Master of Arts in Teaching in Elementary Education (Alternate Route)

The MAT in Elementary Education is a 2-year graduate alternate route program leading to a Mississippi Educator License endorsed in Elementary Education. This program is designed for those who have completed a 4-year undergraduate degree and wish to become licensed Elementary Education Teachers. Those who want to pursue an alternate route MAT must pass MDE required licensure exams and complete a 9-cred hour set of competency courses to qualify for a 3-year, non-renewable Mississippi Educator license before beginning their internship. The content preparation is minimal before internship, and this content is dictated explicitly by MDE (one course in special education, one in classroom management, and one in the fundamentals of instruction and assessment). There are no scaffolded supervised field experiences before internship. Instead, candidates must secure a full-time teaching position in an accredited school in a grade and subject area endorsed on their license. They must be serving in this full-time, contracted teaching position to complete internship, which is taken over the course two semesters) one, 3-hour section per semester). As with most graduate-level programs, students engage in research and complete comprehensive final exams and submit a professional portfolio.