During Core I, candidates have a field experience in an urban or rural/suburban school district and learn how to work with small groups of students, how to manage the classroom, and how to design lessons specific to their program area. Core II is pre-student teaching, where candidates complete an extended experience in a second urban, rural or suburban district where their student teaching will occur during the final semester. This arrangement gives candidates the opportunity to learn more about teaching their specific content to both whole and small groups of students. Student teaching occurs in Core III where candidates complete 12 full weeks of clinical experience.

The M.S. Certification programs occur over three or four semesters (fall, spring and summer) and include one field/clinical experience per term (except for during summer). Candidate coursework is aligned with the field/clinical experiences to maximize candidate learning in an experiential setting.

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Eastern Connecticut State University was founded in 1889 as the Willimantic State Normal School to train young women to be teachers. While the school has expanded its mission significantly since then, it has always made teaching an integral part of its identity.

The mission of Eastern Connecticut State University, the state’s designated public liberal arts university, is to provide high-quality undergraduate and select graduate programs to a diverse population of talented students. Eastern’s inclusive residential campus, outstanding faculty, emphasis on teaching excellence and exceptional facilities raise students’ aspirations and cultivate engagement, inquiry, integrity and social responsibility.

In the traditional arts and sciences, as well as in pre-professional programs that are grounded in the liberal arts, Eastern students apply theory in practical settings. Faculty research, scholarship, creative work and community engagement inform teaching and learning, advance knowledge and enrich the liberal