Permanent Status Program Review
Self Study – M.A. in Education
Fall, 2007
I. Description
The objective for the Master of Arts in Education is to
provide an option for Ph.D. students who want to obtain a Master’s degree in
conjunction with their doctoral degree, or for Ph.D. students who have to leave
the doctoral program prematurely due to family, personal or health reasons (but
not because they are ineligible to continue in the doctoral program). Students can only apply to the Ph.D. program; the goal is to have all admitted
students complete all requirements for the Ph.D., and have the option of
obtaining the M.A. degree along the way.
Thus, the goal for the M.A. degree is the same as that in the Ph.D.: for
students to attain an advanced level of scholarship, to possess scholarly
dispositions and habits, to become prepared to make significant contributions
to the field of education by conducting research that answers important
questions about the nature of education.
II. Rationale and Demand
A. Institutional Factors
The
B. Student Demand
Because the degree is only
accessible to Ph.D. students as an embedded part of their Ph.D. curriculum, there
are no additional demands or impacts on instructional, research, or
service programs of the University or the
C. Transferability
1. The students seeking an M.A. in Education degree at UD are part of the Ph.D. program first and foremost. There are few transfers out of the program, and in fact, the M.A. in Education degree is a way for students who are unable to complete the Ph.D. degree (due to family, personal or health reasons) to still receive a degree and the recognition with which it comes.
2.
Students from other schools can not transfer into the M.A. in Education program (or any other graduate
program in the
D. Regional,
State and National Factors
III. Enrollment Admissions and Financial Aid
A. Enrollment
The Ph.D. in Education matriculates 9-13 new students each year, all of whom are eligible to pursue the M.A. in Education degree if they so choose. Not all students in the Ph.D. program will choose to obtain the M.A. in Education degree, as many may have already earned one or more master’s degrees prior to being admitted to our Ph.D. program. In this case, obtaining the M.A. in Education degree would not add any value to their overall vitae. Thus, the program completion figures for the M.A. in Education will be lower than those for the Ph.D. Since 2005, when the first students graduated with an M.A. in Education degree, 21 students have received the degree (please see appendix B).
B. Admission
Requirements
Students are admitted only to the Ph.D.
program, (the M.A. in Education is embedded
within the Ph.D. program) and must be in good standing in order to obtain the M.A. in
Education degree (e.g., pass all courses, successfully complete the Proseminar Assessment, and
maintain a 3.0 gpa.)
1.
Admission decisions for the Ph.D. program, in which the M.A. in Education is embedded, are made by an admissions sub-committee of the
Committee on Graduate
Student Education (CGSE) in the
• Baccalaureate degree from an
accredited college or university.
• An officially reported GRE score.
Students are normally expected to have a minimum score of 1050 on math and
verbal sections combined.
• An undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or
higher.
• An officially reported minimum
TOEFL score of 600 (paper-based test), 250 (computer-based test) or 100
(iBT).
Applicants must provide a written statement of goals and objectives, including a statement that clearly identifies the specialization to which the student is applying. There are eight specialization areas: cognition, development, and instruction; research, measurement, and evaluation; special education; literacy education; socio-cultural and communal approaches; mathematics education; science education; and school psychology.
2. Students admitted into the Ph.D. Program in
Education may be admitted into one
of the following categories:
a. Regular. Regular status is offered to students who meet all of the established entrance requirements, who have a record of high scholarship of specialization, and who have the ability, interest, and maturity necessary for successful study at the graduate level in a degree program.
b. Provisional. Provisional status is offered to students
who are seeking admission to the degree program but
lack one or more of the specified prerequisites.
All provisional requirements must be met within the deadline
given before regular status can be granted. Students admitted with
provisional status are generally not eligible for assistantships or fellowships.
Students who file an application during the final year of undergraduate
or current graduate work and are unable to supply complete official transcripts showing the conferral of the degree
will be admitted pending
conferral of the degree if their records are otherwise satisfactory and
complete.
C. Student Expenses and Financial Aid
1. Financial assistance for
students in the Ph.D. program is obtained from a variety of external sources
and will therefore vary in form and availability. Assistance will be awarded on
a competitive basis to applicants best fitting the
needs of the granting agencies and sponsoring faculty. Students receiving full
stipends will be expected to work up to 20 hours per week on faculty projects,
and students are expected to maintain full-time status. Ph.D. students in the
2. An additional financial implication for students is the administrative fee that is assessed when a student completes an application for any advanced degree at the University. All graduate students applying for an advanced degree must pay a fee ($50.00 for master’s degrees and $95.00 for doctoral degrees).
IV. Curriculum Specifics
A. Institutional Factors
Students may earn an M.A. in Education degree by successfully completing the seventeen credit hours of Ph.D. core coursework, twelve credit hours of specialization coursework, three credits hours of Research Colloquium, and passing the Proseminar Assessment.
