MA in Teaching degree programs at SUNY College at Old Westbury
The Master of Arts in Teaching degree programs at SUNY College at Old Westbury are designed specifically for aspiring teachers and career-changers seeking to advance their careers with minimal disruption to life and work.
Old Westburys MAT degrees lead students toward New York State initial professional certification in the following disciplines: Biology, Chemistry, English Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Spanish.
The MAT degrees are intended for graduates from accredited colleges or universities with an undergraduate major in humanities, sciences, or social sciences who have few, if any, formal courses in education.
Admissions Requirements: These 42-credit MAT degrees share general admissions requirements, including:
An undergraduate degree with at least 30 semester hours of appropriate coursework as defined by the respective discipline
A cumulative grade point average at the undergraduate level of 3.0
Submission of scores from the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test (LAST) and Graduate Record Examination (GRE)
Two letters of recommendation (one from an academic source)
An admissions essay
Completion of an undergraduate general education program that includes English (6 credits) and a foreign language (6 credits).
Additional discipline-specific criteria must also be met for entry into each degree program.
Course of Study: The MAT degrees are designed using integrated course work to produce graduates with both the pedagogical skills and subject mastery needed for excellent teaching at the secondary level.
Pedagogical Core –Education courses comprise a 24-27 credit hour core of each MAT degree and provide introductory graduate level courses in:
History of education
Human development
Literacy
Special education
In addition, students take discipline-specific courses in methodology, literacy, research and technology that include a total of 100 hours of field observation, as required by the New York State Education Department. To conclude their studies, all students complete a six credit discipline-specific student teaching experience.
Content Courses: Each MAT degree requires 15-18 credit hours of specialized content area instruction to meet New York State or national standards for the specific discipline. Content area courses introduce students to current issues and scholarship in their specializations through courses that survey and analyze developments in the field.
A sampling of courses offered across the six degree programs includes:
Advanced Mathematics and Technology (Mathematics)
Biological Pharmacology (Biology)
Literature in the Classroom (English Language Arts)
Points of Contact: United States and Latin America (Spanish)
Questioning Global History (Social Studies)
Topics in Environmental Science (Chemistry)