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MA in Education and Licensure

Teacher Licensure

Goddard offers teacher licensure within the low residency MA in Education and Licensure Program. Students remain in their home community to complete their graduate degree with teacher licensure. Graduate students can seek licensure in Art Education, Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education, Middle Grades, Secondary Science English, Secondary Science, and Secondary Social Studies. Students interested in becoming licensed teachers plan, with the help of their advisor, a sequence of studies, field experience, internships, and other learning activities in order to acquire the competencies required of beginning teachers.  For more information on teacher licensure at Goddard, contact the Licensure Coordinator.

Teacher licensure on the graduate level has two study program options.
  1. Licensure only without the MA degree:  Three 12 credit semesters*
  2. MA with Licensure:  Four 12 credit semesters* with certification granted at the completion of the first three semesters.  The fourth semester is the MA thesis semester.
* Occasionally, a student completes licensure requirements in two semesters if they are an experienced teacher and have prepared some of the entries requires in the portfolio during the admission process or if they transfer in 12 graduate credits that align with the pre-student teaching competencies.

Goddard, under its Vermont Department of Education approved teacher certification program, uses a unique competency-based portfolio system to award the Initial Teacher License credential. This competency-based system allows the Education and Licensure Program the freedom to balance its strong student-centered philosophy with the necessities of meeting specific state and national requirements for licensure.
 
Candidates who successfully complete Goddard’s approved certification program receive an Initial Teacher Licensure through the State of Vermont. This licensure has reciprocity in most other states through the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC)'s interstate education certification/licensure agreement.