Admission Requirements

Your first steps

  1. Become a Bear: Apply to Missouri State.
  2. Before completing 60 credit hours, visit the Academic Advising and Transfer Center to declare or change your major to elementary education.

Elementary Education

Bachelor of Science in Education (Certifiable grades 1-6)

The curriculum for elementary teaching leads to the degree of Bachelor of Science in Education and carries with it an initial professional certificate (IPC) to teach in the state of Missouri. Holders of this elementary certificate may be employed to teach in grades 1-6.

Admission requirements

All students must be admitted to Teacher Education. Refer to Teacher Education for application procedures.

Degree requirements

In order to meet Missouri state teacher certification requirements, candidates for the Bachelor of Science in Education degree are required to meet the following grade point average requirements. All GPA requirements are a combination of Missouri State and transfer grades.

  1. a grade of “C” or higher in all courses listed under 1 and 2 below.
  2. a combined (Missouri State and transfer) GPA of 3.00 or higher across all courses and a grade of "B" or higher in each course listed under 4 below.

Additionally, students must earn a composite score or superscore of 20 or higher on the ACT or earn passing scores on all four sub-tests of the Missouri General Education Assessment (MoGEA) and successfully complete the Missouri Educator Gateway Assessments (MEGA) as established by the Missouri Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MoDESE).

All students must be admitted to Teacher Education and have successfully completed Supervised Teaching in order to earn this degree. Refer to Teacher Education for application procedures.

Pre-service teacher training experience (the 500's)

To assure an optimal pre-service teacher training experience and adhere to quality standards established by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MoDESE) and the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation, all students seeking the Bachelor of Science in Education – Elementary Education (grades 1-6 certification) are required to enroll in a 12 credit hour block of courses in the semester preceding supervised teaching. This block of courses includes ELE 500(4), ELE 501(2), ELE 510(3), ELE 530(2), and EDT 520(1). An extensive field experience in area public school classrooms is included in this block and students must commit two full school days to the field experience that semester which equates to 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Program requirements

  1. Specific courses required for major and/or certification which may be used to satisfy General Education Requirements:
    1. Focus on Written Communication (6 hours): ENG 110(3) and ENG 210(3) with a grade of "C" or higher.
    2. Focus on Quantitative Literacy: Completion of general education requirement with a grade of "C" or better. MTH 130(3) recommended with a grade of "C" or higher.
    3. Focus on Oral Communication: COM 115(3) with a grade of "C" or higher.
    4. Focus on Life Sciences: BIO 100(4) with a grade of "C" or higher.
    5. Focus on Physical Sciences: PHY 101(4) with a grade of "C" or higher.
    6. Focus on Social and Behavioral Sciences: PSY 121(3) or CFD 155(3) with a grade of "C" or higher.
    7. Focus on Cultural Competence: GRY 100(3) with a grade of "C" or higher.
    8. Courses used to meet the Focus on Humanities and the Focus on the Arts must have two (2) different course codes to meet state certification requirements with one (1) course from either Art or Music to meet state certification requirements. ART 200 or MUS 241 recommended with a grade of "C" or higher.
    9. Focus on Constitution of U.S. and Missouri and American History and Institutions: HST 121(3) or HST 122(3) recommended; and PLS 101(3) with a grade of "C" or higher.
  2. Degree Requirements for Teacher Certification (10 hours):
    1. Mathematics: MTH 320(3) and MTH 360(3) with a grade of "C" or higher.
    2. Earth Science: GRY 240(4) with a grade of "C" or higher.
  3. Area of Concentration (minimum 21 hours):
    Elementary Education majors are required by MoDESE to have a 21 hour area of concentration. The Elementary Education program has been structured to include an area of concentration with a minimum of 21 hours in communication arts. Therefore, no additional hours will be required to meet the area of concentration.
  4. Professional Education (65 hours): A grade of "B" or higher in each course is required.
    1. Foundations of Teaching: EDC 345(3), ELE 302(3); PSY 360(3); SPE 310(3).
    2. Teaching Methods: EDT 365(3), EDT 520(1), ELE 410(3), ELE 425(3), ELE 429(3), ELE 434(3), ELE 438(3), ELE 500(4), ELE 501(2), ELE 510(3), ELE 530(2), ENG 334(3), RDG 318(3), RDG 420(3), RDG 421(2).
    3. Supervised Teaching: ELE 495(6), ELE 496(6).
  5. Public Affairs Capstone Experience will be fulfilled by completion of ELE 500(4) and ELE 510(3).
  6. This program also requires compliance with Teacher Education for eligibility to enroll in Professional Education courses; admission to and continuance in Teacher Education; approval for supervised teaching; and recommendation for certification.

University level requirements

  1. General Education Program and Requirements
  2. General Baccalaureate Degree Requirements