Adolescent and Young Adult Licensure (AYA)
Master of Arts in Education

Introduction
The graduate licensure program, utilizing master's level education courses and undergraduate content courses, is designed for qualified candidates to obtain Adolescent and Young Adult Licensure (AYA) in Integrated Math; Integrated Language Arts; Integrated Social Studies; Life Science and Life Science and Chemistry.

Program Structure
Entry and progression through the program will be gained as follows:

The Registrar will evaluate the student's transcript against the content requirements for the Defiance College AYA licensure program as approved by the State of Ohio. All content requirements not met through the review of the transcript need to be completed at the undergraduate level. Persons who are interested in this program should see the Head of Teacher Education for a copy of the Graduate Teacher Education Handbook. The handbook contains important information and forms.

Once admitted to the Master of Arts in Education Program, students must apply for admission to Teacher Education in order to complete the Graduate Adolescent and Young Adult Licensure Program. The Teacher Education Council conducts the review after the student has done the following:

1. Completed ED 501, 502, 504, 505, and 512 with a 3.0 or above GPA.
   
2. Submitted an application for admission to the Teacher Education Program.
   
3. Completed all content requirements with a 2.75 GPA in those courses.
   
4. Passed the appropriate Praxis II content test(s) at or above the Ohio required minimum scores
   
5. Written a goal statement articulating the reasons for pursuing teacher licensure through a graduate program.
   
6. Provided two letters of recommendation, one to attest to the academic competence of the applicant and the second to attest to the candidate's ability to work with people and to demonstrate appropriate interpersonal skills. (If appropriate, the student may use the letters that were used for admission to the Master of Arts in Education program.)
   
7. Provided a criminal record's check free from convictions that would negate obtaining an Ohio teaching license.
   

In addition to the required content core at the undergraduate level, students must also complete three additional graduate courses and 10 credit hours of student teaching at the undergraduate level. For students already employed as teachers, student teaching may be completed "on the job" as long as the teaching assignment is within the subject area(s) and grade levels covered by the license being sought.

There are a total of 27 credit hours required in graduate courses for licensure. These hours can be applied to the master's degree. The total number of professional education credit hours (graduate, undergraduate, and student teaching) needed to satisfy the requirements for the graduate AYA licensure is 37 credit hours plus any required content requirements. This will vary by student.

The following two courses are required for students in the Graduate AYA Licensure program.

• ED514 Application of Theory and Practice to Educational Environments
  
• ED558 Education of Diverse and Exceptional Learners
  

Also required is one course in content methods for the appropriate subject area.

• ED552 Content Methods for Teaching Math in Grades 7 to 12
  
• ED553 Content Methods for Teaching Science in Grades 7 to 12
  
• ED554 Content Methods for Teaching Social Studies in Grades 7 to 12
  
• ED555 Content Methods for Teaching English and Language Arts in Grades 7 to 12