Neag: Education Students Can Now Double Major

UConn teacher education students in the Neag School of Education now have the option of participating in a newly instated dual degree program.

These students can earn a degree in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, School of Fine Arts or College of Agriculture and Natural Resources as well as an education degree without having to take the additional 30 credits that were previously required by university policy.

This program was established through the collaborated efforts of the Teachers for a New Era Project and the University Senate.

This new option will mean that "essentially, students will be able to double-dip, meaning if a course was required to be a math education teacher and it was required to be a math major, they could use it both ways," according to Scott Brown, a professor of educational psychology.

"And the goal is to be able to have students take more content courses and have a deeper conceptual understanding of the areas that they'll be teaching," Brown said.

Students will have the same coursework as those non-education majors who are studying in their respective fields, but the course credits will count toward both degrees, making the process much more efficient.

The program, which is optional, is only open to teacher education students, not all those that are enrolled in the Neag School such as kinesiology majors. The program has already started, and there are students that are already on the path to graduate with these dual degrees.

"It will help prepare teachers better," Brown said, noting that the program will focus on readying its students so that there may be a "qualified teacher in every classroom."

"The recent approval of the dual degree program for the School of Education will be a great asset for the school and its students," said Jose Machado, an 8th-semester history education major. "Although in its infancy, it has the potential to better prepare the well-regarded students, bringing with it greater acknowledgment to the already highly accredited program."

"I think [the program] is a good idea but I also think that it's a little bit confusing as to the reasoning behind why some people should get [the opportunity] and some should not and I think that it's more beneficial for incoming students," said Emily Giannotta, a 6th-semester elementary education major. "As a junior in the program, it's not really beneficial to me because … I haven't taken the courses and I wasn't really prepared to get it as I was coming in."

The Neag School, named as New England's top public graduate school of education by the U.S. News and World Report, is one of the few schools in the country to offer such an opportunity to teacher education majors.

Contact Alissa Letkowski at

Alissa.Letkowski@UConn.edu.