College of Education

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College of Education Mission

Locally connected and globally relevant, the Mission of the College of Education is to prepare graduates for professional careers in diverse settings within three dynamic areas of focus: Teaching, Leadership, and Wellness.  With programs that range from undergraduate through doctoral study, the College of Education is committed to excellence in pedagogy, professional service, engaged partnerships, and applied research.

College of Education Vision

The College of Education at the University of West Georgia will be recognized for Innovation in Teaching, Leadership, and Wellness with programs designed to transform lives and contribute to the betterment of society.

Master of Arts in Teaching Degree

The Master of Arts in Teaching is available for those who would like to add a Georgia Educator Certificate to an existing undergraduate degree. Fields of study include Secondary Education, Special Education, and Elementary Education. The program is a good fit for those who are career changers, provisionally-certified teachers, or recent college graduates. For Secondary Education, refer to the College of Education Department of Early Childhood through Secondary Education website for GaPSC-approved undergraduate degrees and their associated content fields in secondary education. The Special Education and Elementary Education programs accept undergraduate degrees in any field.

Master of Education Degree

The Master of Education degree is designed for individuals seeking to expand and strengthen their professional preparation in knowledge and pedagogy. The College offers the Master of Education degree in higher education administration; elementary education; professional counseling (clinical mental health counseling and school counseling); instructional technology, media, and design (instructional technology and school librarianship); physical education; reading instruction; special education; and speech-language pathology.

Students seeking the clinical mental health counseling or school counseling option in Professional Counseling require 60 hours.  Both the clinical mental health counseling and school counseling programs in Professional Counseling are accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) and designed to meet academic requirements for licensing as a professional counselor (LPC) in Georgia.

The Master of Education in Speech-Language Pathology is accredited by the Council for Academic Accreditation (CAA) in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association.

Minimum University System admission requirements for master’s degree studies are as follows, but each department offering the master’s degree may set additional admission requirements.

Regular Admission

The student must hold an undergraduate degree from an accredited college or university with an undergraduate major in, or prerequisites for, the planned field of study where applicable.

For most programs, applicants must have earned a minimum 2.7 undergraduate grade point average calculated on all work attempted in which letter grades were awarded. Contact the Graduate School for information concerning the graduate program to which you are applying. MAT scores are unacceptable for admission into the M.Ed. programs. Scores from the ETS PRAXIS or Georgia Assessments for the Certification of Educators (GACE) tests are unacceptable for admission into M.Ed. degree programs.

These are minimum requirements. Applicants should see program sections for specific program admission and exit criteria.

Students must have the recommendation of the major department to be accepted for admission. Certain programs require the Level-4 teaching certificate or its equivalent.

Specialist in Education Degree

The programs leading to the Specialist in Education degree are designed to provide a further specialization for instructional service and leadership personnel in fields of professional education and professional counseling. The degree requires completion of 27 semester hours after completion of the Master’s degree. The programs of study are planned to achieve a distribution for the student’s entire graduate program among the teaching field or area of competence, educational foundations, behavioral sciences, and electives.

The Specialist in Education degree is offered with majors in educational leadership; elementary education; health, physical education, wellness, and sport; instructional technology, media, and design (instructional technology and school librarianship); professional counseling; secondary education (biology, broad field science, business, chemistry, economics, English, history, mathematics, physics, and political science); and special education.

Typically, eligibility for the level-5 certificate, based on master’s-level work in the same field, must be established before admission to the Ed.S. program. Applicants must check with each program advisor to determine prerequisites needed for admission to the Ed.S. program. Courses taken prior to admission to an Ed.S. program will not count towards the hourly requirements of an Ed.S. degree program.

Only regular admission is used for the Education Specialist degree with the following minimum University System admission requirements being established: a master’s degree from an accredited graduate institution, a 3.0 grade point average on all graduate work attempted, and satisfactory test scores. Contact the Graduate School for information concerning the graduate program to which you are applying. MAT scores are not accepted for admission into the Ed.D. programs in School Improvement and Professional Counseling and Supervision. Scores from the ETS PRAXIS series or Georgia Assessments for the Certification of Educators (GACE) tests are not accepted for admission into Ed.S. degree programs. However, they may be required for certification. Each department offering the Ed.S. degree may set higher standards.

