Curriculum & Instruction Program Overview
The M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction (C&I) is a non-licensure master's degree within the Teaching, Curriculum, and Society department. The degree consists of two required courses, four curriculum and instruction courses, four electives, and a Master's Comprehensive Exam.
For more information on each of the aspects of the degree program, please see below or select the appropriate link.
If you continue to have questions, please contact the Graduate Student Services team (gadofc@bc.edu).
The Program Director oversees the M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction. Prior to being assigned a faculty advisor, you can reach out to your Program Director with any questions related to your program. They are a great resource as you move through your program.
Each student is assigned a Faculty Advisor. Your advisor will help you choose your courses and plan your Program of Study. They will provide guidance about course waivers, transfer credits, and leaves of absence, as needed. Additionally, they are a great resource to discuss your career and long-term plans as well as your goals for the program and should be your main point of contact once assigned.
Faculty Advisor
Special Education, Cognative and Social Development
It is crucial to stay in contact with your faculty advisor as you move through your program. Please schedule regular meetings to discuss academic and professional plans. This includes drafting your Program of Study for review, sharing details about your career goals, discussing academic options (substituting a course, taking a course outside of BC, transferring credits, etc.), and checking in to ensure you are meeting program milestones.
Not sure who your Faculty Advisor is?
Email the Graduate Office (gadofc@bc.edu) and our team is happy to connect you with your advisor.
The Graduate Student Services team supports students with everything from course registration and financial aid, to general Program of Study and student support. Please contact us with any questions and continually monitor your email for important communication from our office.
Carolyn Looker
Graduate Financial Aid
Kaitlyn Solano
Graduate Student Services
Bella Esposito
Graduate Student Support
Carolyn McDonald
Graduate Student Services
Not sure who to reach out to?
Our team manages different inboxes that are the fastest way to get in touch.
General Student Inquiries: gradoffice@bc.edu
Graduate Student Support: gsehdstudentsupport@bc.edu
Registration Requests: lynchgradcourseregistration@bc.edu
Financial Aid Questions: gsoe@bc.edu
Please review the appropriate Program of Study for your program. Please see Programs of Study for more information on how to complete and submit your final Program of Study.
An explanation of your required courses can be found below:
The two required courses in the C&I degree are the two theory courses:
EDUC7421 Theories of Instruction
EDUC7436 Curriculum Design and Enactment
Students should plan to take at least one of these courses in their first semester of the program. It is not recommended to take both theory courses in the same semester but students should aim to take both of them within their first two semesters of the program.
Students must take four courses within the Teaching, Curriculum, and Society department. These courses are the Curriculum & Instruction courses and begin with the course code "EDUC". A listing of some of the most common Curriculum & Instruction courses can be found on the Course Offerings by Semester page.
Students also take four elective courses. These can be courses within the Teaching, Curriculum, and Society department, within the Lynch School's other departments (ELHE, APSY, FORM, MESA courses), or courses from throughout the University. These elective courses must be graduate level courses, level 5000 or greater.
Students cannot register themselves for a course outside of the Lynch School and must contact our Registration Team at lynchgradcourseregistration@bc.edu in order to register. Students should seek permission from the course instructor and forward the approval to the Registration Team in order to request to be registered.
Students may also elect to complete a concentration using their Curriculum & Instruction courses and their elective courses. The content of the courses you choose is up to you and your advisor. To help guide your elective choices, the Curriculum and Instruction program offers concentrations in six areas of study:
Catholic Education,
Educational Leadership,
Global Perspectives on Education,
Multilingual Literacy,
Special Education Practices, and
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).
Students may pursue up to two concentrations and are encouraged to pursue concentrations that align with their academic interests and career goals. Each concentration offers flexibility in course offerings to allow students to create an individualized Program of Study.
All C&I students must complete and pass the Master's Comprehensive Exam in order to graduate from the C&I program. The exam is offered during the fall and spring semester. It is held in February for the spring semester and October for the fall semester.
In order to complete the Master's Comprehensive Exam students must register for EDUC8100.01 in the semester they plan to complete the exam. Students are encouraged to complete the exam in their final semester in the program.
For more information regarding the comprehensive exam requirement, please review the Frequently Asked Questions.
Students can complete the exam in one of two ways, (1) the traditional exam or (2) the alternative comprehensive exam (ACE).
For the traditional comprehensive exam, all students address a single common question: “Identify a dilemma or problem related to teaching and learning that has emerged in your practice or during coursework. Using knowledge gained through your coursework, pose a solution to resolve the dilemma or problem.” Students will have one week to address this question in the form of a paper under 10 pages in length. The exam will be distributed through Canvas and students will be expected to submit their exam through Canvas as well. The exam is evaluated on the Comprehensive Exam Rubric.
The Alternative Comprehensive Exam (ACE) is an opportunity for students to draw upon some aspect of work they undertook while completing their master’s program and somehow expand upon that work. In some cases, students submit a proposal to an academic conference or journal or newsletter. Some students organize professional development sessions in some educational setting that seems appropriate, such as doing a session on culturally responsive pedagogy for members of their academic department. This can also be done as a collaborative endeavor, so you can build upon ideas a colleague has as well as your own and present your exam as a collaborative product. In order to pursue the ACE, students must identify a faculty sponsor and submit an ACE Proposal to the Graduate Office by the drop/add deadline of the semester they plan to complete the exam.
Please download the ACE Application and submit via the Forms Submission link.
It is important to note that M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction is a non-licensure program at the Lynch School. Students seeking to advance their Massachusetts license from the Initial level to the Professional level are advised to review the requirements outlined by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). According to state regulations, teachers need “at least 12 credits of graduate level courses in subject matter knowledge or pedagogy based on the subject matter knowledge of the Professional license sought”. Students should review the required SMKs outlined in the appropriate Massachusetts Curriculum Framework.