Secondary Education, MSEd

Entrance requirements

A student must hold certification to teach secondary education and meet all graduate school requirements. Students in education-related occupations or professions other than secondary school teaching which require licensing or certification by state or national boards may be recommended for admission. The student must have earned a 2.75 GPA or higher on the last 60 hour of undergraduate credit or transferred graduate credit. The student must complete any required prerequisite courses. Such courses do not count toward completion of the degree requirements.

Degree requirements (33 hours total) - at least half of the coursework must be 700-level or above

Required Core Courses - Credit Hours: 6

Professional Core Courses- 6 Credits

Course work designed for improvement of classroom instruction. Courses should be selected from two of the six areas below*:

Note:

* Other electives specifically related to classroom teaching may be identified and substituted for letters a through f above with program advisor approval.

Required Unit Assessment and Research Assessment

The student must complete two (2) assessments.

Research and Specialized Core Experience - 6 credits

Includes research (see below) and other course work to total 6 hours. Of these 6 hours, a minimum of 2 hours must be in one of the following two research options. Additional course work is needed if less than 6 hours of research is chosen.

Option I: Completion of a thesis. Thesis credit may not exceed 6 hours of the total program. Students writing a thesis may enroll in the appropriate course for their emphasis area. (Refer to Emphasis Area for thesis course). Students must obtain their program director and/or advisor approval for their thesis course(s). Students must complete the online Graduate College thesis format training.
Option II: Completion of an extensive research project or major creative work. Students must obtain their program director and/or advisor approval for their research course(s) component.

Emphasis Area - 15 credits

This emphasis must be an area in which the State of Missouri currently offers a certificate for grades K-12 or 9-12. At least 3 hours of 700-level credit must be earned from Missouri State University in the emphasis area. Refer to your emphasis area departmental section of this catalog for specific information.

Course work in some emphasis areas is limited and may not be offered every semester. Students should check with the advisor as to availability of specific course offerings.

Comprehensive Examination

A comprehensive examination must be passed by the candidate before a degree will be granted. Check with advisor for specific requirements.

Graduation requirements

In addition to requirements established by the Graduate College, students must have both a cumulative GPA of 3.00 on all work attempted in education and in all work attempted in the emphasis area.

Advisement

The advisor works with the student to determine:

The program of study which will be developed according to the needs and interest expressed by the advisee.
The advisee’s formal training at the undergraduate level; the teaching assignment of the advisee.
Professional assignments in which the advisee hopes to be involved in the future.

Emphasis areas

Students may earn degrees in the following emphasis areas:

Agriculture (Advisor: James Hutter)
Biology (Advisor: Georgiana Saunders)
Chemistry (Advisor: Gautam Bhattacharyya)
Earth Science (Advisor: Melanie Carden-Jessen)
English* (Advisor: Cathie English)
Family and Consumer Sciences* (Advisor: Debra Price)
Geography (Advisor: Melanie Carden-Jessen)
History* (Advisor: Travis Seay)
Mathematics* (Advisor: Gay Ragan)
Natural Science (Advisor: Georgiana Saunders)
Physical Education (Advisor: Sarah McCallister)-ADMISSION CURRENTLY SUSPENDED
Physics (Advisor: Robert Mayanovic)
Social Sciences (Advisor: Travis Seay)

*Accelerated master’s option included