Students - Science Prospective Students
TEACH TO LEARN TEACHER RESIDENCY PROGRAM
Graduate students in science education have the opportunity to apply to be teacher residents in a new program announced by the Clarke County School district-University of Georgia Professional School District Partnership. Twelve graduate assistantships will be offered to candidates who are qualified and will commit to the two-year residency. Click here for details.
Science Education Master’s and Initial Certification FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions about master’s degree programs and certification at the graduate level in Science Education
Please feel free to contact the Graduate Coordinator for Science Education Programs, Dr. David Jackson, djackson@uga.edu, with any other questions or for clarifications of any of these answers.
What are the major differences between the M.Ed., M.A., and M.A.T. programs?
How long does it usually take to complete the program?
Can I complete a master’s degree part-time, while keeping my full-time teaching job?
Can I earn initial secondary science teacher certification as part of a master’s program?
What sources of financial aid are commonly available for master’s and/or certification programs?
What if I cannot study full-time, yet do not hold even Non-renewable Certification?
What are the basic procedures and requirements for application?
What are the minimum objective standards for admission?
What is the relationship between course requirements for certification and masters requirements?
Can I earn teacher certification on a non-degree basis?
What are the major differences between the M.Ed., M.A., and M.A.T. programs?
At a conceptual level, the M.Ed. is a professional degree meant to emphasize practical applications to science classroom teaching and curriculum issues, the M.A. is a research degree intended to accomodate students with a stronger interest in more abstract questions and issues, and the M.A.T. is specifically designed for those earning initial teacher certification as part of master’s work.
At a practical level, the primary differences between the first two programs lie in the nature of the “capstone” requirement (a Professional Portfolio for M.Ed. vs. an educational research thesis for M.A.) and the greater number of credit hours required for the M.Ed. (36, vs. 30 for the M.A.) M.A.T. requirements total 50 hours, 36 that count towards degree requirements and 14 (the field experience-related component) that count only toward certification.” Add the additional sentence, “Coursework required to earn certification on a non-degree basis totals 35 hours.
How long does it usually take to complete the program?
M.Ed. or M.A. requirements can potentially be completed in a 1 full-time year (typically including at least some Summer coursework in the case of the M.Ed.).
The vast majority of experienced teachers in our master’s programs, however, are studying on a part-time basis and typically take 2 to 3 years, taking only classes that meet Summer Semester and in the evening hours during the school year, to complete the program.
If teacher certification coursework is included in master’s degree work, the minimum total time required can be as little as 15 months (if the M.A.T. program is pursued full-time, starting in the Summer Semester), or, in other cases, usually 2 to 3 years, depending on the intensity of part-time work after certification is achieved.
Certification on a non-degree basis takes 2 full-time academic year semesters in Athens or 3 part-time semesters (2 academic year, 1 Summer) in the Gwinnett Campus PACSS program.
Can I complete a master’s degree part-time, while keeping my full-time teaching job?
Yes. In fact, nearly all of our master’s students who are already fully certified teachers are studying on this basis. All Science Education courses intended primarily for graduate students, and most others typically included in a master’s program, are scheduled either on weekday evenings during the Fall and Spring Semesters, or during the Summer Semester, so as not to conflict with the typical core schedule of practicing classroom teachers.
Note, however, that at UGA all graduate studies must be fairly continuous, and cannot, for instance, be pursued exclusively during the Summer Semester. The Graduate School’s Continuous Enrollment Policy requires at least 3 credit hours of coursework during at least two of the three semesters (Fall, Spring, Summer) of each academic year cycle, until degree requirements are met.
Can I earn initial secondary science teacher certification as part of a masters program?
Yes. This is the purpose of the Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) program. Certification can also be earned on a non-degree basis.
Please check the Bursar’s Office site for specific and up-to-date information.At this writing, the graduate in-state tuition rate for the College of Education at the Athens campus was listed as $945 tuition per 3 semester hours (up to 12 hours), plus $833 in miscellaneous fees per semester.
Out-of-state tuition rates are roughly 3 times higher. Upon moving from another state, in general one must live in Georgia for one full year as a non-student in order to establish legal residency and thus qualify for in-state tuition rates. If this issue is relevant it is advisable to check with the Bursar’s Office directly for details.
For full-time students, enrollment beyond 12 hours per semester does not incur extra tuition charges.
What sources of financial aid are commonly available for master’s and/or certification programs?
