MAT Careers & Outcomes

Students who earn the Master of Arts in Teaching are well prepared to become elementary and secondary teachers in Oregon schools and elsewhere. Local school administrators say that our students often enter their careers with the preparation of experienced teachers, thanks to the wealth of practicum time embedded in our programs. In the Pacific University School of Learning & Teaching, students gain experience in public and private schools, charter schools, and international schools, as they become culturally responsive teachers who put students first.

The Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) is a degree program leading to recommendation for the Oregon Preliminary Teaching License, with one or more subject area endorsements.  Successful MAT candidates demonstrate, through application in clinical practice, the knowledge, skills, and dispositions required for Oregon teacher licensure, including specific performance standards in learner development, learning differences, learning environments, content knowledge, application of content, assessment, planning for instruction, instructional strategies, professional learning and ethical practice and leadership and collaboration.

Competence is demonstrated through content area examinations, observations and ratings of clinical practice made by clinical teachers and university staff, successful completion of an externally validated and scored teacher performance assessment (edTPA), and completion of a Teacher Inquiry Project (TIP).