Secondary Education

This program is designed to prepare entry-level professionals to teach in secondary classrooms. The program leads to certification in grades 7 through 12. Teacher candidates may select and be certified to teach in the following major areas: English, Biology, Earth Science, Mathematics, History and Social Studies, other social science majors with selected coursework.

Teacher candidates must complete the general education courses required for certification as outlined in the General Education Requirement section on previous pages.

Degree Requirements

• The admission requirements as well as the program are clearly described in the Advisement sheets.

Academic Major
The State of Connecticut requires that those receiving a certificate after 1993 have a subject matter major outside of education. Secondary teacher candidates must major in the discipline of their certification area.

• English Requirements for Secondary English Teaching Certification
• History Requirements for Secondary History Teaching Certification

Admission to the Program
All Education teacher candidates must be formally admitted to the Teacher Education Program. Students may not enroll in professional preparation courses until after admission to the program.

The Department of Education has established a committee of faculty members, the Committee on Admission and Retention in Education (CARE), which is responsible for this admission process. This committee also monitors student progress after admission.

Students interested in teacher preparation programs must apply to CARE at least one semester prior to enrolling in professional preparation courses. Undergraduate Elementary and Secondary teacher candidates may begin professional preparation courses in Fall semester only; the application deadline for this program is always February 15. (If these dates fall on a weekend or holiday, then the applications would be due at the end of the following business day.)

The University has an obligation to children in the schools of Connecticut; therefore it is essential that only those teacher candidates who exhibit academic and personal qualities essential in teaching be admitted to the professional program. The University faculty and administrative staff reserve the right to refuse admission to the Teacher Education Program to those teacher candidates whose academic achievement may be satisfactory but who are deemed by the faculty to lack the professional dispositions desirable of teachers.