Certificate of Advanced Study in Teaching and Learning

This certificate provides individual teachers with the knowledge, skills, and research tools to make evidence-based claims as to their effectiveness in the classroom. The set of five, 3-credit graduate courses prepares professionals with the knowledge base needed to engage in data-driven, action research that draws from the use of formative, benchmark, and summative assessments and leads to effective upgrades in instruction. Certificate completers will be positioned to become school and district leaders having an integrated set of instruction, assessment, and research skills needed to advance student achievement levels in their respective disciplines.

Admission requirements and procedures

Students interested in the Certificate of Advanced Study in Teaching and Learning should contact the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and file a letter of intent with the certificate coordinator. Those who are not already admitted to a UWM graduate degree program must complete a UW System online admission application. Select “Graduate courses for personal/professional enrichment” as your reason for applying.

Applicants must have a bachelor's degree with an undergraduate GPA of 2.75 or a graduate degree with a minimum 3.0 GPA.

Curriculum

Five required, 3-credit, graduate-level courses. Total credits: 15

Course I

CurrIns 701 Curriculum and ideologies

Course II

One graduate-level elective in the student’s disciplinary focus area.

See Certificate Coordinator for list of qualifying courses.

Course III — Discipline-specific advanced methods course

One of the following:

CURRINS 710 Curriculum for Early Adolescents

CURRINS 721 Advanced Problems in the Teaching of Social Studies

CURRINS 724 Advanced Problems in Science Education

CURRINS 734 Advanced Problems in the Teaching of Foreign Languages

CURRINS 746 Advanced Reading Education

CURRINS 751 Language Arts in the Elementary School

CURRINS 753 Teaching Language and Composition

CURRINS 754 Teaching Literature

Other courses as approved by the certificate program committee.

Course IV

CURRINS 725/ED PSYCH 725 Improving Teaching and Learning with Classroom-based Assessments

Course V — Capstone

CURRINS 705 Research in Schools and Communities

The certificate will be awarded upon completion of the five certificate courses with a minimum G.P.A of 3.0 in these courses. Certificate completion will be posted on a student’s official transcript.

Transfer Credit

A maximum of three (3) credits may be transferred to count toward the certificate program’s 15-credit requirement. Transfer credits will be considered only if the applicant can provide ample, acceptable evidence that the course taken is substantially the same as one of the first three courses that constitute the certificate program, and was completed within the last five years with a grade of B or better. The Department of Curriculum and Instruction Graduate Program Committee will make determinations of transferability, and its decision is final.

Time Limit

Students pursuing the Certificate of Advanced Study in Teaching and Learning in specific disciplines without concurrent enrollment in a degree program will have three years from initial enrollment in a certificate course to complete the certificate requirements. Students pursuing the certificate simultaneously with a degree will have the same time limit to complete the certificate requirements as they have for completing the degree program.