Nov 25, 2024

Undergraduate/Graduate Catalog 2016-2017

Undergraduate/Graduate Catalog 2016-2017 [ARCHIVED CATALOG] See drop-down menu above to access other catalogs.

Elementary Education, Dual Licensure Concentration, BSE

Leading to MEd, Special Education, Teacher of Students with Moderate Disabilities (PreK-8)

Departments: Elementary and Early Childhood Education
Special Education

The dual license program is a joint program between the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education and the Department of Special Education. The program leads to both a BSE in Elementary Education with initial license in elementary education and an MEd in Special Education for initial license as a teacher of students with moderate disabilities (PreK-8). The purpose of the program is to develop general education teachers and special education teachers who have an in-depth understanding of both special education and the elementary school classroom. Students interested in this program should also review the rules for the Elementary Education, BSE , as those rules also apply to this program.

Early Acceptance to the MEd Program

Students enrolled in the Elementary Education, Dual Licensure Concentration, may apply to the College of Graduate Studies for early acceptance into the MEd program, and no application fee will be required. Application for early acceptance requires that the student:

be a Bridgewater State University senior, enrolled in the Elementary Education, Dual Licensure concentration;
be enrolled in the elementary education “block”; and
file an application for admission to the Special Education, Teacher of Students with Moderate Disabilities (PreK-8) (Initial Licensure) for Elementary and Early Childhood Teachers, MEd program for the semester immediately following their anticipated BSE completion date.

Although students may be accepted into the graduate program during their senior year, they will be classified as undergraduate students until all requirements of the Bachelor’s degree have been fulfilled and the Bachelor’s degree has been awarded. Under the early acceptance program, student will be admitted and classified as graduate students in the semester immediately following conferral of the Bachelor’s degree. Students accepted under the early acceptance program must begin taking graduate courses the semester immediately after receipt of their Bachelor’s degree.

Undergraduate Program Requirements

Students who wish to be elementary teachers are required to select a major in elementary education as well as a major in the liberal arts or sciences. A major in liberal arts or sciences is a requirement of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Students must apply for admission and be accepted into professional education after completion of ELED 220 Introduction to Elementary Education and before the professional semester. ELED 220 and ELED 120 or PSYC 224 are the only required education courses in which students can enroll prior to official acceptance into a professional education program.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts requires three Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure^® (MTEL) for Elementary licensure: Communication and Literacy, General Curriculum (Elementary) and the Foundations of Reading. All three of these exams must be passed as a prerequisite to professional semester courses.

All matriculated undergraduate elementary education degree seeking students must take the professional semester as a block of courses and must register with the department. These courses are usually taken the semester prior to student teaching.

All undergraduate students seeking licensure must consult the section of this catalog entitled College of Education and Allied Studies for information pertaining to admission to a professional education program and the State Regulations for the Licensure of Educational Personnel and important institutional deadlines.

Students must complete 80 hours of prepractica experience. A 40-hour experience is attached to the course ELED 220 . An additional 40 hours is attached to the professional courses. Undergraduates who are not taking these courses together in a professional block must meet with their professor to plan appropriate prepractica experiences.

After completing all education methods courses, students must complete a full‑time, semester-long student teaching experience in a local school under the joint supervision of a university supervisor and a supervising practitioner.

Students successfully completing the program are eligible to apply for initial Massachusetts licensure in elementary education (Grades 1-6).

This program has been approved by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and includes licensure reciprocity with signatory states under the Interstate Certification Compact.

Grade Requirement

A minimum cumulative GPA of 2.8 is required for acceptance into the professional education program, and it must be maintained throughout the program.

Foundation courses (9 credits)

The following courses must be completed prior to admission to professional education and enrollment in professional education courses.

Cognate courses (24 credits)

Note(s):

Some of the required courses listed above also fulfill certain Core Curriculum Requirements .

*Students with a double major in English and Elementary Education are not required to complete ENGL 254 ; this requirement will be met with the completion of ENGL 494 , ENGL 495 , ENGL 496 , ENGL 497 within the English major.

**Students with a double major in Mathematics and Elementary Education must take MATH 112 . MATH 325 will meet the requirement of MATH 113 , and MATH 403 will meet the requirement of MATH 114 .

Professional courses (18.5 credits)

Required fieldwork (12 credits)

ELED 492 - Supervised Teaching in Public Schools: Elementary (12 credits)

Total minimum undergraduate credits: 63.5

Core Curriculum Requirements

A minimum of 120 earned credit hours is required for graduation. These earned hours include the Core Curriculum Requirements as specified in the Undergraduate Academic Programs section of this catalog and at the Core Curriculum website, www.bridgew.edu/corecurriculum. For additional graduation requirements, see the Undergraduate Academic Policies section of this catalog.

Graduate Program Requirements

Once students have completed all requirements of the BSE program and the Bachelor’s degree has been awarded, they will follow the program requirements for the MEd program. However, students completing the dual license program will not be required to complete SPED 508 - Strategies for Diversity: Sheltered English Immersion Endorsement Course because that requirement will have been met with ELED 242 , completed as an undergraduate.

All requirements for the MEd program are outlined through the following link:

Special Education, Teacher of Students with Moderate Disabilities (PreK-8) (Initial Licensure) for Elementary and Early Childhood Teachers, MEd