The Adolescence Education Program for teaching social studies is designed in accordance with the New York State Education Department’s certification regulations, the standards, the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) standards, and the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), along with Advisory Board recommendations and alumni feedback. The MST Social Studies program is nationally recognized by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). The program leads to Initial Adolescence Education: Social Studies (Grades 7-12) with an extension for Middle Childhood Social Studies Education (Grades 5-6) certification.

Program Student Learning Outcomes:

Adolescence Education: Social Studies M.S.T. candidates will be able to:

   • collect and analyze three students work samples (high, medium and low) that represent the patterns of learning from a selected assessment and explain how they will reteach the learning objectives for students to gain further success with the content in the future.
   • plan a social studies unit on a specific topic which will include a two-week daily lesson plan identifying the objectives, standards, instructional strategies, assessments and UDL principles, and instructional materials associated with each lesson.
   • plan and use developmentally appropriate materials, activities, and instructional strategies in the lesson plan and implement that plan for the social studies topic.
   • analyze structured interviews completed with two grade level students on primary source documents and their historical knowledge and write a five-page reflection paper on how this knowledge will shape their future instructional practices.

Additional Degree Information

All degree candidates are required to successfully complete a Culminating Experience in the School of Education and Professional Studies designed to synthesize their academic experiences (GRED 670 - Culminating Experience (Project) ). A content portfolio course (GRED 684 - Secondary Social Studies Content Portfolio , 1 credit) is also required.

Candidates are required to complete all New York State teaching requirements to earn certification. This will include enrollment in PHTH 530 - School Health CA 2 SAVE DASA  (3 credits) and successful passing of all applicable New York State Teacher Certification Exams. These are subject to change.

Student progress is carefully monitored throughout the MST Social Studies, Adolescence program based on demonstration of appropriate knowledge, skills and dispositions. Students are provided with information on program expectations in their first semester. Students not making satisfactory progress will be counseled by their adviser and may be dropped from the program.

Transcripts will be reviewed to determine if any undergraduate prerequisite courses are needed to be taken while in the program.