Apr 19, 2024  
University Catalog 2023-2024 
    
University Catalog 2023-2024

Education, MA


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MA in Education
Location:
AU Seattle
Credits for Degree: 48 quarter credits
Standard Mode of Instruction: Classroom
Standard time to completion: 27 months

Program Overview

A Master’s Degree in Education is a path toward new careers and/or professional advancement for many students. However, the program offers much more than professional preparation or “occupational payoff.” It offers a deep and careful study of the field of education and on-the-ground connections between coursework and fieldwork, between theory and practice, between ideal and implementation.

The MAEd Program at AUS gives a wide breadth of students the opportunity to achieve their diverse professional goals and to strengthen their educational commitments. The program focuses on curriculum, instruction, and social change and is flexible enough to meet the needs of a variety of educators. Its aim is to help those educators become more reflective, thoughtful, well-informed, analytic, scholarly, justice-oriented, and effective in the important work that they are doing. Another overarching goal of the program is to instill the confidence and skills to help educators become change agents in their own communities. Courses and assignments bring students out into the field, helping them to apply what they are learning to real-world contexts.

Program Highlights

Core Courses build a strong foundation of educational knowledge and theory. These courses provide a rich, interactive, collaborative learning environment in which candidates delve into a wealth of crucial issues and are encouraged to make strong connections between theory and practice. These core courses cover four key areas of study:

  • Diversity & Equity provides a critical, historical and philosophical context for exploring equity and justice in education. Including racial justice, power, privilege, culture, public policy, educational access, and the equitable allocation of resources.
  • Curriculum Studies & Reflective Practice is an introduction to the field of curriculum studies and an opportunity for students to engage in deep reflective practice about their own educational beliefs, curricular orientations, and practices.
  • Leadership & Reform provides an overview of the wide landscape of educational change in American schools, particularly those seeking progressive, democratic values and alternative social and cultural possibilities.
  • Inquiry & Research explores the multifaceted avenues of inquiry available to reflective practitioners with a primary emphasis on qualitative research. Students examine studies from various research paradigms as they prepare to design and carry out their own Inquiry Projects.

Inquiry Sequence is a series of courses that carry students through the process of proposing, designing, and implementing their own unique research projects. These projects are individually tailored and are tied to students’ areas of passion and interest in the field of education, as well as to their professional goals. Often students utilize the Inquiry Report to engage in projects that will advance, augment, or kick-start their careers such as creating a training module, building a democratic curriculum in ESL or urban water infrastructure, writing a grant proposal, or probing the feasibility of advanced interactive online learning platforms.

Area of degree concentration: Because students enter the program from a variety of arenas and have a wide range of professional and personal goals the program is designed to be flexible and responsive to their needs and interests. Students delve deeply into their unique areas of study via these options:

  • Leadership for Social Justice
  • Adult Education
  • Leadership in Edible Education
  • Play Therapy
  • Sexuality Education
  • Self-designed Area of Study
  • Environmental and Sustainability Education*
  • Urban Environmental Education

*Denotes Washington state endorsement

Admission Requirements

In addition to fulfilling the general admission requirements of Antioch University Seattle, MAEd applicants must have:

  • An undergraduate degree
  • Undergraduate cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 out of 4.0*
  • A current resume or CV
  • Admissions interview
  • Letter of Interest

*Minimum undergraduate cumulative GPA of 3.0 is required. Applicants with a GPA below 3.0 may be considered and should submit a letter explaining the reasons for their low GPA as well as what has changed that would assist them in pursuing a graduate program.

Transfer into the MAEd program

  • Applicants who began a graduate program at another regionally accredited university may request a transfer credit evaluation
  • Courses are reviewed for equivalent content on a course-by-course basis. Official transcripts and course syllabi for all requested courses must be submitted
  • Courses must carry a grade of B or better
  • Candidates may transfer up to 12 credits

Antioch BA completion students Graduate Pathways

Graduate level MAEd courses successfully taken as an undergraduate may be subsequently applied to the MAEd degree, up to 12 credits, if the student is successfully admitted to the MAEd program.

Current Tuition and Fees

University Tuition and Fees  

Plan of Study


Inquiry Sequence and Reflection (12 quarter credits)


To enhance the selected studies, inquiry projects enable students to examine in detail an area of professional interest. Students design their projects to pose and answer questions important to their work as educators.

Optional Concentrations:


Complete 18 elective credits. Credits may be chosen from the concentration courses listed below:

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