Master of education (M.Ed.) degree — professional studies program requirements
The master of Education (M.Ed.) degree is a professional,
graduate-level degree that emphasizes applied coursework and
usually requires completion of a school-based or field-based
experience. These programs are designed to meet the needs of
practicing professionals. M.Ed. degrees are conferred
through the
College of Education and Human Development and have a
different set of admission requirements than programs
through the
Graduate School. In addition, tuition fees are
different, with
Graduate School tuition fees being substantially more
expensive. For more information about M.Ed. programs
(including initial licensure programs leading to a M.Ed.)
and our undergraduate program, please visit
Curriculum and
Instruction's website, the
CEHD Student
Services website, and the College's
M.Ed. Handbook.
The Department of Curriculum and Instruction offers master
of education degrees in twelve fields of study:
- Art Education
- Elementary Education
- English Education
- Environmental Education
- Family Education
- Interdisciplinary focus
- Learning Technologies
- Literacy Education
- Mathematics Education
- Science Education
- Second Languages and Cultures Education
- Social Studies Education
- Youth Development Leadership
Application procedures and deadlines
The College of Education Graduate Student Services office provides information about M.Ed. programs, handles application to the programs, and keeps student records. The College reviews applications on an ongoing basis for M.Ed. Professional Studies programs, with the exception of the program in Youth Development Leadership (see below). For more information on the M.Ed. application process, contact Graduate Student Services at cehdinfo@umn.edu or 612-625-6501.
- summer session admission—March 1
- fall semester admission—July 1
- spring semester admission—November 1
The Youth Development Leadership program’s deadline for fall admission is July 1. Priority is granted to applications received by May 1.
Requirements and procedures for the M.Ed. programs
Coursework requirements
M.Ed. coursework requirements vary by field of study.
Informational sheets that outline requirements are updated
each year and made available in hard copy in the Graduate
Student Services Office (110 Wulling Hall). Requirements are
also available at
Graduate Student Services within specific program areas
under “Curriculum”. Students are responsible for completing
degree requirements that were in place at the time of their
admission.
All M.Ed students must complete at least 30 graduate-level
semester credits to qualify for the degree; some programs
may require more. Graduate credits at the University of
Minnesota are designated as 5000-level or above, though few
students register for 8000-level courses because they tend
to be designed for M.A. and Ph.D. students. A limited number
of 4000-level courses may apply to M.Ed. programs, subject
to adviser approval.
Course approval/“Online class permission”
Approval may be required to register for certain C&I or MthE courses. After getting verbal permission from the instructor, students will need to contact the instructor’s support person (art, math, science, social studies, contexts: Di Nguyen, nguye187@umn.edu; English, literacy, language arts, elementary, learning technologies, family, youth, and community: Cathy Zemke, zemke001@umn.edu) to get online permission to register for the course. If a CI or MthE course is closed, students may be able to obtain instructor permission for admission, depending on current enrollment. Permission for courses in other departments must be obtained from the corresponding department.
Distance learning courses
Courses taken via distance learning must be pre-approved by faculty advisers on a course-by-course basis. Distance learning courses must reflect the same level of rigor and high standards embedded in graduate level courses offered at the University of Minnesota. Students are responsible for providing faculty advisers with complete information about the courses.
Prior coursework
Before formal admission to a degree program, a student may complete no more than 40% of the program at the U of M (in the declared field of study) or from other accredited institutions (as long as transfer credit policies are followed).
Transfer credits
Undergraduate credits are not accepted for transfer into a M.Ed. program. Most C&I M.Ed. programs limit the number of graduate credits that can be transferred from other institutions. A maximum of six transfer credits are permitted on most M.Ed. programs for students enrolled at the Twin Cities campus, and a maximum of nine are permitted for students enrolled at Rochester Center. All transfer credits are subject to adviser approval. The following criteria apply:
- Transfer courses must come from an accredited university
- Transfer courses must be on a graduate transcript (even if taken at an undergraduate institution, such as Macalester, the transcript needs to indicate graduate level)
- For a course to be transferred, it’s the student’s responsibility to supply official information if requested (e.g., an adviser may require a course syllabus or description).
- “Workshop” courses are generally not accepted for transfer onto U of M degree programs. In exceptional cases, the student needs to complete a petition and provide appropriate documentation. The adviser should ask the following questions before approving the petition:
- Are the number of contact and other hours required for the workshop comparable to those required for a graduate course? (Student provides documentation.)
- Was the course taught by a faculty member of the institution or by someone having adequate qualifications for teaching a graduate course? (Student provides documentation.)
- Was the work required in the course comparable to that of a graduate-level course?
Students request that credits be transferred by petition and by submitting an official transcript listing the coursework to be transferred.
Minimum grade requirements and pass/fail coursework
Students must maintain a 2.80 grade point average (GPA) throughout their program. The college strictly limits the use of pass/fail (S/N) grading. All major coursework must be taken A-F. No more than one-third of the credits for the M.Ed. degree may be taken S-N. Courses in which students receive a “D” grade or lower may not be applied toward the M.Ed. degree.
