Social Sciences: Teacher Education Specialization, A.S.

CIP Code: 45.0101
NOVA Code: 8822

Offered through AL, AN, LO, MA, NOL, WO

Purpose: This curriculum prepares students to transfer to a four-year college or university teacher preparation program. It is specifically designed for students who plan to seek endorsement and licensure as teachers in PK-3, PK-6, middle school, or special education.

This degree program is designed to help students earn 47 of the required 57 endorsement course hours for a teaching license in elementary education for the state of Virginia. In addition, this degree program includes many of the required endorsement courses for licensure in middle school (any subject) and high school history and social sciences. Some of these universities will guarantee admission to graduates of this program who have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.5, earn at least a “C” in all English courses. Students are strongly encouraged to take the VCLA exam shortly after completing their 200-level English course. Students may want to take the Praxis CORE math exam after completing 9-12 hours of mathematics. The student, working directly with a NOVA Teacher Education Specialization advisor/counselor, should complete a transfer letter of agreement.

Two Years

1st Semester

Total 17 credits

2nd Semester

ENG 112 - College Composition II (3 CR.)
HIS 122 - United States History II (3 CR.) OR
PLS Elective (3 CR.) ³
ITE 115 - Introduction to Computer Applications and Concepts (3 CR.) OR
CSC 110 - Introduction to Computing (3 CR.) OR
EDU 280 - Technology Standards for Teachers (3 CR.)
Physical or Life Science Elective w/ Lab (4 CR.) ²
MTH 245 - Statistics I (3 CR.) ¹ or higher

Total 16 credits

3rd Semester

CST Elective (3 CR.) ⁴
ECO 201 - Principles of Macroeconomics (3 CR.) OR
ECO 202 - Principles of Microeconomics (3 CR.)
EDU 200 - Introduction to Teaching as a Profession (3 CR.)
ENG 200 - Level Literature Elective (3 CR.) ⁵
Open Elective (3 CR.) ⁶

Total 15 credits

4th Semester

Total 12 credits

Total credits for the A.S. Degree in Social Sciences with a Specialization in Teacher Education: 60 credits

¹Students should make choices after consulting with the Teacher Education Specialization academic advisor/counselor on the specific requirements at the four-year Virginia institution to which they plan to transfer. Credit will not be awarded for both MTH 261 and MTH 263 . Credit will not be awarded for both MTH 262 and MTH 264 .

2 Choose from BIO 101 , ENV 121 , GOL 105 , GOL 106 , CHM 101 , PHY 101 , or PHY 150 . The 2^nd science should be from a different discipline than the 1^st.

³Select from PLS 135 PLS 140 PLS 211 PLS 241 .

⁴Select from the following: CST 100 , CST 110 , CST 126 , or CST 229 .

⁵200-Level Literature Elective may be chosen from ENG 241 , ENG 242 , ENG 243 , ENG 244 , ENG 250 , ENG 251 , or ENG 252 .

⁶The open elective should be selected based upon the requirements of the senior institution to which the student plans to transfer. Examples of courses recommended by some of the universities that helped develop this curriculum include: foreign language, REL 231 or REL 232 .

⁷The humanities/fine arts elective may be chosen from ART 101 , ART 102 , ART 105 , MUS 121 , MUS 122 , REL 231 , REL 232 , PHI 101 , PHI 102 , SPA 201 , SPA 202 , FRE 201 , or FRE 202 .