MAT@USC, the country’s first online Master of Arts in Teaching Program, has been developed by the USC Rossier School of Education in partnership with 2tor Inc., a private company specializing in online higher education.

According to USC Rossier Dean Karen Symms Gallagher, the new program is designed to prepare thousands of high-achieving students to be teachers in high-need schools. It combines online learning, student teaching at selected K-12 schools and ongoing support for new teachers, and seeks to quantify its impact on these schools as measured by both student gains and teacher retention.

“We believe the failure of our children to meet basic academic benchmarks can be attributed to the profession’s failure to prepare enough teachers who are ready to motivate and teach all our children how to learn,” Gallagher said.

“We are committed to producing more qualified, rigorously trained teachers who will affect real change in schools throughout the U.S. and ultimately around the world.”

USC Rossier faculty are designing a new, customized curriculum for the e-teaching environment, including the integration of video documenting in-classroom pedagogy by accredited faculty, interactive lectures using streaming video, animation and various other new media and Web technologies.

The program is organized into a conceptual framework of philosophical learning through focused inquiry and guided practice, with in-school observance and teacher residency. Coursework will be structured into six modules, including framing experiences, learning theories, pedagogy, human development, social contexts and guided practice.

Due to retiring teachers and growing student enrollment, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the number of teachers needed over the next decade is expected to grow by 12 percent. Yet the number of teachers who can receive advanced degrees at top-tier teaching colleges is severely limited by classroom space and geographic access.

“Now more than ever, the time is right for a credible and respected online master’s in teaching program to be offered that will successfully train and develop more educators which are in critical need in schools and communities across the country,” said 2tor CEO John Katzman.

“With USC’s stellar faculty and the investment of millions of private dollars to customize robust, compelling and effective interactive curriculum for the program, MAT@USC will change the face of teacher education.”

Katzman, an entrepreneur who founded the Princeton Review, and his wife, Alicia Ernst, first teamed up with the USC Rossier School to fund the Katzman-Ernst Chair in Educational Entrepreneurship, Technology and Innovation last spring.

Their concern about the widespread criticism of many existing teacher education programs, the dearth of talented teachers in high-need areas and the need to apply modern technologies to teacher education led to the MAT@USC partnership
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Access and accountability will be the cornerstones of MAT@USC. It will be the first online master’s in teaching degree program that incorporates many of the outcomes-based changes called for in the recently re-authorized Higher Education (Opportunity) Act. MAT@USC will provide ongoing support for its graduates and as the program grows, USC will publish research about its effect on student gains and teacher retention.

In addition to offering the availability of counselors and staff 24 hours a day, the program will unobtrusively monitor candidate performance on a variety of metrics to alert faculty of any difficulties in mastering coursework. Students may enroll in part-time or full-time courses from anywhere in the country, with full-time students able to complete the program in one year.

Special financial opportunities for partial or full tuition reimbursement exist for MAT@USC graduates who commit to teaching in high-need school districts for an engagement of three to five years. In addition, graduates who work in partner school districts where in-school observance and teacher residencies are conducted become eligible for partial tuition reimbursement. Tuition for MAT@USC is the same as the USC on-campus program at approximately $1,300 per credit.

MAT@USC will allow students to obtain a California teaching credential and will assist candidates in transferring to a local teaching credential. Courses will be taught by accredited USC faculty with special interactive guest lectures by renowned educators from around the country included as a unique feature of the program.

All candidates must meet the same admissions standards as those of Rossier’s on-campus master’s program. Upon successful completion of the MAT@USC coursework with academic standards met and graduation requirements fulfilled, students will receive a Master of Arts in Teaching Degree from the USC Rossier School of Education.

MAT@USC will begin enrolling students in January with expanded enrollment during the summer of 2009. During the next year, recruitment will extend throughout the country and eventually to other English-speaking countries around the world.