A new graduate degree program at West Texas A&M University will offer convenience and efficiency for teachers looking to step into leadership roles in their school districts.

Registration is open now for the new master of education in leadership in curriculum and instruction. The program will replace the current master of education in curriculum and instruction, which will end Aug. 15.

As the addition of “leadership” in the program name suggests, the degree will help fill a specific need expressed by school districts around the area, said Dr. Betty Coneway, associate professor of education and chair of the graduate reading program.

“We have found that in our area, districts are wanting to hire professionals who have leadership experience and a principal certification,” Coneway said. “This program provides an opportunity for candidates to earn that certification, or they can choose to take a noncertification route, instead. Either way, this will fit the bill for what is needed in our workforce.”

Candidates who take the noncertification route will be prepared to take on leadership roles in a variety of educational settings.

The new program will take 30 hours to complete rather than the 36 hours required by the previous program, a compression made possible by embedding some of the practicum requirements within specific leadership courses.

“This allows candidates to apply what they are learning immediately in field-based assignments led by their instructors,” Coneway said.

Those instructors will include a pair of regional superintendents — Dr. Tanya Larkin of Pampa Independent School District and Dr. Nathan Maxwell of Ralls ISD — who will offer insight “from a practical, in-the-trenches perspective,” Coneway said.

The program will provide candidates with the skills and experience to lead schools in today’s ever-changing educational landscape, Larkin said.

“The flexibility to learn both leadership and a specialty area is exactly what our schools need,” Larkin said. “As a superintendent, I am looking for educators who are both knowledgeable in their respective content areas, but also bring a keen awareness of the big picture who can make decisions through a leadership lens which will have a greater impact on student success and the organization overall. This program provides me the opportunity to provide valuable insight and experience to the candidates from a practitioner’s perspective that will set them up for success and serve them well in their professional endeavors.”

The program will offer five emphasis areas — curriculum and instruction, literacy education, special education, early childhood education, or in a specific content field.

“The content area emphasis allows secondary teachers and K-12 teachers to obtain nine more hours in their field,” said Dr. Ashley Campbell, the Helen Piehl Professor of Education. “For example, a music teacher may obtain those hours in music, a biology teacher may choose those content hours in biology, and so on.”

The program can be completed 100 percent online. Students may take classes either full time or part time, and they may choose to begin classes in the fall, spring or summer.

Applicants must meet Graduate School admission requirements, have a 2.75 undergraduate GPA and previously have taken at least 18 hours of education courses.

Scholarships are available through the Graduate School.

A focus on the aspirations and needs of the Texas Panhandle is WT’s primary mission, as laid out in the University’s long-term plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

-West Texas A&M University