Curriculum & Instruction M.Ed. Program Resources

M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction 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).

Core Courses

The two required courses in the C&I degree are the two theory courses:

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. 

Curriculum & Instruction Courses

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.

Elective Courses & Concentrations

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. For more information about the concentrations, please see the Program Page. 

Master's Comprehensive Exam

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). 

The Traditional Comprehensive Exam

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)

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. 

Professional Licensure in Massachusetts

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.