M.A.T. in Elementary Education
Fast-track Cohort: Complete the program in one year in this intensive option!
NCATE and NASDTEC Approved
You are invited to attend a one-hour MAT information meeting hosted by an MAT faculty member. The purpose of the meeting is to provide information and answer your questions about the MAT program, courses, faculty, admission requirements and procedures. Please call 456-8016 to find out the day and time of the next information meeting.
Overview
Teaching is an intellectually, emotionally and physically demanding profession, one that needs individuals to embrace it with wholehearted enthusiasm, a commitment to excellence for themselves and for students, and an interest in being a lifelong learner. The classroom teacher meets, each morning, a room that is at once a community called "class" and a collection of individuals of differing personal, and academic achievements, talents, needs, and problems. The excellent teacher will make hundreds of decisions in orchestrating the teaching day to advance the skill and knowledge of each child in the classroom.
In preparation for the daily engagement with the complex phenomena of the classroom, teacher education recognizes the need for teachers to be knowledgeable of learners and their characteristics, of educational contexts including the character of communities and cultures, of subject matter, of themselves, of general pedagogy and subject-specific pedagogy, and of the purposes and values of education including its philosophical and historical roots. Rhode Island College has designed, for holders of baccalaureate degrees, the Master of Arts in Teaching program (elementary) to prepare teachers to meet successfully the challenges and joys of teaching.
The program graduate enters the profession as a reflective teacher, one who can plan and direct classroom instruction and one who will modify instructional practice and curriculum through systematic reflection and self-assessment. The reflective teacher:
- understands teaching as encouraging the development of active learners;
- provides a rationale for instruction from research and practice and develops conceptual frameworks for instruction;
- recognizes and identifies elements extrinsic to the classroom practice;
- establishes classroom relationships and classroom environments that support growth and learning;
- appreciates the importance of developing in learners an understanding of the nature of subject matter.
The Master of Arts in Teaching program begins with the selection of candidates who already possess a baccalaureate degree and who have potential for success in rigorous academic studies and in classroom teaching. The program moves to a carefully designed and coordinated sequence of courses and concludes with an intensive semester of student teaching. These studies and integrated clinical experiences are designed and sequenced to permit the candidate to increase knowledge and understanding of teaching in a systematic fashion, with each program phase based upon prior learning.
Successful candidates will be able to:
- explain the Conceptual Framework of the FSEHD, the Rhode Island Professional Teaching Standards, and relevant Rhode Island Dept. of Education initiatives, and describe their connection and impact to teaching in an elementary classroom:
RIPTS 7,10,11; ACEI 5.1, 5.2
- describe and apply the roles and responsibilities of how reflective teachers think and act:
RIPTS 7,10; ACEI 5.1, 5.2
- for all disciplines taught in the elementary classroom: construct, teach, and reflect upon lessons and units that model developmentally appropriate practices consonant with professional teaching standards, including the Conceptual Framework of the FSEHD, the Rhode Island Professional Teaching Standards, and the ACEI Standards:
RIPTS 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,11; ACEI 1, 2.8, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 5.1, 5.2
- select and utilize formal and informal assessment strategies with individuals and groups of students to determine the impact of instruction on learning, to provide feedback, and to plan future instruction: RIPTS 9; ACEI 4
- describe the role and purposes of collaborative relationships with family and community, and plan and apply techniques for involving family in the learning process:
RIPTS 7; ACEI 5.3, 5.4
- describe the importance of lifelong professional development and demonstrate competence in accessing information from relevant professional organizations and journals available for continued professional growth opportunities, with an emphasis on using available technology:
RIPTS 10; ACEI 5.1, 5.2
The completion of this program satisfies academic requirements for
Grades 1-6 teacher certification in Rhode Island.
Admission Requirements & Procedures
Because of the wide variety of MAT programs offered through the Feinstein School of Education and Human Development, applicants need to request the application portfolio in person. Please contact Mrs. Dottie Grady at 401-456-8822 or
mgrady@ric.edu to schedule an appointment. Mrs. Grady will review the application process with you and direct you to the appropriate faculty member for more information. Apply Now!
Online Application
This
Application is for both the regular MAT ELED program and the Fast-Track Cohort program option.
Admission Dates
This program is a sequentially designed set of academic and professional experiences. It is also intended, as much as possible, to be a cohort program where candidates move through the program in a group. Accordingly, it is important for candidates to have all application documents completed and ready for review in order that study may begin or continue (if first three courses have been taken) in the following semester. The official due dates for applications follow:
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March 1st |
Spring semester deadline for applications |
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November 1st |
Fall semester deadline for applications |
Complete applications that come in after the deadline will continue to be processed as much as possible, but this may mean processing is not finished until the beginning of the following semester.
Course Requirements & Regulations
Prerequisites
In order to be admitted to the program, students must have completed the following:
- Minimum of 60 semester hours of liberal arts courses
- Minimum of two courses in each of the following areas: science, mathematics, humanities, and social sciences.
- Health education or physical education or health-related course; art education or music education or fine/performing arts course.
- Additional courses that may be required by the admissions committee and/or program advisor.
Course Requirements
Click here for course details.
Program Regulations
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Graduate students seeking initial certification may only take the first three program courses while in the process of applying to the program. These courses are: CEP 552, ELED 500 and FNED 546, and the application must be completed and processed while taking these courses. Only 9-credits taken at RIC are allowed to be brought into the program upon admission. Any other program courses taken without permission of the MAT Committee (not the course instructor) will need to be retaken. This provision supports College Graduate Policy and professional standards established by the Feinstein School of Education and Human Development to ensure that students enrolling in teacher preparation programs are academically qualified for the study of teaching.
- Students may enroll as part-time or full-time students. Students who meet all prerequisites and enroll as full-time students may complete program and degree requirements in as little as one year (intensive program). Most candidates are finished by the end of two years. Note that three courses is considered full-time at the graduate level.
- To assist in program planning, see the
MAT Program Sequencing Chart
- The following program enrollment regulations guide planning:
- CEP 552 must be completed prior to or concurrent with FNED 546 and ELED 500.
- FNED 546 and ELED 500 should be taken concurrently, if possible.
- CEP 552, FNED 546 and ELED 500 are the only program courses that may be taken prior to admission. They must be taken prior to any other program course.
- All program courses must be completed prior to student teaching.
Program Coordinator
Martha Horn
Associate Professor
Horace Mann Hall
(401) 456-8016
mhorn@ric.edu
