Subject Matter Knowledge in a Master of Arts in Teaching Program: Ensuring candidates’ content knowledge through an arts and sciences/education collaboration

Abstract

All teacher education programs face the challenge of ensuring that their graduates know their subject matter and can teach it effectively. For graduate level teacher education programs, whose candidates may complete their education in the content area at various institutions, this challenge is even greater. The following article describes one institution’s system of assessing candidates’ content knowledge and efforts to incorporate additional content coursework into a Master of Arts in Teaching program. Also provided is information on a set of courses that the arts and sciences and education faculty team teach, with the course for prospective English teachers described in detail.