Information about our program is easily available by contacting Dr. Giza. The MTA office telephone number is 915-747-8420.

We will keep adding information on the program status to this page and to other pages of the website. Keep checking HERE for the latest updates.

Applying for Graduate School at UTEP

Applying for graduate school at UTEP is an essential part of the process for participating in the UTEP Master Teacher academies program (the UTEP THECB MSSTPA Cycle 3 program).

Here is the link to the UTEP Graduate School for Teacher Education Although you may not need to contact them in this application process, for your convenience we are providing contact information for the UTEP graduate school:
Attention Ignacio Ronquillo
UTEP Graduate School
Academic Services Bldg., Room 223
500 West University Ave.
El Paso, TX 79968-0566
Phone (915)-747-5491, through e-mail at gradschool@utep.edu

1. Who is eligible for the UTEP College of Education Master Teacher Program?

2. What benefit does a teacher get out of the program at the end of the two years?

3. What is Master Teacher Certification and how is that different from a Masters degree?

4. In Texas a certified teacher may usually "challenge" another certification area and receive certification by simply taking and passing the appropriate test. Can I do this for Master Teacher Certification?

Q01: Who is eligible for the UTEP College of Education Master Teacher Program?

A01: Texas Teachers from three districts (Canutillo ISD, El Paso ISD, and Ysleta ISD) that have Texas teaching certification and assignment in either mathematics, science, or technology for at least two years are eligible. In addition, they must be nominated by their district because the district commits to supporting them in a variety of ways that complement and supplement the support from the Master Teacher Academies program. The nomination process varies slightly from district to district, but teachers who are interested may use the contact information included farther down this page to initiate the process. Secondary teachers holding Texas mathematics, science, or techapps certification and who are assigned to teach in those fields are the primary target audience, but middle school science, mathematics, or technology teachers are also eligible. Eligibility of elementary teachers is more difficult to rationalize...although mathematics, science, or technology coaches who specialize in these fields and who are assigned to teach these fields in an elementary school setting would be an appropriate fit for the program.

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Q02: What benefit does a teacher get out of the program at the end of the two years?

A02: A participating teacher who follows the program successfully ends up exiting the program with three important benefits: (1) They will have completed all of the coursework required for Master Teacher Certification from a Texas State Board of Education approved Master Teacher preparation program. They will be eligible to take the Master Teacher certification test and if they pass it, apply for Master Teacher Certification with the State of Texas. (2) They will have completed roughly one-third of the coursework towards a Masters of Education degree from the UTEP College of Education. (3) They will have received a series of content-related workshops that complement the graduate education courses and train them in areas such as multi-disciplinary science-mathematics-technology connections; teaching STEM content to special needs populations; integrating robotics, podcasting, and cyber-resources in STEM teaching, etc. They will also have had their tuition paid for between four and six graduate courses over the two years, and have received $120 per year support for textbooks, a small stipend for each workshop, and approximately $400 in technology such as probes, data collectors, robots, etc.

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Q03: What is Master Teacher Certification and how is that different from a Masters degree?

A03: The common term "Master" leads to a regular confusion between a Master Teacher Certificate and a Masters of Education Degree. One is a teaching credential (Master Teacher), the other is an academic diploma (Masters of Education). Texas provides a special category of teaching certificate for Master Teachers in four content areas: reading, mathematics, science, and technology. To be eligible for this "post-baccalaureate certificate" a teacher must already hold a Texas teaching certificate and have taught for at least two to three years (depending on content area). The Master Teacher must take a series of courses from an SBEC-approved program (such as the one at UTEP) and take an additional certification test at the completion of the program. Many Master Teachers are eligible for an extra salary stipend that districts may award if that district has met the requirements and has applied for it. Master Teachers often work as department chairs or mentors or content-leaders on a campus, depending on district need. A holder of Master Teacher Certificate is referred to as either a Master Mathematics Teacher (MMT), a Master Science Teacher (MST), a Master Reading Teacher (MRT), or a Master Technology Teacher (MTT). As a group they are often referred to as M-dot-Ts or M*Ts, or simply MTs. The UTEP Master Teacher Academies restricts its focus to Master Science, Mathematics, or Technology Teachers.

The UTEP Master Teacher Program intentionally uses the same specialization courses for Master Teachers as it does for a person pursuing a Masters Degree in Education (for an Educational Specialist in Mathematics, Science, or Educational Technology). If you pursue both programs (MT certification and a Masters Degree) your core courses count towards both programs. MT coursework makes up approximately a third of the total coursework for Masters Degrees in the Educational Specialist field, and it is a great way to advance along both paths simultaneously.

Interested parties may find the Texas law that defines Master Teachers in Texas TAC Title 19, Part 7, Chapter 239, Subchapter E (http://info.sos.state.tx.us/pls/pub/readtac$ext.ViewTAC?tac_view=5&ti=19&pt=7&ch=239&sch=E&rl=Y).

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Q04: In Texas a certified teacher may usually "challenge" another certification area and receive certification by simply taking and passing the appropriate test. Can I do this for Master Teacher Certification?

Challenging a certificate is not possible for Master Teacher Certification. Eligibility to take the exam for this certificate is only awarded after passing a rigorous set of courses and activities offered by a very few approved programs in the State of Texas. UTEP Teacher Education is one of those very few approved programs. The Master Teacher Academies program offered by UTEP Teacher Education has been developed to make MT certification more easily obtainable by teachers from the partner districts in the El Paso region.

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