Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How do I choose a professional preparation program that best meets my needs?
A. Here are some questions you might like to ask of professional preparation programs that you are considering.
Q. How extensive is the program and how long will it take?
A. Including 14 units (56 semester credits) the Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) Program at Puget Sound takes 12 to 14 months to complete. This means that you miss only one year of employment, a considerable saving. Extensive master's degrees like ours not only mean more in-depth preparation, but usually result in higher placement on salary scales.
Q. What is the success rate for graduates?
A. Comparative rates of employment for all graduates of Washington institutions are available from the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Puget Sound has the highest average rate of placement among Washington colleges and universities. Currently about 90% of our graduates are employed in the first year after graduation.
Q. How much time will I actually spend in schools?
A. In the Puget Sound M.A.T. program, students spend roughly 40 to 50 half days in the schools during fall semester. In the second semester, students spend the full fifteen weeks in schools all day every day. We believe a good preparation requires considerable time in schools supported by personal reflection and consultation with university and field mentors.
Q. Are there other things I might do beside teach?
A. Graduates of the M.A.T. program have assumed a range of interesting jobs. They are teaching in foreign countries, writing, and some have been accepted at the most prestigious graduate schools in the field of education - Columbia University, Stanford University, UCLA, and the University of Washington, for example. Many of our MAT graduates have become principals or assumed other leadership positions in their schools.
Q. What are the qualifications of the faculty?
A. At Puget Sound, all our campus faculty have extensive advanced study in their specialized areas. We also have considerable experience in public schools. We work together to integrate our programs and hold the highest standards to model what educators are expected to do today.
Q. How can I finance my professional preparation program?
A. Most students finance their professional preparation through a combination of loans, grants, and individual contributions. The University of Puget Sound has a number of grants and scholarships available to M.A.T. students. Many students work part time or receive university work-study assistance. Almost all M.A.T. students take advantage of the opportunity to teach as a substitute from May 1 to the end of the school year. Students substituting every day during this time can earn about $3,000, get independent practice, learn about a variety of schools, and make connections that may lead to a job.
Most students find it necessary to borrow money to finance their teacher preparation, but did you know that loans may be forgiven for teaching certain subjects or in certain schools? Federal Perkins loan borrowers are eligible for loan cancellation if they:
- Teach in an elementary or secondary school that serves low-income students.
- Teach in an elementary or secondary school system that has a shortage of teachers in a designated subject matter. These designated subject-matter areas include mathematics, science, foreign languages, and bilingual education.
Loans are cancelled as follows:
- 15 percent per year for the first and second years of service
- 20 percent per year for the third and fourth years
- 30 percent for the fifth year
Counselors are available in our Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships and in our Student Accounts Office to help you develop a personal and realistic plan. Call 253.879.3214 for Financial Aid and Scholarships or 253.879.3673 for Student Accounts. Identify yourself as a prospective M.A.T. student.
Q. Will I be able to teach out of state when I complete a Washington state professional preparation program?
A. As the time for application to professional programs draws near, students at Puget Sound often ask if they will be able to teach in other states if they obtain certification in our professional preparation programs. The answer is a resounding YES! Washington has reciprocity for teacher certification with forty-four states through an inter-state agreement. A reciprocity agreement is also in place with about thirty states for counselor certification. Under these agreements a teacher or counselor with a Washington certificate could go to another state and be granted a certificate based on the Washington certificate. Despite the fact that certification requirements are set by each state, they are usually based on national standards and don't vary much. Usually the state grants a certificate immediately or may issue a temporary certificate allowing the candidate a year in which to fulfill some state-specific requirements; even in states which are not part of the reciprocity agreement, a certificate is usually granted to candidates who have completed a state-approved program at a regionally accredited institution. The Puget Sound professional education programs are accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, NCATE, widely accepted as setting the standards for teacher education. Our programs are also accredited by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for Washington State, and Puget Sound is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges, an institutional accrediting body recognized by the United States Department of Education and by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
Because so many of our students at Puget Sound come from out of state, our certification office is very familiar with the requirements of other states. The states with which we most often work are Oregon, California, Alaska, Hawaii, Colorado, and Montana, although we also have graduates teaching in New York, Georgia, Texas, and Florida. If you think you might want to teach in another state, feel free to consult with our certification officer at 253.879.3382, who can help you research the certification requirements in your target state. Often, other states simply require a test such as CBEST, Praxis, or a subject area test. Sometimes students are able to take the test before or during the M.A.T. program to speed up the process.