B. Curriculum Description
Program
Requirements for the MA in Education:
The M.A. in Education degree program requires 32 credit hours of coursework, including:
1. Doctoral Core Coursework (17 hours): EDUC 805, 806, 856, 850, 852
2. Colloquium (3 hours): EDUC 840
3. Specialization Courses (12 hours) from one of the following areas: cognition, development and instruction; curriculum inquiry; literacy education; mathematics education; research methodology and evaluation; science education; socio-cultural approaches; special education, or school psychology.
4. Successful completion of the Proseminar assessment at the end of the first year of study.
Students admitted to the Ph.D. program who have completed the necessary requirements for the M.A. in Education degree must be in good standing in order to obtain the degree (e.g., pass all courses, successfully complete the Proseminar Assessment, and maintain a 3.0 gpa) (Please see appendix D).
V. Resources Available
A. Learning
Resources
The Morris Library has a dedicated Education subject librarian. There are 3 databases dedicated specifically to education resources, and an additional 9 databases that are either multidisciplinary or related to education. The library also has access to approximately 400 electronic journals for education, along with a host of other information and materials regarding research in education.
B. Faculty/Administrative
Resources
1.
Faculty
The
2.
Administrators
The
M.A. in Education (along with all graduate programs) is also served full time by two
professional administrators, including the Assistant Director of the
VI. Resources Required
We have no
additional resource needs at this time.
VII. Implementation and Evaluation
A. Implementation
Plan
The
curriculum for the M.A. in Education degree has been implemented as a part of the fully-functioning Ph.D. program
in the
B. Assessment
Plan
1. All students in the program are required to
successfully pass a Proseminar Assessment
(PSA) at the end of their first year in
the program. At the end of the fall
semester, students take Part 1 of the PSA. This is a formative evaluation based on a task such as a research article
critique that students have experienced during
the first Proseminar course and the first methodology course. It is assumed that the evaluation is based
on a student’s independent work. The PSA
will be evaluated by the instructors of the Proseminar I, and students will receive
extensive written feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of their work, and this feedback is intended to be
a helpful benchmark of academic progress
for the student. At the end of the
spring semester, students take Part 2 of the
PSA, consisting of a task that is similar in structure and difficulty to the formative assessment completed at the end of
the first semester, but based on the material
learned in the second Proseminar course and the second methodology course. This is a summative evaluation and
students whose PSA response is judged
to be below the established passing criteria will be allowed a second opportunity to submit a written
response. The PSA will be evaluated by the instructors
of the spring core courses, the student’s advisor, and two other members of the Doctoral Core Committee. This
revised PSA must be submitted to the
evaluating faculty by August 1.
Students whose revised PSA fails to the meet the
established criteria a second time are dismissed from the Ph.D. program.
2. Graduation rates are essentially 100% for this program; a student who has successfully completed all requirements as outlined in section IV-B of this document are eligible to apply for the advanced degree of M.A. in Education. Not all eligible students will apply for the degree, but any who do apply, receive the degree.
VII. Appendices
A. Attached
letters of support from Dr. Tim Barnekov, Dean of the College of Human
Services, Education and Public Policy, and Dr. Nancy Brickhouse, Director of
the
B. Master of Arts in Education Graduates by Year
C. Master of Arts in Education – Resources Available – Affiliated Faculty and Administrators.
Appendix A – Letters of Support
(Signed letters from Dean Barnekov and Dr. Brickhouse on
letterhead will be delivered with the hard copy)
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Appendix B |
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Master of Arts in
Education Graduates By Year |
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Name |
Graduation Year |
Degree |
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Katrin Blamey |
2005 |
MA in Ed |
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Bridget Brennan |
2005 |
MA in Ed |
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Delayne Johnson |
2005 |
MA in Ed |
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Maria Moreno Alcazar |
2005 |
MA in Ed |
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Yi Song |
2005 |
MA in Ed |
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Kwasi Agbottah |
2006 |
MA in Ed |
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Nicole DiGironimo |
2006 |
MA in Ed |
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Attahirou Dogo |
2006 |
MA in Ed |
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Sandy Greene |
2006 |
MA in Ed |
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Yuexia Han |
2006 |
MA in Ed |
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Hyun-ju Kim |
2006 |
MA in Ed |
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Weiyi Ma |
2006 |
MA in Ed |
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Noreen Miller |
2006 |
MA in Ed |
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Chaitanya Ramineni |
2006 |
MA in Ed |
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Elizabeth Sieminski |
2006 |
MA in Ed |
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Lulu Song |
2006 |
MA in Ed |
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Wilkey Wong |
2006 |
MA in Ed |
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Tara Falcone |
2007 |
MA in Ed |
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Sara McCraw |
2007 |
MA in Ed |
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Christine Phelps |
2007 |
MA in Ed |
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Xiaofen Qiao |
2007 |
MA in Ed |
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Appendix C
