Advanced Studies in Teaching and Learning

Program Description

If you would like to deepen your understanding of student learning, improve your students’ classroom performance, and increase your capacity to meet the individual needs of your students, then Advanced Studies in Teaching and Learning (ASTL) may be the program for you!

The Advanced Studies in Teaching and Learning (ASTL) program is for teachers and other educators with one or more years of teaching or education-related experience who want to continue to grow professionally. The program offers advanced study in Virginia's Standards of Learning (SOL) content areas. Aligned with the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), the courses help teachers think and practice like board-certified teachers. The program:

• Develops research-focused, student-centered teacher leaders whose teaching practice is aligned with the Five Core Propositions of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) http://www.nbpts.org/.
• Provides practicing teachers with robust and meaningful academic and professional coursework that sharpens their content knowledge and research skills as educators.
• Focuses on increasing teachers' understanding of how students learn, how to design instruction that meets the needs of all learners in their classrooms, and how to assess student learning through multiple approaches.
• Helps teachers more fully understand how cultural and linguistic factors affect student learning and school climate.
• Builds leadership skills to help teachers become change agents in their school communities.
• Develops teachers' expertise in a content area of choice that deepens their professional knowledge and identifies them as team and building leaders.

The ASTL program includes a 12-credit education Core and an 18- or 21-credit Concentration in:

• Early Childhood Education
• Elementary Math
• Foreign Language - French
• Foreign Language - Spanish
• History
• Advanced International Baccalaureate
• Literacy: K-12 Reading Specialist
• Literacy: PK-12 Classroom
• Middle/Secondary Mathematics
• Physical Education (by cohort only-projected for 2014)
• Science,
• Special Education
• Teacher Leadership
• or an individualized Concentration.

The literacy: K-12 reading specialist concentration is also available as a stand-alone graduate certificate. The Literacy K-12 Reading Specialist Concentration provides coursework leading to a VA Reading Specialist license. The ASTL program leads to a master's of education degree in Curriculum and Instruction and must be completed within six years of admission.

For additional information about the ASTL program, please view this video.

View news archive.Subscribe to ASTL RSS