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Master of Arts in Education Online (MAEd)

100% Online and Affordable

Earn your Bellarmine degree in just four or five semesters with our 30 or 36-hour, cohort-based program that offered completely online and at an affordable price. This is an advanced degree program for those students holding an initial teacher certification. The following emphasis areas are available:

Listen to our webinar for more details about MAEd programs.

Teacher Leadership Program

The Teacher Leadership program is designed to develop teacher leaders who will be challenged to reflect continuously upon: leadership skills; coaching and mentoring; analysis of assessment and data to impact instruction; strategies for closing the achievement gap through instructional best practices; the need to address equity and diversity in schools; and collaborative efforts to include colleagues, parents, and the community in comprehensive efforts for school improvement.

MAEd: Teacher Leadership Curriculum (Catalog)

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Literacy Specialist Endorsement, Grades P-12

The Literacy Specialist program offers educators an in-depth study of teaching, learning, and literacy leadership. The endorsement across all grade levels will allow the classroom teacher to explore literacy issues related to elementary, middle, and high school students with an emphasis on issues related to struggling readers. Candidates who complete the Literacy Specialist Endorsement (Grades P-12) may choose to remain a highly qualified classroom teacher of reading and writing, may elect to serve as the literacy leader in their school, become the school’s reading coach, or apply for a district level literacy resource position.

Literacy Specialist Curriculum (Catalog)

Why earn your MAEd at Bellarmine?

As our theme, “Educator as Reflective Learner” suggests, our candidates are integrally involved in ongoing reflective practice as master educators in their classrooms, schools, and communities. Reflective teachers use the world of practice, knowledge of pedagogy, knowledge of the learner, and knowledge of content personally to evaluate their effectiveness. This continuous process provides master teachers with a basis for self evaluation that results in leadership development for school improvement.

Advanced teacher candidates will participate in ongoing evaluation through the use of an individualized Professional Growth Plan, Anchor Assessments within identified courses, Dispositions Assessments at specified transition points, and a final culminating project within the candidate’s emphasis or endorsement area. Each candidate will work closely with his/her faculty advisor to review regularly progress toward the degree.

Program Highlights

Successful alumni of our MAEd program will:

  • collaborate with education stakeholders, including parents, teachers, administrators, and the community, to improve student learning and achievement;
  • reflect on diverse field and clinical experiences, making instructional decisions based on individual learner needs;
  • demonstrate educator dispositions that value the dignity and unique development of individual learners, and the intellectual, moral, ethical, and professional competencies that characterize effective teaching and leading;
  • analyze data to make pedagogical and content based decisions that inform teaching, learning, leading, and achievement in the 21st Century; and
  • employ Valli’s five reflective processes which include technical, personalistic, deliberative, in and on action, and critical reflection.

Alumni Stories

Deadra Allen

“I fell in love with literacy all over again and gained a drive to want to learn more about the subject. The time that I have spent enrolled as a graduate student at Bellarmine has been fundamental. I have gained tools to better myself as a teacher and gained invaluable tools that enable me to teach my students! I could not have chosen a better place to further my education.”

Deadra Allen
Kindergarten Teacher, Jefferson County Public Schools
Bellarmine Graduate, December 2018
Master of Arts in Education, Literacy Specialist

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Jessica Young

“I began the Teacher Leader program in 2015 as a shy teacher with the desire of making a difference within my classroom and school. I saw the problems, I knew that changes needed to happen, but I thought, "Who am I? How can I make a difference?" Within just a few short weeks of this program I realized that I was capable of creating positive change within my school, and with the courses studied and research created at Bellarmine, I have been able to do just that! The Teacher Leader MAED Program at Bellarmine not only increased my confidence as a teacher and as a leader, but helped to instill lifelong learning and leadership opportunities that would have never been possible without this program. I am forever grateful for Bellarmine and my time studying and learning there.”

Ms. Jessica Young
2nd Grade Teacher
Saint Agnes School

Faculty Profiles

Here is a quick snapshot of a few of our faculty members. Find all of our distinguished faculty here.

Mary Ann Cahill, Ed.D.

Mary Ann Cahill, Ed.D. is an Associate Professor of Literacy and the Chair of Undergraduate and MAT programs. She received her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Literacy from Boise State University in Boise, Idaho, and her Master's degree in Literacy from the University of Dayton. Dr. Cahill taught elementary school (K-5) for eighteen years before becoming a professor for the last ten years. Prior to working at Bellarmine, Dr. Cahill taught at Boise State University where she coordinated the reading clinic and the Summer Literacy Academy. Her research addresses a focus on Early Literacy, specifically English Language Learners and Comprehension Instruction. Other scholarly interests involve critical literacy, dyslexia, and professional development for teachers. Research by Dr. Cahill has been published in The Reading Teacher and Young Children. At Bellarmine, Dr. Cahill teaches a variety of literacy courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Winn Crenshaw Wheeler, Ph.D.

