Identified as one of the seven premier teacher preparation programs in the nation, Trinity University’s five-year experience offers a combined baccalaureate and professional Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) degree.  Trinity’s program features preparation and certification at the following levels: Early Childhood-Grade 4 (EC-4), Middle Grades (Grades 4-8), High School (Grades 8-12), and All-Level certifications in Music, Art and Theatre Arts.  Interested students may earn a dual certification to teach grades 4-12 in a given subject area.  Supplemental certificates in All-Level Special Education and English as a Second Language (ESL) are also available to students who have completed a required undergraduate course sequence.  A complete list of subject-area certifications can be found here.

Trinity undergraduates intending to enter the M.A.T. program major in the subject(s) they plan to teach, and the B.A. or B.S. degree in an academic discipline is awarded at the completion of undergraduate studies. Students are encouraged to follow the undergraduate course sequence to gain valuable classroom experience and launch a successful teaching career.. While the vast majority of program applicants are recent Trinity University graduates, each year, a number of highly-qualified post-baccalaureate students from other universities are accepted into this elite, one-year graduate program. 

Following college graduation, students begin the M.A.T. program, a nationally-recognized, rigorous, one year program (three semesters) that begins with a summer session and concludes with spring commencement in May.  For matriculated students, the academic year begins in mid-July with six (6) semester hours of graduate-level courses in pedagogy, curriculum development, and professional leadership.  With the start of the traditional school year, students carrying a graduate course load of twelve semester (12) hours during the fall and spring semesters while simultaneously completing a near full-time (unpaid) clinical teaching internship in an elementary, middle or high school in the San Antonio-area.  During this year, students are supervised by a carefully identified and specially trained Mentor Teacher and the Trinity University faculty.  Due to the small cohort size (between 8 – 15 students), our faculty is able to offer students an exceptional amount of personal contact, support and supervision throughout this rigorous year of teacher preparation.

Upon completion of the fifth year, students receive a M.A.T. (Master of Arts in Teaching), a professional degree and earn their state certification to teach in a K-12 Texas public school. Trinity's Program in Teacher Education is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), and graduates who wish to obtain certification in other states benefit from this association.  Program graduates are in high-demand throughout Texas and the Department of Education prides itself on assisting 100% of its graduates to obtain teaching positions immediately upon graduation. 

To download a one-page fact sheet about the program, click here.

Students considering a career in education should demonstrate and possess the following dispositions:

• Respect for human diversity
• Willingness and capacity to learn
• Effective interpersonal relations
• Ethnical responsibility
• Adaptability
• Initiative and dependability