Q. How likely am I to find a job when I complete a professional preparation program?
A. Each year, the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction requires all colleges and universities preparing teachers to follow-up on their previous year's graduates. Data collected includes number of teachers newly certified and number employed in teaching the first year after certification. The results are published for each year's newly certificated teachers, although the data do not come out until the teachers are in their second year of teaching. For example, the report published in 2003 is the follow-up of the teachers certified in the 2000-2001 calendar year. The most recent OSPI reports of Certificates Issued and Certified Personnel Placement can be viewed online at www.k12.wa.us/cert under Other Information.
The graph shows the placement rate of graduates of the University of Puget Sound M.A.T. program as well as the average placement rate for the fourteen colleges and universities in the Puget Sound region (including Puget Sound) preparing teachers. The third graph line shows the placement rate for all twenty-two Washington State colleges and universities preparing teachers.
We are pleased with the placement rate of our graduates. Since the inception of the Puget Sound M.A.T. program, our placement rate has been in the top three of all Washington colleges and universities preparing teachers and tops in the state for placement in 1994-95,1995-96 and 1999-2000. We were second in our placement rate for 1997-98 and 1998-99 and we expect that we will be at or near the top when the 2000-01 placement rates are published by OSPI in the spring of 2003.
Q. How satisfied are students who complete the Puget Sound M.A.T. professional program?
A. In 1999, the University of Puget Sound was one of six Washington institutions to survey graduates to determine satisfaction with our program. The questionnaire addressed 72 factors of our program and was scored by an independent agency.
Puget Sound received the highest rating of student satisfaction in the following areas:
- Quality of teaching
- Quality of learning experience in student teaching
- Quality of supervision student teaching
- Responsiveness of instructors to student concerns
- Addressing impact of technology and use of multi-media classrooms
- Addressing teaching methods and pedagogy
- Process for securing a job
We also received the highest rating in enhancing students' ability to:
- Foster classroom collaboration
- Foster intellectual development
- Foster social development
- Establish equity in the classroom
- Teach children from diverse academic and ethnic backgrounds
- Engage students in the learning process
- Work with colleagues, parents, and administrators
- Manage student behavior and plan lessons
Q. What about alternative certification programs?
A. As the need for teachers in schools grows, people who want to teach encounter more and more ways to get into classrooms quickly and receiving paychecks immediately. Some of these programs, which offer coursework in the evenings, weekends, and summers, have been around for a long time. Several states, Texas, California, and New York for example, have their own programs, and the most prominent of them all, Teach For America, was created to attract bright college students to teach in disadvantaged schools on their way to other professions.
Q. What does research say about these programs and the people who go into them?
A. According to Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University, teachers from these programs expressed less satisfaction and left teaching sooner than teachers with regular preparation. In fact, studies show that more than half of the alternative-certification teachers left teaching in their second year, about three times the usual rate of attrition. These new teachers, with only a few weeks preparation, are placed in some of the toughest teaching assignments in the country. Help from fellow teachers can be hard to get, because in these schools everyone is working long hours at difficult jobs. Darling-Hammond found that mentoring promised to alternative-certification teachers often did not materialize. Teachers' unions have typically not supported alternative certification, so there may be some political problems associated with this kind of preparation.
Your Puget Sound Education faculty support the idea that students who want to teach for a few years as a means of service to their community should consider Teach for America, or other alternative certification programs. The faculty suggest however, that those students who are seriously considering a career in education as teachers, administrators, counselors, or policy makers should consider one of the many fine preparation programs available at state or private universities.
Darling-Hammond, Linda (1992) Teaching and knowledge: Policy issues posed by alternative certification for teachers. Peabody Journal of Education, 67(3), 125-154.
Darling-Hammond, Linda (1999). Teaching quality and student achievement: A review of state policy evidence. Seattle, WA: Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy, University of Washington
Darling-Hammond, Linda, (1999). Solving the dilemmas of teacher supply, demand, and standards: How we can ensure a competent, caring, and qualified teacher for every child. New York: National Commission on Teaching and America's Future.
Darling-Hammond, Linda (2000). How teacher education matters. Journal of Teacher Education, 51(3), 166-173.
Grossman, Pamela. (1990). The Making of a Teacher. New York: Teachers College Press.
