Admission to the MAE
The Master of Arts in Education program has admission requirements that vary according to program (admission processes for each program are detailed in Appendix A).
Direct Admission
In a 2019 survey emailed to pre-MAE and current MAE ELED students and any faculty/staff at Truman that worked with ELED students, we explored the possibility of instituting a direct-admit policy for the Elementary MAE. After data collection and analysis, the Elementary Education and Special Education programs created a direct admission process, which has been highly successful. One hundred percent of students who responded reported that a direct-admission policy created an incentive to stay at Truman State University, and 64% of undergraduate pre-elementary MAE students reported they were confident they could meet the gateways. Sixty percent of current Elementary MAE students reported being slightly anxious with 30% being somewhat anxious about being admitted. Fully 80% of TSU employees reported observing that students were less anxious about being admitted. Through analysis of the admission process of these programs, the Education Department refined the process to direct admission when certain requirements are met. The four gateways for admission in these two programs are the following: an academic plan on file (freshman year or upon decision of wanting to join the MAE), earning a B or higher in ED 393 and a P in ED 394, having an overall 2.75 GPA as a prerequisite for ED/SPED 608G, and completing a form for the Graduate Office once enrolled in ED/SPED 608G.
Application Admission
The other K-12 and secondary programs have different criteria that are clear and posted on the website. Students apply for the graduate program their senior year typically. The programs have rolling admission and review applications at the beginning of the month. Upon faculty and/or committee review, applications are sent to the Department Chairs of that program (e.g. Music teacher candidate–application is read by Dr. Jocelyn Prendergast who sends her recommendation to the Music Department Chair, Charles Gran, who reviews the application, then the application is sent to the MAE Department Chair, who reviews the application and it is sent to the Graduate Dean for final approval). Slate is the app that the Admissions Office uses for application approval.
Monitoring Process of the MAE
Recruitment of Students to the Degree
The Recruitment and Retention GTRAs work with the Department Chair of Education and a student worker to plan and execute events throughout the year. Recruitment occurs during Showcase events that are held throughout the year on campus, meeting with Educator Rising Clubs, meeting with Future Teacher of America clubs, discussing the MAE with prospective students when University Supervisors are in public schools, and meeting prospective students at Truman. In 2019, the faculty created an elevator pitch to use when describing the MAE programs for recruitment. In addition, the GTRAs created pathway sheets so that prospective students could see how the program could work and then made an interactive Google document with faculty’s input for prospective and current students. We strongly believe that the close mentoring faculty provide to students throughout the program, the ability to earn a master’s degree, and having numerous field experiences contribute to the desirability of our program.
University Showcase events occur approximately five times a year and faculty sign up to participate in the meet and greet portion of the event. The Education Department Chair works with GTRAs to create a presentation to share with the prospective students and their families at this event during a portion devoted to sharing information with prospective students about particular academic areas and majors.
The MAE program also recruits from Truman’s population of undergraduate students. Multiple events such as professional development, ice cream socials, barbecues, film series, transfer luncheons, and Living Learning Community all contribute to recruitment and retention. In 2020-2021, some these events included:
- During the Speaker/Film Series, students viewed the film TEACH directed by Davis Guggenheim. After viewing the film, students discussed multiple aspects of the film in both a small group and a large group setting. The event had 19 participants.
- Due to COVID-19, our transfer lunch was converted to an online coffee meeting; however, no transfer students attended. We plan on reaching out to transfer students again this semester.
- The department hosted three professional development events. At each of these events, a professor from the Education Department presented and led discussion on a topic relevant to education students. Dr. Lochbaum led a journal discussion about White Supremacy in teaching programs (23 participants), Dr. Ensign talked about professionalism (21 participants) and Dr. Miner discussed perfectionism (24 participants).
Monitoring and Retention of Enrolled Students
The Education Department has multiple monitoring processes in place to ensure success of teacher candidates. MAE advisors meet with students as early as their first year, before they are MAE students, and continue to provide advice as students continue to the graduate program. Advising plays a key role in retention of enrolled students. In addition, the MAE hosts a Living Learning Community for freshmen in Missouri Hall directed by Dr. Marty Strange. For professional development events, etc. graduate students will reach out to undergraduate students to attend events together. All pre-MAE and MAE students are encouraged to participate in at least one of the MAE student organizations to increase their connection to the MAE and help with retention. In addition, any student with 60 hours of college credit is qualified to substitute teach. We encourage students to apply in NEMO districts and their districts at home for substitute teaching. Being in the field usually reinforces retention. Moreover, in 2018, we dropped the 2.75 GPA requirement for ED 389 in an effort to increase retention in the MAE. Documentation of this change and the data gathered to support it are available in Appendix A.
If a teacher candidate is struggling with professional dispositions during clinical placements, the University Supervisor works with the mentor to create a professional improvement plan with specific goals that reflect the needs of the teacher candidate to meet expectations and that document is shared with the Department Chair. There are funds for additional site visits as required. This kind of action occurs rarely, but we have a plan in place if needed.
The MAE faculty have a master advising sheet where we list all teacher candidates and keep track of students who change their minds regarding the MAE. Dr. Enrique Pareja is conducting a study to determine why students decide to leave the profession before they start so we can determine if there are any patterns in students’ choices and improve the MAE as needed.