The M.A. Program in English Education is designed to prepare candidates to serve as curriculum leaders or master teachers. The students who enter the program are already teachers who want to engage in a process of professional development and to prepare themselves for more responsibility as educators. The program requires 30 hours of graduate course work and a written comprehensive exam. No thesis is required.

The only required course in the M.A. program is the M.A. Seminar in English Education, a course offered every fall semester at a time in the evening when practicing teachers can attend class. Candidates design the rest of their program themselves, in consultation with their advisor. They are free to choose courses from the wide range of offerings in the College of Education and in the English Department, but they can also choose courses in related disciplines such as Psychology, Anthropology, and American Studies. Candidates who are teaching full- or part-time can complete their programs over several years, taking courses in the evenings and in the summers as their schedule allows. Candidates who are not currently teaching can usually finish their programs within 3 or 4 semesters.