A limited number of unusually highly qualified students who are residents of other states may be nominated by the Graduate Coordinator for a Regents Out-of-State Tuition Waiver (ROOSTW) award, through which the Graduate School subsidizes the very substantial difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition rates for any of our graduate programs. ROOSTW awards usually must begin in Fall Semester. Nominations are usually made late in Spring Semester and are only accepted for applicants already admitted to the Graduate School and the program. Part-time students are eligible.
In rare circumstances, full-time M.Ed. or M.A. students in Science Education may be eligible for a Graduate Assistantship appointment, especially if they have a substantial record of full-time science teaching experience, although in nearly all years budget constraints make these positions open only to full-time doctoral students. A very limited number of unusually highly qualified applicants who intend to be full-time students may be nominated by the Graduate Coordinator for competitive special assistantships funded directly by the Graduate School. Either form of Graduate Assistantship includes both a cash stipend and a full tuition waiver. A relatively small amount of miscellaneous fees must still be paid each semester by students with an assistantship appointment.
In review, please note the categories of prospective students potentially eligible for each of these forms of financial aid:
Noyce Fellowship: only certification students (M.A.T., non-degree), with outstanding qualifications, willing to teach in high need schools for at least two years
HOPE Teacher Scholarship Loans: Not available for 2010-2011. When available in the past (or possibly in the future), restricted to degree program students who are Georgia residents, whether or not already certified or earning certification as part of the program.
ROOSTW: only out-of-state students
Graduate Assistantships: only full-time, degree program students already having substantial teaching experience
What background is expected for admission to science teacher certification programs as a graduate student?
It is not assumed that graduate students seeking certification have taken any previous education courses. Besides the minimum basic standards for admission to the UGA Graduate School, the most important requirement is a strong coursework background in one of the science fields that correspond to the initial Georgia Secondary Science teacher certification fields – Biology, Chemistry, Physics, or Earth/Space Science. If you hold a bachelor’s or graduate degree with a major in one of these core science fields you should be sufficiently prepared.
If your academic background is in a science-related field (e.g., most commonly, Agricultural Sciences, Exercise Science, Allied Health Sciences), or especially if your undergraduate major was largely unrelated to science, you may be required to take one or more undergraduate-level science courses before starting the professional education course part of the program (ESCI 6450-6460). If you have little or no science course background, it is possible but potentially very time-consuming to do all of the necessary “make up” science coursework. These requirements may seem burdensome, but the faculty feel that they are more than reasonable given that thay are considerably less extensive and specific than the science content coursework required of our undergraduate Science Education majors, who would be your academic peers in certification coursework and fieldwork.
Here are our guidelines. There are two routes to satisfying these prerequisites:
Option 1. (consistent with minimum Georgia Professional Standards Commission requirements):
- Pass both parts of the Georgia Assessment for the Certification of Educators (GACE) test required for a specific Secondary Science field - Biology, Chemistry, Physics, or Earth/Space Science (for which the applicable GACE is general Secondary Science)
and
- Have at least 6 college courses in the same field in which you passed the GACE test, at least 4 of which are above the introductory level.
Option 2. (strongly recommended and preferred by our program):
Have taken a two-course introductory laboratory sequence in one of these basic science fields, plus specialized courses beyond the introductory level in each of these major subfields listed:
Biology (4 of 5 required):
Biochemistry/Molecular Biology
Genetics/Evolutionary Biology
Natural History/Ecology
Anatomy/Physiology
Cell Biology/Developmental BiologyEarth Sciences (all 4 required):
Mineralogy/Earth Materials
Paleontology/Historical Geology
Atmospheric/Marine Science
AstronomyChemistry (all 4 required):
Physical Chemistry
Organic Chemistry
Biochemistry
Quantitative/Qualitative AnalysisPhysics (4 of 5 required):
Mechanics
Electromagnetism
Thermodynamics
Waves/Optics
Modern Physics
Note that, at least at UGA and similar institutions, mid-level courses in several of these areas have prerequisites not only of introductory courses in the field but of specific foundational courses from other fields, such as Chemistry (both an introductory sequence and organic) for some Biology courses (e.g., Biochemistry, Genetics) and Mathematics (typically three semesters of calculus) for most Physics courses.
