Master of Arts in Teaching

and

Post-Baccalaureate Certification Program

MARSHALL UNIVERSITY GRADUATE COLLEGE
South Charleston, West Virginia 

    and     

MARSHALL UNIVERSITY
Huntington, West Virginia

In West Virginia the license to teach is granted by the West Virginia Department of Education and is typically issued upon the completion of a four-year undergraduate program of study that includes content and professional education courses.  The MAT offers an alternative route to teacher certification for persons who already have an undergraduate degree in a content area such as chemistry, music, French, and other liberal and fine arts, business or professional fields. 

Using the previously completed content courses as a foundation, this program provides the required professional education courses at the graduate level.  Please note that additional undergraduate classes may be needed in the content area.  Upon successful completion of the MAT program, all content courses, and testing requirements, the candidate receives a master’s degree and a recommendation to the West Virginia Department of Education for a teaching certificate.

Because applicants for certification must have completed all classes required for the content area, MAT applicants must have a transcript analysis to determine which content requirements have already been met. The transcript analysis will provide a list of courses needed to complete the content area.  Even though applicants have a degree in a specific field, they may not have taken the courses prescribed for teachers in their field of study. Applicants must have completed a minimum of 50 percent of the content courses with a 2.70 GPA and have an overall GPA of 2.70 to be admitted to the MAT program.  Any additional content courses needed may be taken at the undergraduate or graduate level.

In addition to course work, all candidates for teacher certification must take and pass three standardized tests required by the West Virginia Department of Education.  These tests are (1) the Praxis I, Pre-Professional Skills Test (PPST), a basic skills test with subtests in reading, mathematics, and writing; (2) the PRAXIS II Specialty Area Test; and (3) the Principles of Learning and Teaching Test (PLT) appropriate for the grade level of certification.  The PPST requirement must be satisfied prior to admission to the MAT program.  The Praxis I requirement is satisfied by a previously earned master’s degree or higher, an enhanced ACT score of 26 or higher, a re-centered SAT score of 1125 or higher, or the following scores on the PPST:

Reading = 174    Writing = 172    Math =172

The following links provide more information about the MAT program, including a step-by-step process to follow for admission to and completion of the MAT program, curriculum summary sheets, and plan of study sheets for PreK-Adult, 5-Adult and 9-Adult.

Please note that applicants must submit all admission requirements prior to being considered for admission, including scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test or the Miller Analogies Test (MAT).

The post-baccalaureate teacher certification program is an accelerated avenue for college graduates to attain teacher certification. The program's professional education courses and clinical experiences combine with the content the student earned at the undergraduate or graduate level(s) to lead to teacher certification. For additional information on the certification program, you can request a copy of the brochure.

Brochures (Brochures are in PDF form)

Master of Arts in Teaching

Post-Baccalaureate Certification Program

Click here to download the Adobe Acrobat Reader.

In Beckley:
Dr. Sandra S. Bailey
(304) 256-0266, ext. 3
Email: Sandra Bailey

In Charleston:
Dr. Sue Hollandsworth
(304) 746-1909 or 1-800-642-9842, ext. 1909
Email: Sue Hollandsworth

In Huntington:
Dr. James Sottile
(304) 696-2870
Email: James Sottile