Teaching and the M.Ed.

Why an M.Ed.?

By joining ACE, participants don’t just get the chance to serve a school in need – they get professional preparation that will enable them to make a deep and profound difference in the lives of the children they serve. The ACE M.Ed. intensively prepares teachers by integrating graduate level coursework with an immersion teaching experience. Throughout their two years teaching in under-resourced Catholic schools, ACE teachers earn a cost-free Master of Education degree from the University of Notre Dame. Upon graduation, they are eligible for state licensure as a teacher.

If ACE teachers are teaching full-time, when do they take M.Ed. courses?

ACE teachers spend two summers living and studying with the larger ACE community at Notre Dame. The centerpiece of the summer program is an innovative teacher-preparation curriculum, taught by select faculty and experienced practitioners, combined with a supervised field experience in local public and Catholic schools. ACE teachers also take a limited number of distance-learning classes during the academic year which directly relate to their classroom teaching experiences.

What kind of professional support do ACE teachers receive during their teaching experience?

While working as teachers of record in their schools, ACE teachers will have many levels of support for their professional growth. They receive local support from mentor teachers and principals, and ACE staff and faculty provide ongoing support via email, phone and regular site visits. Furthermore, ACE teachers are in contact with their faculty supervisors every two weeks via online reflections that directly address their teaching experience.