Students with an undergraduate major in a core science field, or who satisfy the requirements under “Option 2″ above, also must eventually pass the GACE test required for the chosen science field in order to be recommended for certification, but not necessarily before being admitted to the program. Our students’ experience with the GACE thus far, and over many years with the previously-applicable Praxis II tests, is that following the above guidelines will make success much more likely, especially in the field of Biology.
Can I earn “Broad Field” Secondary Science certification, or am I restricted to a single science subject?
Students in our programs may earn Broad Field Secondary Science certification, but only in addition to initial single-field certification.
University System of Georgia institutions are prevented by a Board of Regents rule from granting initial certification in Broad Field. You must qualify in one of the specific fields (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth/Space Science) first, through our program, and may then add Broad Field certification by passing the additional GACE test and applying directly to the Professional Standards Commission. There is no Earth Science GACE test, so students gaining their initial certification in that field take the Broad Field test for their initial certification. Those being initially certified in Biology, Chemistry, or Physics are strongly advised to apply to add on Broad Field certification in this manner. Despite the best intentions underlying the Board of Regents’ policy, very recent experience at some schools with which our programs have a close relationship has indicated that teachers holding Broad Field Secondary Science certification are the most likely to both obtain and retain a job.
What if I cannot study full-time, yet do not hold even Non-renewable Certification?
Another “middle ground” option within the PACSS program is to complete a half-time, full-year, unpaid internship (for which a placement, usually in a Gwinnett County school, is arranged by the program), in lieu of either traditional student teaching or on-the-job supervision as a teacher holding Non-renewable Certification.
Can I complete a master’s degree largely or wholly online?”, and eliminate the middle paragraph of the text which refers to the Gwinnett program.
Not largely or totally online. There are a few graduate-level courses given on an online basis that may be applied to master’s requirements in Science Education is many cases. Examples include several Educational Psychology courses, including those leading to a Gifted Education endorsement, and the most general and basic graduate-level Instructional Technology course.
Current long-term plans include making all courses required for the M.A.T. degree (as well as for certification) available as some combination of Gwinnett campus and online courses, but this goal has not yet been achieved. The M.Ed. and M.A. degrees require regular attendance in Athens for most courses.
An M.A.T. program for which all formal coursework is online is available through the Board of Regents, under the combined auspices of several other state institutions, including Columbus State, Georgia Southern, Kennesaw State, University of West Georgia, and Valdosta State. This program is listed as typically requiring five to six semesters, and does still require extensive (900 hours) personal presence in schools near one of these institutions for Student Teaching and other field experiences, so it does not seem compatible with holding a non-teaching-related full-time job with traditional hours.
What are the basic procedures and requirements for application?
All graduate students in Science Education must apply to the UGA Graduate School. Required application materials include official transcripts from all institutions from which you have earned a degree, three letters of recommendation, and, for degree programs, official Graduate Record Exam (GRE) or Miller Analogies Test score reports issued. For degree program applicants, the online application provides a facility to request via automated e-mail that writers of recommendation letters complete the process online. For non-degree applicants, or for those simply preferring to solicit or submit letters in hard-copy paper form, a cover sheet for letters of recommendation is also available on the Graduate School web site. We also ask that you complete the Incoming Graduate Student Questionnaire for Science Education in order to give the Graduate Coordinator a sense of your educational and professional background and goals.
What are the minimum objective standards for admission?
Minimum objective standards for master’s program admission established by the UGA Graduate School and the Science Education Program include an undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of 2.6 (on a 4.0 scale) and a combined Graduate Record Exam (GRE) score (verbal + quantitative) of 850, including at least 400 on the verbal portion (Board of Regents rule), or a Miller Analogies Test scaled score of 400. The Board of Regents requires any student enrolling in any teacher certification program at any University System of Georgia institution, even if on a non-degree basis, to have an undergraduate GPA of at least 2.5.
What is the relationship between course requirements for certification and master’s degree requirements?
While certification may be pursued as part of M.A. studies, the fact that nearly half of the M.A.T. requirements may “do double duty” for certification purposes makes this degree choice the most efficient and practical for most students seeking certification.
For M.A.T. students, four of the required courses (ESCI 6450, 6460, 7470 and 7480) contribute to both certification and master’s requirements. Up to three other graduate-level courses often used to satisfy certification requirements may also count towards fulfilling requirements for any of the master’s degrees. Examples of courses that commonly suit this twofold purpose are EPSY (Educational Psychology) 6100 or 6800, ESCI 6480 or EDIT (Instructional Technology) 6150, and ESCI or SPED 6030.
