Graduate Teacher Preparation (for K-8 Public School Certification)
Unique Offering/Advantages
- Meets requirements of Washington State initial Residency Elementary Education (K-8) Teacher Certification
- Emphasis on teaching for social justice and equitable opportunities for all learners
- Close, collaborative relationships among instructors and students
- Convenient late afternoon and evening classes
- Field experiences in diverse school settings
- Opportunities to collaborate with diverse educators
- Personalized culminating master’s research project based on current research and classroom practice and candidates’ individual interests
- Three middle level teaching endorsements (Humanities, Mathematics, Science) may also be added to Elementary Education (K-8) certification via student teaching and passing required WEST endorsement exam
- Regularly scheduled professional clinics with program alums for graduates in first years following completion of program
General Requirements
- Completion of 64 total credits
- Thirteen foundational and methods courses (52 credits)
- Student teaching internship and Teacher Performance Assessment Support Seminar (12 credits)
- Three weeks in classrooms prior to student teaching
- Pass WEST-B exam: (Reading, Mathematics, Writing)
- Pass WEST-E exam: Elementary Education (code 005 and 006)
- If applicable pass WEST-E middle level exam: Humanities (code 010 and 011), Middle Level Mathematics (code 012), Middle Level Science (code 013)
Length of Program
- Six quarters (1 ½ years) full-time
Tuition & Fees
- Tuition: $590 per credit
- Required fees: $145 per quarter
- $7,225 tuition and required fees per quarter, full time (12 credits)
- $28,900 typical annual tuition and fees
Annual tuition and fees based on 2013-14 rates for four quarters. Antioch University Seattle students typically attend classes all year.
Career Opportunities
- Elementary (K-8) teacher
- Middle level humanities teacher
- Middle level science teacher
- Middle level math teacher
- Informal educator, in non-school settings such as non-profit organization, arts, or cultural institution
- International teacher, in school or program
- Online educator
- Online Education Developer
- Educational outreach specialist
- Educational program developer
- Educational program coordinator
- Educational program specialist
- Educational research specialist
- Educational policy specialist
- Educational advocate
- Educational consultant
Program Summary
The Graduate Teacher Preparation endorsement prepares you become a teacher in Washington State. If you already have your bachelor’s or advanced degree and want to teach elementary education (K-8), this program is for you.
Antioch University Seattle’s curriculum emphasizes social change and multiculturalism through an innovative curriculum design. Full-time students typically complete their elementary teacher preparation in five quarters or their secondary math or science in four quarters. Classes meet during the week from 4 to 9:30 p.m.
You join a small cohort of students eager to meet the challenges and complexities of teaching in schools with diverse student populations. Your fellow students come from a variety of backgrounds including health, social services, business, childcare, engineering, homemaking, the arts, and computer sciences. They join you as fellow career-changers and educators who are looking to make a difference in children’s lives.
Competency-based Learning
You come to Antioch University Seattle with a bachelor’s or advanced degree and an interest in teaching in schools with diverse populations. You will learn to:
- Plan and implement curriculum that meets the needs of diverse students
- Teach in a wide-range of classroom settings
- Manage the material and human dynamics of the classroom
- Nurture the holistic development of all students
- Work with existing technology in the classrooms
- Perceive and reflect on your role as a teacher
- Communicate effectively with students, colleagues, parents, and community members
- Assume leadership roles to advocate for children
The Master of Arts in Education with Teacher Preparation also is available to students. It takes one extra quarter of studies (8 credits) to complete the M.A. on the Seattle campus. So in just six quarters, a full-time student completes both teacher preparation and a master’s degree. Additional courses provide opportunities for you to explore significant questions about teaching and learning through research, collaborative learning groups, and intensive work with a faculty adviser.
M.A. Education with Teacher Preparation students focus on action research models, social change, and curriculum design and analysis. The master’s program culminates in a capstone project and student presentations of their projects in a final symposium.
Residency Certification
AUS prepares teacher candidates for elementary endorsement in Washington State:
- Elementary Education (K-8) requiring 72 credits of coursework
Elementary Education candidates have the option to work toward a choice in middle level endorsements:
- Middle Level Humanities
- Middle Level Mathematics
- Middle Level Science
Click here for more information about endorsement requirements for the Elementary Education and middle level endorsements.
