Licensure Programs for Educational Personnel

Graduate students may pursue coursework that qualifies them for licensure in Elementary Education; Middle and Secondary Education in English, History, Political Science/Political Philosophy, Mathematics and the Sciences; English as a Second Language; Reading Specialist; Special Education; School Guidance Counseling; School Psychology and Administrator of Special Education.

Related programs leading to educator licensure are also offered through the Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in the Art and Asian Languages and Literatures Departments (Chinese), the Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) in Foreign Languages (French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish) and Classics (Latin). Music and Art students may pursue educator licensure as an additional concentration within the Master of Music and Master of Arts degrees.

The Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL) are required for educational licensure in Massachusetts. The University’s policy regarding the MTEL requires that graduate candidates for licensure must pass the Communications and Literacy Skills test in their first semester of study. All candidates must pass the Subject Test required for their licensure field (if a test has been developed for that license before enrolling in the practicum).

Students who completed licensure requirements at the university in 2009-10 had the following pass rates on the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure:

Communication & Literacy Skills: Reading: 100%; Writing: 100%.

Academic Content Areas*: English, 100%; Foundations of Reading, 100%; General Curriculum, 100%; History, 100%; Mathematics, 100%; Music, 100%; (*Rates for specific secondary subjects—Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Early Childhood, English as a Second Language, General Science, Latin and Classical Humanities, Physics, Political Science/Political Philosophy, Portuguese, Spanish, Visual Art, and Reading Specialist—are not calculated because fewer than ten students took the specific subject assessment test.)

Information on licensure programs and the MTEL is available from the Educator Information Office, 121 Furcolo Hall, tel. (413) 545-2002 or 545-2701 or on the School of Education’s website, www.umass.edu/education, under Educator Licensure.