or access to your records.

Additional information about clinical experience requirements is available on the Clinical Practice web page.

Early Field Experiences

When required by the program or practicum courses, field experiences provide Master’s students with opportunities to observe, teach, and work with students, teachers, and administrators in educational settings.

Professional Internship

All Initial master’s degree with licensure candidates are required to complete a yearlong (two-term) professional internship (PI) in a P-20 classroom. In the first term, candidates observe and 10 teach in a classroom for a minimum of 10 hours but no more than 2 full days per week. During the second term, candidates observe and teach in a classroom full-time.

Master’s students must complete and submit the Professional Internship in Teaching Application. Without this application, students will not receive information about the PI. The Patton College Guide to Successful Internship Experiences provides additional information about the PI.

All students in a master's degree program must complete a research capstone experience. The type of research capstone required varies by program and may include a Master's Research Project- Study, Master’s Research Project- Portfolio, or Master's Thesis. The Master’s Research Project- Portfolio option is only available to Master’s with Initial Licensure program students. Consult with your faculty advisor to determine the capstone experience that is most appropriate for you. This decision should be made during the first semester of enrollment and no later than the time the Program of Study is submitted for approval.

Master's Research Project

A Master’s Research Project (MRP) in the Department of Teacher Education varies by program and can take the form of a research study or portfolio. Master’s students must contact their faculty advisor for information about which options are available for their program. Students who plan to complete the MRP must register for EDTE 6940 – Master’s Research Project. With guidance from the faculty advisor, a student will select the type of MRP to complete early in their program, within the first semester of enrollment. For initial licensure programs, this selection must take place before the start of the professional internship. To successfully complete the MRP, students must maintain regular communication with the course instructor and submit an approved final study or portfolio. The faculty advisor or the course instructor will submit a completed and signed MRP approval form and the first page of the plagiarism detection report.

Master’s students who plan to complete the MRP-Study work with their course instructor or advisor to develop a research question, design a research plan, obtain Institutional Review Board approval for research with human subjects (when appropriate), collect and analyze data, and write a research report. A plagiarism review is required before final approval of the MRP- Study by the chair of the Department of Teacher Education. Additional guidelines and resources for the MRP- Study are provided in Appendix A.

Master’s students who plan to complete the MRP-Portfolio work with their course instructor or academic advisor to create a timeline towards completion of the portfolio, identify a list of program-specific teaching and assessment strategies, and determine appropriate types of evidence and artifacts. The MRP-Portfolio is not to be confused with the ePortfolio required during the Professional Internship or the Professional Teaching Portfolio required in the Curriculum and Instruction program. Additional guidelines and resources for the MRP portfolio are provided in Appendix B.

Master's Thesis

A student who plans to complete a Master's Thesis must register for EDTE 6950 and prepare a thesis under the guidance of his or her thesis director and a master's thesis committee. The master's thesis committee is composed of the chair/director of the thesis as well as a minimum of two additional faculty members. One of the members of the committee must be a faculty member outside the program area and will serve as the Dean's Representative. The Dean's Representative is the only committee member who has veto power over the thesis. Guidelines for the preparation and submission of a master's thesis are available at the TAD website. Each semester, deadlines for the submission of the thesis for graduation are made available from the Office of Thesis and Dissertation Services (TAD) on the OHIO Graduate College website.

With input from and subject to approval by your course instructor or faculty advisor:

1. Create a timeline for completing steps 2-10. This timeline should include when you will submit sections of your research report to your course instructor and advisor. All work must be completed no later than the last week of classes of the semester in which you intend to graduate.
2. Review literature on a topic of interest related to your area of licensure (minimum of 20 resources). The majority of your literature must consist of scholarly and empirical sources (e.g., books, journal articles, and other publications of Specialized Professional Associations). Very limited use of websites is permitted. Use of websites must be approved by your course instructor and advisor.
3. Use your findings from the literature to develop a research question that interests you and will support growth in your practice. The research question must be approved by your course instructor and advisor before proceeding to the next steps.
4. Design a research plan to answer the question. Your plan describes your participants and how you will select them, the data and how you will collect it, and the plan for analyzing the data. The research plan must be approved by your course instructor and advisor before proceeding to the next steps.
5. Seek and obtain OHIO Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval before data collection if your research involves human subjects.
6. Analyze and interpret the data using appropriate standards for maintaining validity, reliability, credibility, and trustworthiness.
7. Consider how well your findings align with your understanding of the topic (based on your literature review), explain similarities and differences, and justify how your findings will inform your practice and future research
8. Write a final paper to report your work. Use the most recent APA style guidelines to format the body and references of your paper. One possible model for the paper is provided in Outline and Elements below. You must adhere to the guidelines provided by your course instructor and academic advisor.
9. Submit your paper for feedback from your course instructor and advisor. You may need to revise your paper or submit multiple drafts before receiving approval to proceed to the next step. Adhere to the timeline created in Step 1.
10. Submit your final paper (Word document or PDF) to your course instructor or academic advisor who will use an approved OHIO plagiarism detection software to complete the required plagiarism review. Your course instructor and advisor may require changes to the document before approving your work for final submission.
11. Your course instructor or academic advisor will share the Master’s Research Final Report with the Chair of the Department of Teacher Education for approval.

Outline and Elements

Title

Abstract

The abstract is typically 50 to 150 words long. It provides a brief summary of the study.

Introduction

The introduction includes a statement of the problem, background information providing a context for the research, and the purpose and rationale (including the research question or hypothesis).

Background

The background provides a comprehensive review of all relevant literature relating to your study. It synthesizes previous research on all aspects of the same problem.