Antioch University Seattle Teaching Approach
Some of the features that make AUS unique from other education programs include small classes, a robust cohort model, and Learning Assessments (also called Narrative Evaluations) instead of grades.
Small Classes
At AUS, you’ll find small, intimate classes where each student has a chance to interact with the faculty and their peers. Classes center on discussion and problem solving.
- A typical class consists of 10-20 candidates
- High levels of interaction with faculty and peers are encouraged, creating dialog that leads to a fuller learning experience
- The AUS approach is exactly the student-centered teaching you will take with you into your own classroom
Learning Assessments
Learning Assessments for courses and learning activities are written by faculty at the end of each academic quarter. The use of learning assessments enables our faculty to provide you with more meaningful, individualized, and comprehensive feedback on your progress. The focus is on your accomplishments, strengths, and weaknesses, rather than on the external validation of a letter grade.
Your official transcript with learning evaluations is recognized and respected within the academic community. If for scholarship, reimbursement, or further education purposes you require a letter grade you can request one on a class by class basis directly from your professor.
Curriculum
To view sample classes and flexible scheduling options, explore the links below.
Sample GTP Course Schedule (PDF)
Antioch University Seattle’s Graduate Teacher Preparation program with a master’s degree option prepares you to become an elementary educator. Courses are offered during the evening. You should plan for some daytime field placements and Saturday classes. New students attend orientation prior to the first week of class.
Courses
You complete 64 credits in five full-time quarters for elementary (K-8) certification preparation or 52 credits in four full-time quarters for secondary (5-12) math or science. Those who opt to earn a master’s degree complete an additional 8 credits / one quarter.
Courses for Elementary (K-8) Certification
Coursework to complete the elementary certification is 72 credits as follows:
- Education and Society – Foundations of a Diverse America (4)
- Strategies of Instruction and Assessment (4)
- Student Teaching (11)
- Supporting Seminar (1)
- Child Development & Learning Theory (4)
- Instructional Methods: Integrating the Arts (4)
- Instructional Methods: Social Studies (4)
- Instructional Methods: Mathematics (4)
- Instructional Methods: Science (4)
- Instructional Methods: Health, Fitness, and Safety – Content and Methods (4)
- Literacy Issues and Methods I: Writing and Learning to Write (4)
- Literacy Issues and Methods II: Reading and Learning to Read (4)
- English Language Learners (4)
- Special Education (4)
- Classroom management (3-4)
To complete your master’s degree, there are three additional courses and one inquiry project totaling 8 credits.
Field Experience
Before student teaching, you participate in field experiences in a school classroom during the day, which are organized by the field placement coordinator in conjunction with faculty. This provides an essential opportunity for you to observe a real classroom and integrate that experience with your program learning. You will be placed in a field experience for one week each quarter for the first three quarters of your program. In addition, you will have two weeks of field experience in the classroom where you will student teach, for a total of five weeks of field experience. You have an opportunity to direct your placement based on your location and interests.
Student Teaching
You complete a student teaching internship in the fifth or sixth quarter. The director of field experiences arranges these placements based on your interests and teaching goals. Student teaching generally takes 10 weeks to complete and is immediately preceded by a two-week field experience in the same classroom (see above). Read more about student teaching.
Faculty
Read about adjunct faculty who teach in the education program.
Christie E. Kaaland
EdD Curriculum and Instruction
School of Education
Carolanne Watness
Acting Director of Field Experience
School of Education
Abigail Chandler
MA Education, 1999
Chandler was drawn to AUS for the university’s flexibility and convenience. She was working full time and starting a family so entering a local program was important to her.
Andrea Allen
M.A. Education, 2002
She chose Antioch because it allowed her to choose her own path and create learning experiences that were relevant to her as an educator and arts administrator at the Seattle Repertory Theatre.
Dawn Stremel
MA Education, MA Psychology, Couple and Family Therapy, 1988, 2007
After she completed her MAEd at Antioch, she says she enjoyed more than 20 years as an educational leader and passionate champion for creative change in the schools. Then she returned to Antioch so she could craft a meaningful new retirement career.
Drew Larson
M.A. Education with Teacher Preparation, 2007
It was the availability of programs and the Belltown location that brought Drew Larson to Antioch Seattle. Within a month of his graduation, Larson had a job offer in the Highline School District.