Faculty and Administrators Affiliated with M.A. in Education
degree
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Faculty |
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Name |
Status/Rank |
Specialization(s) |
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Dr. Amanda Jansen |
FT Assistant Professor |
Mathematics Education |
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Dr. Anne Morris |
FT Assistant Professor |
Mathematics Education |
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Dr. Charles A. MacArthur |
FT Assistant Professor |
Cognition, Development &
Instruction/Literacy Education |
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Dr. Chrystalla Mouza |
FT Assistant Professor |
Sociocultural & Communal Approaches to Research in Education |
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Dr. David Coker |
FT Assistant Professor |
Literacy Education |
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Dr. Dawn Berk |
FT Assistant Professor |
Mathematics Education |
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Dr. Eric Eslinger |
FT Assistant Professor |
Sciecne Education |
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Dr. Frank B. Murray |
FT Assistant Professor |
Cognition, Development &
Instruction |
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Dr. Kristen Ritchey |
FT Assistant Professor |
Special Education |
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Dr. Marika Ginsburg-Block |
FT Assistant Professor |
School Psychology |
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Dr. Nancy C. Jordan |
FT Assistant Professor |
Cognition, Development &
Instruction |
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Dr. Nancy Lavigne |
FT Assistant Professor |
Cognition, Development &
Instruction |
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Dr. Rachel Karchmer Klein |
FT Assistant Professor |
Literacy Education |
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Dr. Rosalie Rolon-Dow |
FT Assistant Professor |
Sociocultural & Communal Approaches to Research in Education |
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Dr. Sarah Jewett |
FT Assistant Professor |
Sociocultural & Communal Approaches to Research in Education |
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Dr. Sharon Walpole |
FT Assistant Professor |
Literacy Education |
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Dr. Tony Whitson |
FT Assistant Professor |
Curriculum Inquiry/Sociocultural & Communal Approaches to Research in
Education |
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Dr. Tonya Bartell |
FT Assistant Professor |
Mathematics Education/Sociocultural & Communal Approaches to Research in
Education |
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Dr. Carol Wong |
FT Associate Professor |
Cognition, Development &
Instruction |
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Dr. Danielle Ford |
FT Associate Professor |
Curriculum Inquiry/Science
Education |
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Dr. Eugene Matusov |
FT Associate Professor |
Cognition, Development &
Instruction/Curriculum Inquiry/Sociocultural &
Communal Approaches |
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Dr. Shuaib Meacham |
FT Associate Professor |
Curriculum Inquiry/Sociocultural & Communal Approaches to Research in
Education |
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Dr. Al Cavalier |
FT Professor |
Cognition, Development &
Instruction |
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Dr. David Blacker |
FT Professor |
Sociocultural & Communal Approaches to Research in Education |
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Dr. George G. Bear |
FT Professor |
Cognition, Development &
Instruction/School Psychology |
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Dr. James Hiebert |
FT Professor |
Mathematics Education |
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Dr. Joseph Glutting |
FT Professor |
Research Methodology and
Evaluation |
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Dr. Kathleen Minke |
FT Professor |
School Psychology |
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Dr. Laura Eisenman |
FT Professor |
Special Education/Sociocultural & Communal Approaches to Research in
Education |
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Dr. Ralph P. Ferretti |
FT Professor |
Cognition, Development &
Instruction |
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Dr. Ratna Nandakumar |
FT Professor |
Research Methodology and
Evaluation |
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Dr. Robert Hampel |
FT Professor |
Curriculum Inquiry/Research
Methodology and Evaluation/Sociocultural &
Communal Approaches |
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Dr. Roberta Golinkoff |
FT Professor |
Cognition, Development &
Instruction |
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Dr. Audrey Noble |
PT Assistant Professor |
Research Methodology and
Evaluation |
Administrators
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Name |
Title |
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Gail Rys, Ph.D. |
Assistant Director, |
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April Fitzpatrick, M.S.Ed. |
Academic
Advisor/Administrator, |
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Kathleen Moody, M.A. |
Coordinator of Technology
& Program Assessment, |
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Susanne O'Connell, B.S. |
Administratve Coordinator of Grants and Budgets, |
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Appendix D
Self Study – M.A. in
Education
Curriculum Listing
Master of Arts in
Education Degree
Students may earn an MA in Education degree by successfully completing the Ph.D. core coursework, twelve credit hours of specialization coursework, three credits of Research Colloquium, and passing the Proseminar Assessment.
Requirements For Admission to the MA in Education Program
Students are admitted only to the Ph.D. program, (the MA in education is embedded within the PhD program) and must be in good standing in order to obtain the MA degree (e.g., pass all courses, successfully complete the Proseminar Assessment, and maintain a 3.0 gpa.)
Program Requirements
for the MA in Education
This MA in Education program requires 32 credit hours of coursework, including: