The Education Program faculty are deeply committed to offering a holistic, interdisciplinary and student-centered approach to learning that is personally and socially relevant.

Our faculty is comprised of national and international scholar practitioners with extensive experience supporting students taking charge of their learning.

Students pursuing the Master of Arts can focus their studies in the following areas:

• Teacher Licensure
• Bilingual Education
• Community Education
• School Counseling Licensure
• Dual Language Early Childhood Education

The Masters of Arts in Education program is open to students who wish to extend their knowledge in the field of education to meet personal and/or professional goals.

See complete application instructions for the MA in Education.

Students in the Education Program may choose to attend residencies virtually or on-campus at the College’s campus in Plainfield, Vermont, on Goddard’s historic main campus, located just outside Montpelier, the state capital. It’s a former farm with a manor garden, surrounding forests, and period architecture.

When you apply, you’ll select your residency modality for your first semester. For subsequent semesters, you can continue in your first chosen modality or switch to a different one.

Residencies are a rich time of exploration, connection, and planning. A residency is comprised of:

• New-student orientation
• Individual and group advising sessions
• Workshops, presentations, mini-courses, and panels
• Peer work groups
• Planning sessions related to teacher licensure
• Information sessions (financial aid; how to do research; planning your final semester etc.)
• Co-curricular activities (support groups, art shows, films, movement workshops, meditation space, etc.)
• Commencement

Writing the semester study plan is an important focus of the residency. Working closely with your faculty advisor, and supported by fellow learners, you articulate your educational and personal goals for your studies within the context of degree criteria and program requirements. The study plan is your detailed and individualized map and will address the following:

• The semester’s learning goals
• The resources the student plans to draw on (e.g., books, journals, conferences)
• The methodology the student plans to use (e.g., library or field research, interviews, creative production)
• The specific learning activities the student will undertake (e.g., creative and critical reading and writing, observations, field work, keeping a journal)
• The academic work the student will produce (e.g. essays, visual art work, workshop reports, poems, interview transcriptions, annotations)
• A bibliography of reading the student plans to do during the semester

Following the residency and over the course of 16 weeks of study and reflection, you will submit your work to your faculty advisor. Typically, there are 5 submissions for full-time students and 3 submissions for part-time students. Evidence of the work completed can include essays, critical and creative writing, sample curricula, classroom materials, documentation of art practice/works, book annotations, and a cover letter in which you reflect on the learning process.

Your advisor responds promptly in writing to your materials with a detailed letter addressing the various components of your work and containing appraisal, feedback, and suggestions.

Through the regular exchange of work and responses, a sustained, meaningful dialogue takes place centered on your learning and goals. Students often describe this dialogue as transformative and empowering.

At the end of the semester, in lieu of grades, students and advisors write comprehensive evaluations of the student’s learning.

Goddard’s Education Program is approved by the Vermont Agency of Education and the Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators for preparing licensure-seeking students to receive a Vermont Initial License in one or more of six endorsement areas. Vermont participates with all other states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico in the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification’s Interstate Agreement, which governs licensure reciprocity.