Ernie Seevers
M.A Education - Principal Preparation, 2001
As an Antioch student, he was able to work on an action research project that created a new vision and a values-based, five-year plan for the school where he taught.
Franchesska Berry
MA Education, 2008
This Fulbright Scholar took her multicultural education program to Egypt in January 2009. The world has become the stage for this performer, choreographer and cultural arts instructor.
Helen Maynard
M.A. Education, 2001
Unlike other graduate programs in Seattle, she says, Antioch University Seattle's M.A. Education program allowed her opportunities to design a degree specific to her professional goals.
Jamie Daniels
MA Education with Library Media, 2010
Jamie Daniels received a job offer from the Bethel School District even before she completed her coursework. This reputation for excellence is built on both the MA in Education with Library Media program’s academic rigor and its advocacy of school libraries as a basic element of education.
Jon Rogers
M.A. Education with Teacher Preparation, 2006
Now a teacher at Denny Middle School in West Seattle, he believes in Antioch's message of social justice in our global village. He says his education was instrumental to his professional development as an educator.
Linda Thompson
M.A. Education, 2000
She believes an educator has to be a learner and Antioch gave back her love of learning.
Lynn Ronald
M.A. Education, 2003
Antioch University Seattle's 2008 Distinguished Alumna says she believes "an idea is only impossible until someone proves it isn't." This special education teacher credits her experience at Antioch University Seattle for her success as a teacher.
Michael Bruesch
M.A. Education with Teacher Preparation, 2007
He saw Antioch as a place for change and progressive thinking and says he chose the University for its commitment to urban education, school reform and multiculturalism.
Sharyn Merrigan
Library Media Endorsement, 2009
Sharyn Merrigan is the teacher librarian at Thurgood Marshall Middle School in Olympia, Washington. Beyond the busy library at her school Sharyn is involved in many roles of leadership; she
- conducts staff development in instructional technology and information literacy
- trained as ESD113 Teacher-Librarian Technology Peer Coach
- serves on the district Common Core State Standards ELA leadership team, and the
- Washington State Library K12 Library Initiative committee
Sharyn now serves as Vice-President of the Washington Library Media Association (WLMA) and is assuming the role of WLMA President-elect in 2014.
Sylvia Brown
B.A. (with teacher preparation), M.A. Education, 2007
Sylvia Brown was tutoring math and reading in an elementary school, when the school principal and reading coach she worked with recommended she check out Antioch. Today, she is employed in the position she said she waited for her whole life.
Terry McCarthy
M.A. Education with Library Media, 2007
Before accepting a position as the new lead librarian at American Community Schools in Athens, Greece, a member of the first cohort from Antioch Library Endorsement program, Terry McCarthy, was the quintessential model for leadership, collaboration, and multicultural responsiveness in the four years spent in her Tacoma School District library position.
Student Teaching
Student Teaching Is Integral to Your Learning
Becoming a teacher requires hard work and commitment to making a difference in the lives of students. When you join one of Antioch University Seattle’s teacher preparation cohorts, you will be closely guided and assessed during all field experiences. You will develop the skills and knowledge needed to lead a successful teaching career.
Experience the Full Support of Antioch University Seattle Faculty and Partnering Schools
AUS’s student teachers are placed in public schools that have diverse student populations and we partner with excellent, certificated mentor teachers. You will first be an observer and placed in a variety of classrooms for the field experience portion of your learning. For one week in each of the first three quarters of the program, you will observe an experienced teacher and his/her classroom. Your observation continues with an additional two weeks in the same classroom where you will be student teaching. You are a student teacher for ten weeks. This means you will need to be available for 15 weeks of classroom observation/student teaching as part of the program.
AUS partners with several schools in the greater Seattle area.
During student teaching, you create lesson plans that address the state learning goals for various grade levels. You will participate as an intern in the daily life of a classroom teacher, including attending faculty meetings, committee work and parent conferences. You will be assigned a university field instructor who will observe you at least once a week and meet with you to discuss your progress and provide written feedback.
When you finish student teaching, you will complete the Washington State Teachers Performance Assessment. When all required student teaching documents are submitted, documenting that you have met all the requirements for the WA State Teacher Certification and Antioch University Seattle student teaching requirements, you will be issued a temporary K-8 teaching permit or issued a temporary WA State teaching permit in your area of endorsement by AUS’s certification officer, Rita Hunter.