Time limits for degree completion
Students enrolled in the M.Ed. program have seven years from the oldest coursework used toward the degree to complete all program requirements. Continuous enrollment is not required (unlike in the Graduate School, where strict registration requirements are in place).
Faculty advisers
A faculty adviser is assigned to a student upon admission
to the program. The adviser assists students with planning
for required and elective coursework and, in most fields of
study, approves the plan for the final project and provides
guidance while the project is being completed. Students are
encouraged to contact their faculty adviser to begin
planning their program upon receiving the M.Ed. admission
packet. They are also encouraged to check in regularly with
their faculty adviser to ensure that they are on track with
coursework and other degree completion requirements.
Faculty advisers must approve all coursework applied to the
degree, including transfer coursework. A petition is
required for a student to vary their own program from the
program requirements listed in College publications.
Petition categories include: course substitutions,
transfers, exemptions, extensions, and program changes.
Petitions may be obtained from SPS, C&I’s graduate studies
office, or the University’s Office of the Registrar.
Filing the degree program
To complete the degree, students file a program form. All coursework for the M.Ed. program requires adviser approval. The program form should be completed by students in consultation with the adviser, who needs to sign the form and forward it to SPS. Program forms are submitted along with the CEHD application for the M.Ed. degree on or before the first day of the month that the student intends to graduate.
Final M.Ed. project
Most of the M.Ed. programs in the department require a
final project for degree completion. The M.Ed. final project
provides students with an opportunity to design and
implement an independent project in the schools or field
that utilizes/reflects ideas and concepts from courses taken
in the M.Ed. program. Students in the M.Ed. programs that
require a final project register for an independent study
course in conjunction with the project (e.g., CI 5186, 5187,
CI 5190, MthE 5993) during the semester that they intend to
finish the project and turn in a final written report. The
project should be the last program requirement.
The M.Ed. project is one paper involving a total of
approximately 120 hours of work and approximately 20-30
pages. A proposal for the paper should be written and
presented to the adviser for approval before student begins
work on the paper. The project may or may not involve IRB
approval, but should involve (1) inquiry and (2) substantial
self-reflection on the student’s part.
This independent inquiry-based project can take many forms
including:
- an investigation of a specific problem in a classroom or school or community or business organization,
- an informal action research project,
- the design and evaluation of a new curriculum unit or course,
- an investigation of an issue related to students or teachers in an educational context,
- testing out a new teaching technique in the classroom
M.Ed. Project Proposal
Suggested contents of the project proposal include the following:
Purpose of the Project:
Description of the problem or issue the student is studying
and the purpose of and rationale for the project.
Literature Review: Preliminary outline of the
literature related to the proposed project. (Note: even in
the case of the development of a curriculum unit, students
must refer to readings.)
Proposed “method”
- A written description of the project plan including the research question and a description of at least one data source.
- Information on the teaching or other context (i.e. number of students, type, setting, school, type of course, etc.)
- A description of the key features of instruction, including an overview of the unit, or any other relevant information that would help the reader understand the context.
Appendix: If applicable, Human Subjects Application: http://www.irb.umn.edu/
Final Project Text
The final project should include the following:
Purpose of the project:
Description of the problem or issue the student is studying
and the purpose of and rationale for the project.
Literature review (may be a separate section or
literature may be cited instead throughout the paper):
Overview of the literature related to the proposed project.
(Note: even in the case of curriculum development, students
must refer to readings, though they may appear in the
context of the unit itself rather than a separate section.)
Description of the project
- Information on the teaching or other context (i.e. number of students, type, setting, school, type of course, etc.)
- A written description of the project plan including goals, content, method(s) used, how the data were analyzed (if applicable).
Description of the Results and
Implications:
A description of the key features of
instruction, including an overview of the unit, or any
other relevant information that would help the reader
understand the context.
Bibliography
- Full bibliographic information for all of the sources cited and resources used.
- If applicable, copy of the approval letter from the U of MN IRB.
Examples of papers showing M.Ed. final project effort and quality:
Curriculum Inquiry: A teacher writes a
new curriculum unit. She could teach the unit in her class
and collect information about student or teacher attitudes
toward the unit or do a self-reflection on the process. In
this case she might: 1) administer an anonymous written
survey to students, or 2) ask colleagues to read
the unit and offer written or oral feedback, or 3)
keep a journal during the course of writing the unit and
teaching it; then, after completing the unit and carrying it
out with students, the teacher writes a meta-reflection on
the process: What went well? What would you change based on
student responses to activities and lessons? What was
challenging about writing the unit? How did your coursework
for the M.Ed. help prepare you for the unit? (Involves IRB
approval if student data are collected.)
Informal Action Research Project: A
Kindergarten language immersion teacher is interested in
exploring different ways to provide corrective feedback to
students when they make errors. She decides to focus on a
grammatical feature appropriate for young learners—the
placement of adjectives. (In Spanish adjectives come after
the noun and in English they come before the noun, so
initially the different word order is difficult for young
learners.) She creates some games that would elicit
noun/adjective utterances and videotapes students playing
the games and her providing feedback when they make errors.
She looks at the number of times students self-correct their
errors based on the feedback she gives them. (Involves IRB
approval.)
September 2008