It is not possible to earn initial certification as part of an M.Ed. program. Existing T-4 certification became a requirement for M.Ed. admission with the advent of our M.A.T. program in 2008.
Can I earn teacher certification on a non-degree basis?
Yes. You may choose to fulfill only the certification requirements and never enroll in a degree program, or eventually choose not to finish M.A.T. requirements after completing certification. Common reasons for doing so include: already having earned a masters (or even doctoral) degree in another field; desire to study for only one year; plans to seek a teaching job far from Athens after completing certification; or desire to minimize tuition costs if not qualifying for financial aid.
Earning teacher certification at the graduate level on a non-degree basis is equivalent to the typical senior-year program for undergraduate majors in Science Education. See the detailed guidelines for Secondary Certification for specifics.
How do application or admissions requirements, procedures, or policies differ for non-degree students?
Non-degree applicants are not required to submit standardized test scores. Non-degree applicants to Science Education, however, are still required to submit three letters of recommendation. Since this is contrary to the default assumption of the designers of the Graduate School’s application web site, however, that site’s feature for requesting and receiving online recommendations is not available for non-degree applications. Therefore recommendations should be solicited using either a paper or electronic copy of the separate cover sheet, and mailed directly to djackson@uga.eduor to Dr. David Jackson at 212 Aderhold, Athens, GA 30602.
What is the relationship between admission to the UGA Graduate School and admission to a specific degree and/or certification program?
For applications to any Science Education master’s degree program, admission to the Graduate School also constitutes admission to that degree program.
For certification students (M.A.T. or non-degree), however, admission to the core Science Methods courses and Student Teaching portions of a specific teacher education program is a separate matter, handled by the Director of the program rather than the Graduate Coordinator. For the Secondary Science Certification Program, this contact person is Dr. Norm Thomson, nthomson@uga.edu.
The primary extra requirements are a brief interview with the Director and completion of some form of prior experience with children in an educational setting, as described and documented in theStatement of Pre-professional Experience.
Can I start a masters and/or certification program at any time of the year, or only when the academic year begins in the Fall?
Currently, all programs may be started during any semester – Fall, Spring, or Summer. Science Education courses leading to certification (Block I: Methods and Block II: Student Teaching) are offered during both academic year semesters but not in the Summer.
Can I continue as a full-time master’s degree student immediately upon completion of an undergraduate degree in science education or completion of certification at the graduate level?
Yes, although in practice this is quite rare and many of our faculty consider it not advisable. The most common approach is to find employment as a teacher after completion of certification and complete master’s coursework on a part-time basis. This is advantageous in two ways: financially, because of the income and seniority gained from working as a teacher as soon as possible; and academically, because practical experience beyond student teaching provides a context and perspective that most students and instructors consider a valuable asset in master’s-level courses. For those graduating with an undergraduate degree and/or certification in the middle of a school year (at the end of Fall Semester), however, it may make good practical sense to get a “head start” on completing masters coursework on a full-time basis for Spring semester only, before beginning a teaching job in the Fall.
Which aspects of the stated admissions requirements are inflexible rules, and which are subject to possible exceptions based on subjective evaluations of other qualifications?
The minimum GPA standards of 2.6 for master’s admission and 2.5 for admission to a teacher education program are completely inflexible rules, mandated by the Science Education faculty and by the Board of Regents, respectively. However, in the case of applicants whose undergraduate record falls slightly short of these standards but who have been more successful in previous graduate coursework (either at UGA or elsewhere), all graduate and undergraduate credit hours may be combined in GPA calculations in order to reach these standards.
The verbal GRE standard of 400 is also considered absolute by the Board of Regents for all teacher education programs, but the Graduate School standard of a total score of 850 is somewhat flexible in practice if the Science Education faculty consider that other, more subjective qualifications of an applicant are outstanding. The final decision in all admissions decisions lies formally with the Graduate School, although recommendations from programs are approved in a vast majority of cases.
- Apply to the UGA Graduate School
- Incoming Graduate Student Questionnaire
- Cover sheet for letters of recommendation
Dr. David F. Jackson
Associate Professor, Graduate Coordinator for Science Education Programs
Department of Mathematics and Science Education
University of Georgia
212 Aderhold, Athens, GA 30602
phone (706) 542-1763
fax (706) 542-1212
djackson@uga.edu
