The Pennsylvania State University
Class of 2020
Bachelor of Science
Early Childhood & Elementary Education
English as a Second Language Certification
Teacher candidates within this program at Penn State engage in course work and field experiences that are designed to enhance their understandings of teaching and learning.
The program provides teacher candidates with a strong foundation of research-based teaching methods in subject and discipline areas. Course work incorporates recent research regarding pre-service teacher education, teaching methods, and children’s learning.
Teacher candidates also engage in three field experiences, which includes the culminating experience of student teaching.
Upon successful completion of all requirements for graduation, students receive a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree. To be certified to teach, students must also meet all clearance and testing requirements specified by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
The English as a Second Language (ESL) Program Specialist Certificate is designed to prepare prospective and current teachers to support the academic success and social integration of English learners in PreK-12 settings. This Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE)-approved certificate program is intended to equip candidates with a greater awareness of the benefits of having English learners in the classroom, as well as to prepare them with strategies and skills to provide evidence-based instruction that meets the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse learners in mainstream content classrooms.
The primary goals of the program are:
Candidate learning outcomes are aligned with PDE and TESOL standards, and fulfill the PDE academic requirements for the ESL Specialist and Leadership Certificate.
Class of 2021
Master of Education
Reading/ Writing/ Literacy with Reading Specialist Certification
The M.S. Reading Specialist (PK-12) program M.S.Ed. in Reading/Writing/Literacy program is a one-year master’s degree program that prepares our students as practitioners, researchers, and policy makers. Four principles guide the program:
- The program is interdisciplinary because literacy, language, and culture interact in rich and complex ways. Literacy and language are studied from sociopolitical, cultural, psychological, historical, linguistic, and literary perspectives.
- The program is inquiry-based, intended to raise questions about the relationships among theory, research, policy, and practice while encouraging students to build their own theories of research and practice.
- The program focuses on diversity, urban settings, and the contexts of different schools, communities, families, and cultures.
- The program is committed to educational change and recognizes that educational institutions are sites in which to work for social justice, equity, and transformation.
The internship in the Reading/Writing/Literacy master’s program gives students the opportunity to apply what they have learned in the classroom. Through internships in settings such as the Weingarten Learning Resources Center; public, charter, and independent schools; community colleges; and community and social service agencies, students will work with learners across generations and cultures.
During their internships, students work with our faculty in research associated with some of the most distinguished research centers and professional development projects in the country: the Philadelphia Writing Project, the Penn Literacy Network, the National Center on Fathers and Families, the National Center on Adult Literacy, Penn’s Early Childhood and Family Studies Institute, and the International Literacy Institute.
(Currently Enrolled)
Doctor of Education Leadership with Curriculum Specialist and Principal Certification
Our Doctor of Educational Leadership (Ed.D.) and Certification Program prepares transformational leaders across K-12, higher education, and social sector fields who are committed to equity-oriented change.
Four core values ground our work:
Our program’s coursework integrates theory and scholarship with practice, thereby highlighting the value of developing transformational scholar-practitioners who are equipped with the knowledge and skills to adapt to problems in real-world contexts. The curriculum provides content courses around leadership theory, historical, political, and legal contexts of leadership, global perspectives on education, learning design and environments, social justice, community engagement, organizational theory, and strategic planning and fiscal resources.
Additionally, the curriculum offers research methodology courses in qualitative research, quantitative research, mixed methods research, communications and research dissemination, and dissertation support. Following a flexible instructional delivery model, students attend face-to-face courses on Saint Joseph’s University’s campus one night per week and the remainder of course content is provided through other forms of instructional delivery, primarily online or practice-based projects. The majority of the courses are taught by full-time, tenure track faculty, who are experts in both theory and practice and have national and state reputations in scholarly publications, community engagement, professional organizations, and/or teaching. In addition, we draw from high-level practitioner experts and interdisciplinary faculty from across Saint Joseph’s University and other institutions to teach some of our courses or course modules, to serve as guest speakers, and to join dissertation committees.
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