The MAT Program at St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Academic Overview

Mission Statement of The Department of Educational Studies 

The mission of the Department of EDST is to prepare informed citizens, teachers, and parents about key educational issues.  Research and theory inform our conversations about equitable educational opportunities. We explore the needs of a diverse learner population. Our students link theory to practice in real classrooms in local schools.

Mission Statement of the MAT Program

The mission of the MAT program at SMCM is to prepare ethical, effective professionals who respond to the needs and advance the learning of all students. Our graduates are proficient at evidence-based practices that make the most difference in student learning, and can assess their own teaching and their students’ learning. They establish professional relationships and support students to learn, grow, and thrive.

Vision of the Department of Educational Studies

The Department of Educational Studies contends that student success and well-being in diverse environments requires professionals who are knowledgeable, effective, reflective, collaborative, and responsive. Graduates of our programs have been recognized regionally and nationally for their success and leadership in diverse learning environments.  The vision for the department is to be a leader in campus, local, regional, and global discussions about educational excellence and equity.

The Department of Educational Studies achieves this vision by:

• Offering instruction that identifies and models evidence-based practices in diverse environments and in support of diverse learners;

• Leveraging the essential tools of an honors curriculum in the liberal arts at both the undergraduate and graduate levels;

• Creating and synthesizing knowledge that informs our curriculum and supports educational insights locally, nationally and globally; and

• Engaging in meaningful partnerships that allow for true P-20 collaboration and model for students how to be ethical practitioners.

Educational Studies faculty and staff have engaged nationally and globally as teachers and scholars, ensuring access to and success in diverse learning environments with diverse learners.  Department members have established a highly collegial working relationship that nurtures teaching, scholarship, and service to support and enhance our collective mission. We accept and create spaces for diversity in all of its forms.

Our partnership with our local school system is of paramount importance to our program. Using the Maryland Professional Development Schools Framework as a guide, we work with our school partners to ensure that teacher candidates are able to establish the practices and habits of mind associated with success as an educator. 

Values of the Department of Educational Studies

As a community of scholars, individually and collectively, we are committed to:

• fostering an environment of inclusive diversity in the Department of Educational Studies and all our classes and endeavors;

• recruiting and supporting students who come from groups that have been historically underrepresented in higher education and the teaching corps;

• improving graduates’ capacity to advance student learning and meet diverse school and community needs;

• meeting the educational and developmental needs of our graduates and maximizing their individual growth and learning while in our department;

• applying, synthesizing, and creating knowledge about teaching diverse learners in diverse environments; 

• ensuring that discourse is informed, deliberate, and respectful; and

• producing teachers who will continue professional learning and seek opportunities for recognition.  

In our programs of study, we are committed, individually and collectively, to:

• modeling research-based practices that are effective in diverse learning environments;  

• ensuring that our students are proficient users of educational technology;

• keeping our teaching relevant, useful, reflective, and responsive to the realities of modern classrooms;

• demonstrating an ethic of care and justice;

• integrating ongoing assessment into decision-making; and

• preparing our graduates to use effective, research-based pedagogy.

In our partnerships, we are committed, individually and collectively, to: 

• demonstrating transparency and mutual support;

• creatively solving problems to the benefit of all partner members; 

• creating multiple pathways to the teaching profession; and

• collaborating to support the development of new educational professionals. 

In our partnerships and learning communities, we are committed, individually and collectively, to:

• framing inclusion as an issue of access, equity, and individual success.  

• establishing professional, ethical relationships with all,

• promoting acceptance and tolerance of all.  

• rejecting efforts to oppress or marginalize learners and community members who hold a minority status, and actively challenging any attempts to marginalize members of our community. 

• ensuring that the knowledge, skills, and dispositions our students bring into learning environments align with the goal of inclusion for all.

MAT Program Goals

• MAT graduates will be ethical, effective professionals 

• MAT graduates will use relevant, evidence-based practices to enhance and assess student learning 

• MAT graduates will establish professional relationships and support students to learn, grow and thrive 

• MAT graduates will use research and theory to guide and assess their decision-making 

• MAT graduates will be able to recognize and respond to the needs of a diverse learner population.  

Program Learning Outcomes (MAT PLOs)

(The work of our students will be directly assessed against these 16 outcomes)

In order to become an ethical and highly effective professionals who positively respond to the needs of all learners, MAT graduates will:

• Be knowledgeable about the developmental, cognitive, linguistic, and social and emotional needs of learners (MAT PLO KS1) 

• Be knowledgeable of particular learner populations whose needs require specialized consideration in order to realize maximized learning (MAT PLO KS2). 

• Know how to develop and nurture inclusive, collaborative relationships in/in support of the learning environment (MAT PLO KS3).

• Be knowledgeable in the content/ subjects they teach (MAT PLO ET1)

• Be knowledgeable about key pedagogical principles that facilitate students’ learning and growth. (MAT PLO ET2)

• Know how to design and implement differentiated, culturally responsive teaching practice that meets content area goals. (MAT PLO ET3)

• Know how to assess student learning and adjust instruction. (MAT PLO ET 4)

• Know how to design, implement, and interpret research. (MAT PLO ET5)

• Know how to use technology to enhance student learning. (MAT PLO ET6)

• Be able to analyze the linguistic demands of content and of pedagogical materials and align them with students’ language skills. (MAT PLO ET 7)

• Effectively communicate in speech, including through technology-mediated means. (MAT PLO OPC 1)

• Effectively communicate in writing, including through technology-mediated means. (MAT PLO OPC 2)

• Know how to engage in reflective practice. (MAT PLO OPC 3)

• Value the principles of ethical practice. (MAT PLO OPC 4)

• Value the principles of inclusion. (MAT PLO OPC 5)

• Value the principles of professional growth/ continuous learning. (MAT PLO OPC 6)