Additional Application Requirements

Please note that the information below refers to the application for fall 2013 enrollment. The additional application requirements and instructions for fall 2014 enrollment will be available on our website in late summer. Please be sure to review the updated information when it becomes available.

Which programs have additional application requirements or instructions?

• Doctor of Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.)
• Language and Literacy (Ed.M.)
• Learning and Teaching (Ed.M.)
• School Leadership (Ed.M.)
• Teacher Education (Ed.M.)

Doctor of Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.)

Ed.L.D. applicants are required to answer two short essay questions.

Required (500 words)

• "Teacher evaluations should be linked to standardized student performance measures.” To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement, and why?

Choose One (400 words)

• Describe a mistake or failure. What did you learn?
• Describe a situation in which you changed your opinion/view on a particular topic or issue.
• What challenges or obstacles have you overcome to get where you are now?

Interviews

Once all applications have been reviewed, HGSE will invite selected applicants to campus for a day of required interviews (both individual and group) with members of the admissions committee. Interviews will take place February 28–March 1, 2013.

Language and Literacy (Ed.M.)

Literacy Coach

Applicants to the Literacy Coach strand of the Language and Literacy program must possess a minimum of three years of K-12 teaching experience. Please list the dates and locations of your teaching employment in a Word Document and upload it in the Employment section of the online application.

Licensure as a Reading Specialist Teacher

If you are interested in pursuing licensure as a Reading Specialist, you must submit the following:

1. A photocopy of your teaching license
2. An official letter signed by your principal on school letterhead verifying your employment. This letter must clearly state that you have taught as a full-time teacher for at least one year under your teaching license and include the dates of employment. Please note that the teaching experience must be in the state in which you hold the license. (If you are not currently working as a teacher, you will still need to obtain from your former principal a letter confirming your teaching experience.)

To assist you and your principal, we are providing a template (24KB Word doc) of the letter that both HGSE and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will accept to document experience.

If you have not yet completed one full year of employment, but will do so prior to September 2013, you should use this template (25KB Word doc) instead.

Both the copy of your teaching license and your employment verification letter should be uploaded in the Employment section of the online application.

Learning and Teaching (Ed.M.)

Instructional Leadership

Applicants to the Instructional Leadership strand of the Learning and Teaching program must possess a minimum of three years of K-12 teaching experience. Please list the dates and locations of your teaching employment in a Word Document and upload it in the Employment section of the online application.

School Leadership (Ed.M.)

Principal Licensure

If you are interested in the Principal Licensure strand of the School Leadership program, you must submit the following items with the application:

1. A photocopy of your teaching license, if you have a teaching license
2. An official letter signed by your principal on school letterhead verifying your employment. This letter must clearly state that you have taught as a full-time teacher for at least four years and include the dates of employment. (If you have taught at more than one school, please provide a separate letter from each school's principal.)

To assist you and your principal, we are providing a template (24KB Word doc) of the letter that both HGSE and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will accept to document experience. Both the copy of your teaching license and your employment verification letter should be uploaded in the Employment section of the online application.

Note that you will also be required to submit three original transcripts for every school attended, if you are admitted to the program. (For application review, a single transcript per school, uploaded in the Academics section of the online application, is sufficient.)

Teacher Education (Ed.M.) 

All TEP applicants:

Please visit the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's website, which lists the subject-matter requirements for middle and high school disciplines. Copy the list of subject-matter requirements for your teaching discipline, and under each requirement, list all of the post-secondary courses you have taken and AP credits you have earned that address each particular topic. Also list any courses that you have taken/are taking during the fall of 2012 or intend to take in the spring of 2013. You may upload this list in the Academics section of the application.