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July 1, 2014

This fall, the University of Delaware’s School of Education launched a new online master’s program in teacher leadership designed to respond to the quickly changing needs of the teaching profession and the national efforts to implement the Common Core Standards.

A relatively new term, “teacher leaders” are not principals and other administrators. Teacher leaders work as department chairs, curriculum coaches, demonstration teachers and professional development specialists, and hold other similar positions.

“Full-time teachers are very busy and need flexibility. To help address this, we have created a program that allows certified teachers to complete a high-quality M.Ed. in teacher leadership program entirely online and at an affordable tuition rate,” said Elizabeth Soslau, the program’s faculty coordinator. “Because of the online delivery format, we expect this program to be attractive to Delaware educators as well as teachers in many states with teacher leadership initiatives.”

The program seeks to develop currently employed teachers who are able to:

  • Coach and mentor others;
  • Leverage technology to foster collaboration;
  • Systematically look at classroom-based and school-based data to identify pupils’ needs and collaboratively select intervention methods;
  • Apply understanding about diverse schools when developing culturally relevant professional development; and
  • Use the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of a teacher leader to enable them to lead from the classroom.

The new M.Ed. in teacher leadership courses are delivered 100 percent online, allowing students to complete the learning modules on their own schedules. Students take one course at a time during the program’s seven-week sessions and complete five courses per year. Faculty members have created teaching videos specifically designed for this program and multimedia course materials will be made available.

UD’s program is aligned to the National Teacher Leadership Standards (NTLS) developed by the Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium. Two of the 10 courses in the curriculum also address ideas in the Common Core State Standards that many states are adopting because school-based teacher leaders will be responsible for understanding the Common Core and helping translate the new standards into practice.

Candidates can enter the program during five admissions cycles throughout the year and can complete their degree in two years. Tuition for the program will be $625 per credit for the 2014-15 academic year.

The deadline for students who want to enter in the first fall session is July 15.

Visit the M.Ed. in teacher leadership webpage for more information, or contact Elizabeth Soslau. To apply, visit UD’s Graduate Office.

School of Education

UD’s School of Education is highly respected for its undergraduate and graduate programs, ranking 30th out of over 1,200 schools or colleges of education in the nation in the “Best Education Schools” by U.S. News and World Report.

Full-time faculty members design and teach the M.Ed. in teacher leadership courses, creating modules that are highly interactive, engaging and interesting. Faculty members are proficient in the implementation of the Common Core State Standards and school-based leadership, and align current research with the course content they teach.
This article was posted on UDaily on June 27, 2014. Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson