• <a href="/live/image/gid/56/width/650/92996_iStock-970663942.jpg" class="lw_preview_image lw_disable_preview" tabindex="-1"><picture class="lw_image lw_image92996"> <source type="image/jpeg" media="(max-width: 500px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/56/width/500/height/479/crop/1/92996_iStock-970663942.rev.1646432305.jpg 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/56/width/500/height/479/crop/1/92996_iStock-970663942.rev.1646432305.jpg 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/56/width/500/height/479/crop/1/92996_iStock-970663942.rev.1646432305.jpg 3x"/> <source type="image/jpeg" media="(min-width: 501px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/56/width/720/height/690/crop/1/92996_iStock-970663942.rev.1646432305.jpg 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/56/width/720/height/690/crop/1/92996_iStock-970663942.rev.1646432305.jpg 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/56/width/720/height/690/crop/1/92996_iStock-970663942.rev.1646432305.jpg 3x"/> <img src="/live/image/gid/56/width/720/height/690/crop/1/92996_iStock-970663942.rev.1646432305.jpg" alt="Our full-time 12-13 month program provides a strong pedagogical foundation for elementary educators (K-5)—helping you learn the art of ..." width="720" height="690" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/56/width/720/height/690/crop/1/92996_iStock-970663942.rev.1646432305.jpg 2x" data-max-w="2388" data-max-h="1593" loading="lazy"/> </picture> </a><div class="hero-split_image_caption collapsable-caption"> Our full-time 12-13 month program provides a strong pedagogical foundation for elementary educators (K-5)—helping you learn the art of great teaching, while empowering you to address issues of equity and access in schools.</div>

Elementary Education (K-5)

Grounded in social justice principles, our Elementary MAT program prepares students to become transformative, equity-minded educators.

Application Requirements

Elementary Education (K-5)

Our full-time 12-13 month program provides a strong pedagogical foundation for elementary educators (K-5)—helping you learn the art of great teaching, while empowering you to address issues of equity and access in schools. Through a combination of on-campus courses and extensive, field-based teaching experiences, you’ll become skilled at helping children learn and grow using creative, reflective, and culturally responsive approaches to teaching, learning, and research. By the end of the program, you’ll earn a Master of Arts in Teaching and qualify for an Oregon Preliminary Teaching License.

Program Overview

Total credit hours: 40
Program length: 12-13 months
Program director: Linda Griffin

Options:
Part-Time MAT Elementary Cohort for School Employees

VIEW PROGRAM OF STUDY


Faculty

Leigh VonDerahe

Reading Intervention Program Director; MAT Literacy Instructor

Linda Griffin

Associate Professor, Program Director

Social Justice Mission

Deeply Committed to Social Justice

At Lewis & Clark, our social justice mission is more than a talking point—it’s fully integrated into nearly every aspect of our programs. From the courses we offer and the texts we assign to the faculty members we hire, we strive to facilitate meaningful conversations around social justice topics and teach you how to incorporate equity into your teaching practice to better serve your future students, schools, and the larger community. You’ll graduate with a clear sense of how to enact social justice teaching in elementary classrooms, be empowered to drive change in education, and create a lasting impact on children’s lives.

Amplifying Diverse Voices

Our Elementary MAT program’s core texts showcase diverse voices and highlight new best practices in teaching. Here’s a glimpse into the some of the texts you can expect to read:

Teaching for Black Lives
Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain
The New Teacher Book
Being the Change
Start Here, Start Now


Natasha Digges

I chose Lewis & Clark for the focus on social justice. I had worked in schools with past Lewis & Clark graduates and they were always the people in the building who I aspired to be.”

Master of Arts in Teaching
Elementary Education with ESOL

 


Why Choose Lewis & Clark

Academic Excellence

Reputation for Academic Excellence

Lewis & Clark’s programs are respected nationwide for their quality and academic rigor. Our elementary education program combines broad subject area knowledge with specific pedagogical content knowledge to ensure that you’ll gain the skills and dispositions needed to become a competent, capable teacher in just 12-13 months.

Social Justice

Social Justice Focus

Through coursework focused on culturally responsive teaching, texts that amplify diverse voices in education, and training in working with students from different cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, you’ll be prepared to tackle issues of equity in schools and make a meaningful impact on your students’ lives.

Hands On Experience

Real World, Hands-On Experience

Our Elementary MAT program features a yearlong teaching practicum that puts you in a real classroom from the very beginning, so you can start gaining the skills you’ll need to succeed as an educator in a hands-on learning environment.

Supportive Community

Supportive Environment and Community

With small cohort sizes of 20 students or less, you can expect lots of personal attention and support from faculty members, staff, peers, and teacher-mentors. You’ll form meaningful, lasting connections and develop a strong foundation for your professional network.

Skilled Grads

Skilled, Sought-After Graduates

Our program’s reputation for producing exceptional teachers means that our graduates are highly sought-after by local school districts and across the entire state. In fact, the majority of our students receive a job offer just before or shortly after completing their program.

Faculty

Accomplished Program Faculty

Our experienced faculty members are committed to ensuring our students’ success both academically and in their future careers. They’ve not only been teachers themselves, but are considered thought leaders in the field, contributing to groundbreaking research and becoming regularly published in reputable education-industry publications.

Stunning Campus

Stunning Campus in a Vibrant, Progressive City

Our beautiful, historic campus is just six miles from downtown Portland, OR with easy access to the city’s cultural offerings, great food, and abundant nature. You’ll quickly discover why Portland was ranked #9 in U.S. News & World Report’s 2020-21 list of best places to live.

Professional Development

Professional Development & Career Services

Our program prepares you to confidently enter the workforce through professional development activities like resume building workshops, practice interviews with local principals, Q&A sessions, and exclusive job fairs where you can connect with potential employers directly. You’ll also have access to lifetime career assistance.


A teacher candidate works with a student during her practicum experience. A teacher candidate works with a student during her practicum experience. Practicum

Through our unique, yearlong teaching practicum, you’ll have the opportunity to learn hands-on—applying your course- work to a real-world environment and gaining critical insights that can only be gleaned by working in the field. Our Partnership & Placement team will review your preferences and match you with a qualified teacher-mentor in the greater Portland metro area. Working side-by-side, you’ll remain in the same classroom for an entire school year, building trusting relationships with your students, their parents, and school staff. As the year progresses, you’ll gradually take on more and more responsibility, culminating with taking over the classroom and handling all of your teacher-mentor’s tasks for 6 weeks.


Career Information

Our Elementary MAT program graduates are in high demand with local school districts and across the entire state, with most students receiving a job offer shortly after graduating.

Interested in teaching outside of Oregon? Due to our state’s stringent requirements for teacher education, you’ll find that your Oregon teaching license can be easily transferred to other states and even qualify you to work at many international schools. For more information or for licensure-related questions, please contact Sharon Chinn at ecls@lclark.edu.


Financial Aid

We use FAFSA to determine your eligibility for financial aid. To further offset the cost of your education, we encourage you to also apply for public service loan forgiveness programs, grant programs like TEACH, and Lewis & Clark’s scholarships for teacher candidates.

  • Estimated Tuition: $44,000

    Total Number of Credits in Program: 40
    Minimum total tuition costs based on 2024-2025 credit rate of $1,100 per credit.
    Note: Tuition increases each academic year.


Our Elementary MAT program is approved and accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) and by the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC).

Learn More About Our Elementary Teacher Program

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