Oct 09, 2024  
2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog

Education: Secondary Education, B.S.


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Program Description


Grades Six through Twelve Licensure Program


The undergraduate major in secondary education provides candidates with course offerings and experiences that form the required foundation for licensure in secondary education through James Madison University. In addition to the secondary education major, students also complete a major in a discipline closely associated with the desired teaching area. The state-approved licensure areas in the secondary education concentration at JMU include English, mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics and history/social sciences. Licensure endorsements for other teaching areas (e.g., Algebra I, journalism and gifted education) are available as add-on endorsements. Students should contact the department of Middle, Secondary and Mathematics Education  for information concerning those programs.

For successful completion of the secondary education major, students must earn a minimum grade of “B-” in all required secondary education major courses (excludes EDUC 200 , WRTC 103  and PSYC 160 ) and earn credit in all licensure area content coursework. Satisfactory completion of both the secondary education major and the content area major or equivalent are necessary to receive an endorsement recommendation through JMU for a teaching license.

Students should be aware that there is a teacher education admission process that must be completed after a secondary education major is declared. Students must be fully admitted to Teacher Education prior to registering for MSSE 370 . Students should also note that actual teacher licensure requirements may differ from the catalog requirements listed because of changes enacted by the Virginia Department of Education or accrediting agencies after the catalog copy is approved. Therefore, it is important for students to confer regularly with their secondary education advisors.

Admission Requirements


Students must meet specific requirements to be admitted to programs within the College of Education . These criteria can be found on the College of Education  catalog page.

Degree and Major Requirements


Degree and Major Requirements Credit Hours
General Education 1, 2 41
Quantitative Requirement 3 3
Scientific Literacy Requirement 3 3
Secondary Education Major Requirements  47
Additional Content Major Requirements

Total

36-56

125-128


  • NOTE: Because many of the Additional Content Major Requirements are also counted in the totals shown above for General Education , degree requirements and major requirements, students will take a total of 125-128 hours. See the Recommended Schedule of Classes for each content area for details.

Total: 125-128 Credit Hours


Footnotes


1 General Education  courses must include PSYC 160 . While required for the major, credits for PSYC 160  are counted in the General Education  total of 41 credit hours.
2 The General Education  program contains a set of requirements each student must fulfill. Some requirements may be fulfilled by courses within a program.
3 Quantitative and scientific literacy requirements may be fulfilled by courses required within the major.

Total: 27 Credit Hours


Education – Student Teaching / Internship


Total: 8 Credit Hours


Concentrations


Students should select one of the following concentrations and complete 12 credits.

Education Major and Student Teaching/Internship Total: 47 Credit Hours


Recommended Schedule for Majors


First Year


First Year Total: 27-33 Credit Hours


Second Year Total: 27-36 Credit Hours


Third Year


Third Year Total: 35 Credit Hours


Fourth Year


Fourth Year Total: 33-35 Credit Hours


Footnote


1 Students are responsible for transportation to field placements at local schools.

Before beginning the licensure portion of the professional program, candidates must meet all criteria for admission to teacher education (e.g., minimum GPA of 2.5, passing VCLA score). Candidates are expected to complete all admission processes early in their sophomore year. Candidates must meet all additional requirements of the program before completion. Candidates must submit passing scores on the Praxis Subject Assessment prior to beginning MSSE 475 

Total: 125-128 Credit Hours


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