Master of Education in Reading and English as a Second Language

The Master of Education in Reading and English as a Second Language Program is a 36-hour non-thesis program designed for practicing teachers and administrators who desire continued growth as professionals. Once teachers with their initial teaching certification have successfully completed all coursework in the program, and if they have passed the appropriate state certification (TExES) tests, they will also earn the Reading Specialist Certification and the English as a Second Language Certification/Endorsement. 

ADMISSION
There are no additional requirements other than those required for admission to the graduate program at DBU.

PREREQUISITES 

Entrance requirements for graduate programs in the College of Education must be met, including having at least two years of credible teaching experience in a K-12 public or private school by the time the candidate has completed the necessary coursework and is ready to take the appropriate certification examinations. A copy of the teacher candidate’s service record will be required to substantiate the teaching experience requirement prior to recommending the teacher candidate to register for the state certification examinations.

PROGRAM CONTINUANCE

Continuance in the program past the first 12 hours is pending submission of a satisfactory score on the Miller Analogies Test (MAT) or Graduate Record Examinations® (GRE®).

A waiver of the GRE or MAT requirement may be considered if the student meets one of the following conditions:

• earns an “A-“ or higher in each of the first four courses (12 hours) of graduate coursework in the DBU College of Education, or

• holds a Bachelor’s degree from the DBU College of Education earned within the past five years with a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher, or

• holds a Master’s degree from DBU.

READING AND ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE TRACK

READING, ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE, AND BILINGUAL EDUCATION TRACK

BILINGUAL EDUCATION SPECIALIZATION

The Master of Education in Reading and English as a Second Language with Bilingual Education Specialization degree is a 39-hour, non-thesis program that includes a non-credit reading certification seminar at the conclusion of any certification program. The program consists of a core curriculum of at least 12 hours of academic concentration in reading, 15 credit hours of academic concentration in ESL, and 9 credit hours of bilingual education specialization. In areas where the student demonstrates sufficient proficiency, course substitution may be approved by the Master of Education Program Advisor and must be in keeping with the requirements of the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC).

*Required Courses for this degree.

**Required: Must pass this seminar to complete the program

***Required for Master Reading Teacher

****Required for students seeking State Certification in ESL

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION GRADUATE DEFENSE OF DEGREE

Because of Dallas Baptist University’s quest for meaningful assessment of graduate candidates, a defense of degree is required in all College of Education Graduate Programs. The defense of degree is a capstone collection of signature assessments and artifacts with reflections that demonstrate a candidate’s personal growth, development, and acquisition of knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

A digital format will be utilized by the candidate to enhance the presentation and to justify why the degree should be awarded to the candidate. The candidate’s formal defense will be presented to members of the Educator Preparation Board and will take place on the main campus each semester.

It is recommended that candidates attend a Defense of Degree workshop held each semester. It is also the candidate’s responsibility to schedule a meeting with their designated program director who will provide additional information regarding objectives, service-learning, artifacts, reflections, presentation format, and evaluative criteria and scoring.

Candidates must register for the Defense of Degree course as prescribed in their degree plan during the semester in which they will present their defense of degree to the Educator Preparation Board. The EPB is a group of experienced and widely successful educators from Dallas Baptist University and the Metroplex. Practicing teachers, administrators, consultants, superintendents, guidance directors, personnel directors, and Educational Region Service Center personnel, as well as DBU professors and administrators, volunteer their time for this highly selective process. The Educator Preparation Board serves as the College of Education Graduate Programs’ advisory board and meets three times a year to assess graduate candidates’ defense of degrees.

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION GRADUATE E-PORTFOLIO

Dallas Baptist University’s educator preparation programs strive to provide a quality learning experience that enables all candidates to impact EC-12 learning. The E-Portfolio is designed to be an individualized collection of documents to prepare the candidate for future positions; demonstrate the candidate’s ongoing knowledge, skills, experiences, and dispositions; and provide the candidate with the opportunity for self-reflection. All graduate candidates are required to compile and maintain an electronic, developmental E-Portfolio. There are three types of documents that must be included in the E-Portfolio: required documents, foundational elements, and competency artifacts. Throughout the program, the candidate will collect these documents and upload them to their designed TaskStream account.

The organization of E-Portfolio is governed by the State Board of Educator Certification standards and competencies, DBU/InTASC competencies, and DBU’s Educator Preparation Provider competencies in addition to specific field of study competencies.

The E-Portfolio will be used to assess your development as you proceed through your designated program. Candidates who do not have all required documents and “signature assessments” uploaded into TaskStream will not be allowed to proceed to the next level as designed by these Transition Points:

• Transition Point One: Requirements for Program Admission

• Transition Point Two: Requirements for Program Entrance

• Transition Point Three: Requirements for Program Continuance

• Transition Point Four: Requirements for Program Completion

• Transition Point Five: Requirements for Program Evaluation

It is the candidates’ responsibility to meet with their designed program director and/or advisor to discuss the E-Portfolio required documents, checkpoint scoring, foundational elements rubric, and the competency artifacts rubric.

DBU also offers two Accelerated Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree Programs that include the MED in Reading and ESL programs for qualifying undergraduate students:

• BA Core Subjects Early Childhood-6 /MED in Reading and ESL

• BA 4-8 English Language Arts and Reading/MED in Reading and ESL

Students in these programs will complete state requirements for initial teacher certification in the areas of Core Subjects EC-6 or 4-8 English Language Arts. Students completing these programs will learn and demonstrate how to serve as an effective literacy teacher and leader through synthesis and application of knowledge regarding the interrelated components of reading, writing, speaking, and listening across developmental stages of oral and written language. Degree candidates will also learn and demonstrate sufficient theoretical and experiential knowledge for serving as an ethical and effective teacher, advocate, and leader for culturally and linguistically diverse students. 

Students completing either of the Accelerated Degree Programs will take the following courses at the graduate level as substitutes for their undergraduate cross-listed course requirements, thereby requiring 30 instead of the regular 36 graduate hours for the program beyond the regular undergraduate degree requirements.

READ 5332 - Reading: Diagnosing and Correcting Reading Difficulties with Clinical Experience (S-L)

READ 5337- Pedagogy of Reading III (Literature and Visual Representation)

RETENTION IN AND GRADUATE FROM THE PROGRAM

Students must fulfill the following conditions to enroll and continue enrollment in either of the Accelerated Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree Programs:

• Students must maintain an overall GPA of 3.0.

• Students must meet the admission requirements for the undergraduate educator preparation program and the graduate admission requirements for the MED in Reading and ESL program.

• Students must apply and be accepted for graduate admission before taking READ 5332 (S-L) or READ 5333 (S-L), but after completing a minimum of 90 undergraduate credit hours, or within the semester that 90 credit hours will have been completed.

Further details regarding Accelerated Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree Program requirements are included in the Undergraduate Catalog.

(S-L)=Course(s) with field-based service-learning component.

Refer to individual course descriptions for course requisites.

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Find course descriptions by category under the Graduate Course Descriptions section in the navigation panel.