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Sixth Year Certificate in
Agricultural Education
The sixth year
certificate is unique to the world of education. In some states and in
some universities there is a degree called the Educational Specialist.
This degree is sort of a bridge between the Master's degree and
Doctoral degree. It is for the individual who needs additional training
beyond the scope of the Master's degree. North Carolina State
University does not offer the Educational Specialist degree but has
permission from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction to
offer a 6th Year Certificate.
The
6th year
program is designed to produce formal leaders in the field of
education. Though course work and interaction with the faculty are
important in developing educational leaders, the individuals admitted
must bring evidence to the program that they indeed have the necessary
professional disposition and professional, content, and pedagogical
knowledge and skills to be education leaders. In order to be admitted
to the sixth year program, one must currently be in a teaching or
administrative position in the school system and hold a Master’s degree
in agricultural education. Individuals who earn their sixth year
certificate might pursue opportunities to become Directors of Career
and Technical Education for Local Education Agencies (LEA), work at the
Department of Public Instruction level, or be employed in similar
positions. Completion of the
program allows one to be paid at the "advanced" step of the state
salary schedule for teachers.
The
6th year program has specific course requirements; however it also has
some flexibility to allow individuals to select courses that are most
appropriate to their professional goals and aspirations. If a student
has completed a Master’s program at another institution and does not
have the core courses they would have completed in the NCSU Master’s
program, they are required to remedy these deficiencies.
The
6th year
program requires students to complete 24 hours of course work past the
Master’s degree. Students are required to take the following core
courses:
- AEE 507 Comparative
Agricultural and Extension Education (3 hours)
- AEE 534 Mentoring in
Agricultural and Extension Education (3 hours)
- AEE 560 Organizational and
Administrative Leadership in AEE (3 hours)
- AEE 620 Special Problems in
Agricultural and Ext. Education (3 hours). A research study focused
on the classroom or school will be required.
The
selection of elective courses will be dependent upon the professional
goals of the student.
The
culminating product of the 6th year program will be an expanded
professional portfolio. This will be similar to the portfolio presented
by the Master’s students with several exceptions. Each section of the
portfolio will be more in-depth than the Master’s level portfolio. The
focus will be broader than just a single classroom. At the Master’s
level, the portfolio tends to emphasize what the teacher does at the
classroom level. The 6th year student will be required to have
documentation that focus more on the school or LEA level. Additionally,
there will be two additional sections added to the 10 sections of the
portfolio. The first new section is titled "Research" and contains a
synopsis of the research the candidate conducted as part of the AEE 620
class. The other is titled “Enhancing Student Learning through Family
Involvement.” At the Master’s level this information is incorporated
into several different sections of the portfolio, particularly in
section 9. For the 6th year student, there is a separate section where
the candidate will document in detail how he/she has accomplished this.
The
application process involves submitting a letter of application stating
career goals and objectives, a professional resume, GRE scores, and
transcripts of previous collegiate work to the Director of Graduate
Programs in the Department of Agricultural and Extension education.
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