PSU’s Elementary Education master’s degree offers you a path to become an elementary teacher in Oregon — and gives you the opportunity to make an impact in the lives of children and their families. If you have already earned a bachelor’s degree, you can earn your Oregon Teaching License through completion of this program.
In our immersive program, you’ll learn to work with youth and discover how to take an anti-racist approach to teaching. You’ll develop specialized expertise in social emotional learning, the science of reading, and working with multilingual learners. As you gain the skills and knowledge to enter the education field, you’ll learn to lead in the classroom.
You’ll also:
- Get hands-on experience working with students through a year-long student teaching placement and additional opportunities to observe and help in classrooms.
- Receive valuable instruction and mentorship from faculty who are also experienced elementary school teachers.
- Engage in critical self-reflection based in knowledge about colonial histories and systems of oppression.
- Learn how to design and implement lesson plans that encourage creativity, build community, and help students make meaningful progress toward learning goals.
Discover practices to build partnerships with families and community members. - Engage in a teaching style that honors the strengths, culture, and background of your students and their families.
Our licensure in elementary education program (LEEP) will give you the opportunity to do meaningful work, and stand out in a high-demand field. Learn how you can become a teacher and view other teacher pathway programs at PSU.
If you have not yet earned your bachelor’s degree, your path to becoming an Elementary Teacher is through PSU's bachelor’s in Elementary Education.
We’re preparing teachers with effective methods to support all children’s learning, while fostering a deep commitment to equity, inclusion and belonging. Our graduates will step into classrooms with a powerful toolbox of teaching techniques and an important understanding about how social and cultural contexts shape their students' lives. Our dynamic coursework combines collaborative learning with engaging readings, podcasts and opportunities to work directly with children in schools. Program faculty are experts with extensive classroom experience, advanced degrees, and knowledge in equity-based anti-racist professional development.
Our reputation as a standout teacher preparation program has helped us build an extensive network of partnerships with local schools and school districts — and get our graduates jobs. Principals around the region seek out PSU teacher candidates for student teaching placements and teacher positions, particularly in Portland Public Schools, Oregon’s largest school district.
We also offer you:
- Flexible and accessible classes: You’ll enjoy a flexible pace, accommodating class schedule, and mix of on-campus and online class sessions. Our dynamic coursework combines opportunities to build community face-to-face with the convenience of learning from home via Zoom.
- Specialized skills for teaching multilingual learners: Your coursework will prepare you to work with students who are learning English as an additional language. We’ve built this specialization into our program so you earn an endorsement to teach English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) when you graduate, broadening your skills and career prospects.
- Commitment to equity and social justice: Our program nurtures confidence in students to build skills to interrupt oppression and injustice and to see quality, culturally sustaining, education as an important avenue toward a just society. We strive to embody these principles in our program and practices and continually seek to improve our efforts to address inequities.
- Courses taught by scholar-practitioners: Learn from experienced instructors who also have scholarly expertise and advanced degrees in their fields. Gain practical tools and strategies based on sound research and theory.
With an elementary education master’s degree, you’ll earn your Oregon Teacher’s License and enter the education field from the moment you graduate. You’ll have the skills and qualifications to teach in Oregon, and in all 50 states. (Each state has its own set of requirements for out-of-state applicants.)
And with your ESOL endorsement, you’ll be prepared to support the growing number of students who are learning English, either in the general education classroom or as a specialist in English language development.
Our graduates go on to work in the education field as:
- K-5 teachers in public or private school settings
- English Language Development teachers in public schools
- After school program directors
- Leaders in education-focused nonprofits
- Instructional coordinators
- Curriculum developers
- Child care center administrators
- Consulting educators
- Camp directors
PSU College of Education faculty and staff have built an extensive network of partnerships with schools and school districts in the Portland metro area. PSU teacher candidates are sought after by principals both for student teaching field placements and for hiring.
Whether you want to teach third grade or run an afterschool program, PSU’s elementary education program will help you develop your skills and expand your opportunities in the field.
Accreditation
This program is accredited by the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP) as a part of the Graduate Teacher Education Program.