Winn Crenshaw Wheeler, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Literacy. She received her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on literacy and instructional coaching from the University of Louisville. Dr. Wheeler holds a Masters of Education in Elementary Education as well as a Bachelor of Arts with majors in Elementary Education and History from Elon University. Additionally, she is a National Board Certified Teacher (Middle Childhood Generalist). Prior to her work at Bellarmine, Dr. Wheeler worked in public education for twenty years where she served as a classroom teacher and literacy coach. Her research interests include adolescent literacy, fluency development, writing assessment and instruction, professional collaboration, instructional coaching, and curriculum design. At Bellarmine, Dr. Wheeler teaches courses in literacy at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

David D. Paige, Ed.D.

David D. Paige, Ed.D.is Associate Professor of Education at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. After a 20-year career in business, Dr. Paige began his educational career as a special educator in an urban middle school in Memphis, Tennessee where he taught reading and math for five years to children with mild to moderate learning disabilities in both pull-out and collaborative class settings. Dr. Paige completed his doctoral studies at the University of Memphis. Paige’s research interest utilizes statistical modeling to address literacy issues, particularly those concerning the role of oral reading fluency and prosody in reading. Dr. Paige has developed the SER-C®, a web-based instrument to assess the impact of higher order thinking on behavioral engagement of students. The SER-C® has been used in over 35 schools by some 500 teachers to assess the presence of higher order thinking in classrooms. Research by Dr. Paige has been published in The Reading Teacher, Reading Psychology, Reading Horizons, the Journal of Adult and Adolescent Literacy, Research and Instruction, the Journal of Literacy Research, the NASSP Bulletin, the Kentucky Reading Journal, as well as several book chapters including Fluency Instruction. Dr. Paige is also the Executive Director of the Thinking Schools Academy, an initiative to train Indian teachers in the use of 21st century instructional techniques which encourage higher-order thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving in students. Dr. Paige has presented at numerous national and international conferences on topics of literacy and higher-order thinking and is currently developing a web-based instrument to assess reading fluency. David and his wife Elizabeth live in a restored, circa 1890 home in the Victorian neighborhood of Old Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky. David has four sons, Garrett, Taylor, Cameron, and Logan.

Tuition and Fees

Our fully online MAEd is competitively priced. Please visit our Graduate Tuition Rates for the most up-to-date tuition and fees information..

Funding Assistance
School districts may apply tuition supports for this program, please contact your school district’s personnel specialist. As a degree seeking student in the MAED program, students should be eligible for federally supported forms of student aid. Financial aid questions should be directed to the Financial Aid Office at Bellarmine University (finaid@bellarmine.edu or 502.272.7300).

Admission Requirements

  • A baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution.
  • A 2.75 (on a 4.0 scale) overall grade point average for all undergraduate coursework.
  • A 3.00 grade point average in the applicant’s undergraduate major.
  • Recommendations from professors, employers, or supervisors attesting to the applicant’s potential as a graduate student. Teacher Leader requires letter from current building principal.
  • A letter of intent to pursue the graduate degree; the letter should include a statement of the applicant’s professional goals and application rationale (two pages).
  • Official transcripts of all previous higher education course work from regionally accredited institutions in sealed envelope from the institution.
  • A valid Kentucky Provisional or Professional Certificate at the program level for which the applicant is making application. Teacher Leader requires current teaching position.
  • If your undergraduate degree is from an international institution, you were born outside the United States, or English is your second language, you will be required to submit an official TOEFLiBT (internet-based test) score and receive a total score of 80 or higher. We will also consider an equivalent score on the IELTS or MELAB tests. The School of Education Admission, Progression and Graduation Committee reserves the right to require a TOEFL score from any applicant.
  • Additional information is required from international applicants; see the MAEd admission application form for more information.
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Accreditation

NCATEAll teacher education programs at the advanced level recognized by the Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board are fully accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), 2010 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036; and approved by the Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board.

Contact Information

Rosie Young, Ed.D.
Chair, Advanced Education, Graduate Programs
ryoung@bellarmine.edu

Sarah Schuble
Assistant Director of Graduate Student Enrollment 502.272.8271
sschuble@bellarmine.edu

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