Doctor of Education Degree

The College of Education offers a Doctor of Education with three majors: (1) Higher Education Administration, (2) Professional Counseling and Supervision, and (3) School Improvement. The Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration is an applied doctorate that aims to teach students how to appropriately and effectively address critical issues in higher education administration through critical analysis and reflective thought, and teach them to understand, analyze, and utilize literature to influence decisions in higher education. The Ed.D. in Professional Counseling and Supervision prepares counseling professionals to positively impact their clients and communities of service through effective practices and programs, leadership, and advocacy. The Ed.D. in School Improvement offers a unique opportunity for educators looking for an interdisciplinary, inquiry-based doctoral program that prepares graduates to become change agents in the PK - 12 schools they serve.

Internship/Practicum Fee

A course-related fee is associated with internships and practicums to include student teaching, block, and other experiences in educator preparation programs at the University of West Georgia. The fee, which was endorsed by the University of West Georgia Student Government Association is applied to costs associated with field experiences (including supervision travel and mentor teacher development).

COE Early Learning Center 

The College of Education (COE) Early Learning Center, is a state-of-the-art early childhood research and demonstration facility. The Early Learning Center is dedicated to four goals: a) to increase the community’s capacity for inclusive early childhood care and programming, b) develop models of best practice, c) build family and community partnerships, and d) identify and join a collective group of experts to promote the health, safety, and developmental needs of young children. The Early Learning Center currently houses the following programs for children, ages birth to eight, and their families: 

- UWG Pre-Kindergarten Program (Bright from the Start Georgia Pre-K) 

- Head Start

- Early Childhood Makerspace and Coding Lab 

- Early Childhood Assistive Technology Lab

- Well Start for Early Learning 

- Suri the Spider collection of social-emotional educator and family resources.

Comprehensive Community Clinic (CCC)

The CCC serves as an educational training facility for undergraduate and graduate students of Speech-Language Pathology, Counselor Education, Early Childhood Education and Special Education programs. Currently, the UWG students provide clinical services in speech-language and counseling along with individual diagnostic and instructional services in reading and mathematics to the West Georgia community.  The CCC serves community clients from the surrounding counties in Georgia and Alabama.

Wolf Wellness Lab

The Wolf Wellness Lab is an experiential learning space for the students and faculty of the Health and Community Wellness and Physical Education programs. The Wolf Wellness Lab partners with local, state, and national partners with initiatives related to program evaluation, grant and research-based initiatives.

Fusion Center

The Fusion Center, located in the College of Education at the University of West Georgia, coordinates all of the College of Education’s partnership initiatives and is also the hub for the College’s departmental services and labs (i.e., The Innovations Lab and UWGLive-mixed reality simulation). The Fusion Center offers unique opportunities for partnership and community outreach with a variety of services to meet your needs. Our goal is to be a one-stop shop for stakeholder services and the go-to for professional learning, innovation, quality enhancement, and organizational/institutional solutions. We are excited to partner with you and design your own customized package.

Science Bowl - The College of Education Fusion Center is proud to partner with the US Department of Energy in hosting regional events for the National Science Bowl ®.

Fusion Center Labs

•  Innovations Lab

The Innovations Lab is a state-of-the art hub for experimenting with new technologies (e.g., Apple Vision Pro, VR goggles, 3-D printers, digital robots, artificial intelligence, etc.). In addition to providing an interactive learning space for UWG and P-12 students, the Lab offers training and exploration for educators and other professionals who wish to integrate emerging technologies into their profession. We have a mobile version of the lab, partnering with school districts’ technology funding to bring innovation directly to their door. The Lab helps us bridge the funding gap between rural and non-rural schools by bringing curricular enhancements to rural schools in the West Georgia region for reduced or no costs.

• UWGLive Simulation Lab

UWGLive offers simulations for all UWG College of Education programs and many external constituents in a variety of mixed-reality, virtual environments. We hire and train our own interactors and create our own scenarios, which allows us to offer customized simulation experiences to other universities and professional clients.

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