Method

This section describes:

1. The type of research you used (e.g. Action Research) and why it was appropriate for your project.
2. Your participants (characteristics), how they were selected, and the context of the study.
3. The type of data you collected including any tools that were used to collect the data. Describe any instruments that you use
4. Any procedures you followed to obtain data.
5. How you analyzed the data and what you did to ensure validity, reliability, credibility, and trustworthiness
6. Limitations

Results

Present your findings with supporting evidence. The way you present your findings must be appropriate for the type of research study and data you collect.

Discussion and Recommendations

Explain and interpret your findings in relation to your original questions/hypotheses and the findings of others. Include implications and recommendations for further study.

Implications for Practice

Discuss the importance of the findings for your practice as well as that of educators and related professionals.

Conclusion

Using your findings, briefly describe the takeaway message from your study.

References

List the references that were cited in your paper using the most recent edition of APA style.

Appendix (optional)

Include any instruments, additional tables or figures, the IRB approval form, etc.

With input from and subject to approval by your course instructor and advisor:

1. Create a timeline for completing steps 2-10. This timeline should include when you will submit sections of your portfolio to your course instructor and advisor. All work must be completed no later than the last week of classes of the semester in which you intend to graduate.
2. Describe your context. Be sure to revisit the context section to add information over time.
3. Review the literature about each of the required entries related to your area of licensure. Your literature must consist of a good mix of scholarly and empirical sources (e.g., books, journal articles, and other publications of Specialized Professional Associations). Consult your course instructor and academic advisor for guidance about sources. Very limited use of websites is permitted. Use of websites must be approved by your course instructor and advisor.
4. Design, develop, and implement interventions (lessons, activities, assessments, etc.) that can be used to document your practice for each entry type.
5. Begin collecting artifacts for each entry and use your findings from the literature to analyze each artifact to determine how it reflects best practices and areas for improvement. Develop and implement new interventions as necessary. Consult with your course instructor and advisor before proceeding to the next steps.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have enough artifacts or until you are satisfied with your performance.
7. For each entry, write a 1,000-word paper in which you critically reflect on your developing knowledge, skills, and dispositions, and how your practice supports the diverse needs of your students. Each paper must cite the pedagogy, research, and theory you learned during the program (#3). Use the most recent APA style guidelines to format your reflective papers.
8. Write your teaching philosophy statement using what you learned about best practices from the literature and how you have (or will) enacted them in your practice. Use the most recent APA style guidelines to format your statement.
9. Submit your portfolio entries and teaching philosophy statement for feedback from your course instructor and advisor. You may need to revise your work or submit multiple drafts before receiving approval. Adhere to the timeline created in Step 1.
10. Submit your final portfolio to your course instructor or academic advisor. Additionally, submit your reflective papers and teaching statement (Word document or PDF) to your course instructor or advisor who will use an approved OHIO plagiarism detection software to complete the required plagiarism review. Your course instructor or advisor may require changes to your portfolio before approving your work for final submission.
11. Your course instructor or advisor will share your Master’s Research Project Final Report with the Chair of the Department of Teacher Education for approval.

Outline and Elements

The MRP-Portfolio capstone requirement is a learning portfolio. It provides an opportunity for you to synthesize what you have learned in the Master’s program, show your growth over time, and document the evidence-based practices that you used to support engaged, high cognitive demand, and culturally responsive student learning. The portfolio consists of four parts: Context, Entries, Teaching Philosophy, and References.

Part A – Context

Set the stage for your portfolio by describing your experience in the program, your internship teaching context (e.g., district, school, classroom), and any other circumstances that you believe impacted your performance in the program.

Part B – Entries

Portfolio entries consist of artifacts and reflective papers that showcase growth in your knowledge of students and their subject-specific understandings, teaching strategies, and assessments. Entries also showcase your development as a leader-educator who uses their prior experiences and knowledge of subject matter to develop a meaningful curriculum.

• Artifacts can be lesson plans, assessments, videos, papers, or other projects. They document different elements of your practice and should be selected from different points in your program (e.g., summer, early, fall, spring).
• Reflective papers describe how the artifacts represent a particular type of entry, analyze your developing knowledge, skills, and dispositions, and critically discuss how your practice supports the diverse needs of your students in light of pedagogy, research, and theory you learned during the program. Each reflective paper should be approximately 1,000 words long.

Your portfolio will consist of 6 entries. Use the guiding questions to select and include at least 3 artifacts and one reflective paper for each of the following areas. Artifacts can be used in more than one entry to highlight a different element of practice.

• Relationships and Leadership: What activities have contributed to your development as a professional and a leader? What kinds of relationships have you developed with your students, mentor teachers, other professionals at your school, community members/organizations, and faculty/staff at OHIO?
• Students: What did you learn about your students, their ideas, and how they learn (subject matter, generally)?
• Content and Curriculum: What did you learn about your content and content-specific curricula and how you can use them to support student learning?
• Teaching Strategies: What did you learn about planning and subject-specific instructional strategies?
• Equity, Diversity, and Justice: How did you intentionally create safe, culturally responsive, and challenging learning environments?
• Assessment: What did you learn about different types of formative and summative assessments? How did you intentionally use them in your classrooms to showcase student learning?

Part C – Teaching Philosophy

A teaching philosophy communicates your beliefs about and orientations toward teaching and learning. It emerges as a result of synthesis, evaluation and critical reflection focused on your professional knowledge and experiences with teaching and learning (described in Part B). To formalize this emerging philosophy, write a 1,000-word paper in which you share your core ideas about effective teaching and learning in the context of your discipline; your role as a teacher; the goals/values/outcomes that you have for students; and your goals for continual engagement in the profession. An important characteristic of teaching philosophy is that it also explains why you hold those ideas and beliefs by referencing pedagogy, research, and theory you learned during the program.

Part D – References

List the references that were cited in your portfolio using the most recent edition of APA style.