Admission Requirements
Individuals who are not currently enrolled at CU Boulder should apply for admission following Office of Admissions guidelines.
Students interested in the BA in Leadership and Community Engagement or in Education Studies should apply to the School of Education. These two degrees are non-licensure degrees and can be paired with another degree outside of the School of Education. Applicants interested in becoming qualified for licensure as a teacher, should apply either to the BA in Elementary Education (grades K-6) or to the BA in Middle and High School Teaching (grades 6-12). Applicants pursuing secondary teaching grades 6-12 must also complete a content area degree, often in the College of Arts and Sciences, and will indicate on their application which degree they intend to pursue. That degree will be added to their record once the student begins their program, after consultation with a School of Education academic advisor.
Undergraduate students currently enrolled in a degree program at CU Boulder must complete an intra-university transfer (IUT) application to be considered for admission to School of Education BA or licensure programs. All IUT applicants to licensure programs must meet with a School of Education advisor before their application will be processed. Non-licensure applicants are not required to meet with an advisor before applying but are strongly encouraged to do so. Details about IUT applications, including prompts for the required essay, are available on the School of Education website.
Individuals who have completed a baccalaureate degree at an accredited institution and wish to pursue secondary licensure only, may apply by following the “Post-BA Licensure Application” link on the School of Education website. Please note that post-baccalaureate licensure is only available for secondary licensure in mathematics, science and Spanish.
Personal statements are required of all applicants. Decisions are made holistically, with consideration to an applicant’s academic record as well as supplemental materials.
Transfer Credit
Coursework completed at another college or university will be considered for transfer credit in accordance with CU Boulder policies upon receipt of an official transcript from the credit-granting institution. Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, CLEP, and other approved examination credit will be evaluated in accordance with CU Boulder policies upon receiving an official score report from the examining organization. Courses evaluated as direct equivalents to other CU Boulder courses will satisfy the same requirements as if the student took the class at CU Boulder. Courses that transfer without direct equivalents may satisfy content or general education requirements.
Transfer credit typically cannot satisfy specific education requirements toward licensure. Education courses approved for transfer will typically go toward elective credit. Licensure programs will take at least two years to complete, regardless of the number of credits a student is able to transfer.
Associate’s Degrees from Colorado Community Colleges
Students who have completed an Associate of Arts (AA) or Associate of Science (AS) degree from a Colorado Community College will be exempt from School of Education general education requirements. However, licensed students may still be required to complete courses toward specifically-required content requirements.
Elementary Education majors who have completed the Colorado Community College AA in Elementary Education, a Degree with Designation for statewide transfer, can finish their Elementary Education degree at CU Boulder in four consecutive fall and spring semesters, provided they took world history as one of their electives as specified in the Colorado Department of Higher Education’s guide to electives for the Elementary Education degree. Students who completed the AA without taking the world history elective will need to take a world history class as part of their CU Boulder coursework.
Scholarships and Awards
The School of Education offers over 60 scholarships each year. Application instructions and step-by-step information is accessible through CU Boulder's scholarship application.
Students are eligible to apply for university-wide financial assistance through the Office of Financial Aid. State and federal programs are available for loan cancellation or forgiveness for Colorado teachers of certain subjects or who teach in designated schools serving students from low-income families. Information about these opportunities may be found at the School of Education Financial Aid and Scholarships page.
Graduation with Distinction
School of Education BA students who have a cumulative GPA of 3.75 or above upon graduation are awarded “Graduation with Distinction” honors. This designation will appear on the student’s transcript and diploma.
Academic Standards
School of Education students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with degree and/or licensure requirements detailed in the CU Boulder Catalog, the School of Education Student Handbook, and, if applicable, the School of Education Teacher Education Handbook. Students pursuing teacher licensure are in a professional program guided by a code of conduct and other requirements beyond classroom performance. A student not meeting professional licensure expectations may be subject to additional requirements or performance reviews even if they maintain satisfactory grades in their coursework, and may be transitioned to a non-licensure major if professional expectations are not fulfilled.
Academic Standing
Please see the Undergraduate Academic Records page for Academic Standing information. If you have questions about academic standing and related options, see your School of Education academic advisor.
General Education Requirements
The School of Education General Education (Gen Ed) curriculum consists of at least 40 credits in three basic categories of requirements: Skills, Distribution and Diversity. Courses used to fulfill the diversity requirements may also fulfill a distribution requirement, otherwise courses may not simultaneously fulfill more than one requirement. EDUC 3013 fulfills both the Social Science Distribution and the US Perspective Diversity requirements.
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Skills requirement: 9 credits (6 Written Communication [including one upper-division course], 3 Quantitative Reasoning and Mathematical Skills) plus a third-level proficiency in a world language other than English
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Distribution requirement: 31 credits (12 Arts & Humanities, 12 Social Sciences, 7 Natural Sciences and Natural Sciences lab)
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Diversity requirement: 6 credits (3 US Perspective and 3 Global Perspective)
The world language graduation requirement for the School of Education’s undergraduate BA programs is third-level proficiency in a modern or classical language (other than English). Students may fulfill this requirement by:
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Successfully completing three years of high school coursework in a single language, or
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Earning AP or IB credit for an appropriate third-semester college-level course that is part of a three-course sequence, or
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Passing, with a C- or better, an appropriate third-semester college-level course that is part of a three-course sequence, or
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Passing a CU Boulder approved language proficiency examination at third-level proficiency.
The world language area of the Skills requirement aligns with the School of Education's commitment to prepare graduates who are well equipped to serve the needs of all students and advocate for educational equity and justice in our increasingly diverse communities and schools.
Residency Requirement
School of Education undergraduate students must complete a minimum of 30 credit hours in coursework through the Boulder campus. Of these 30 credit hours, a minimum of 15 upper-division credit hours must be completed as a matriculated student in the School of Education. A maximum of 6 credit hours completed at other University of Colorado campuses can be counted towards the minimum 30 credit hours in coursework completed through the Boulder campus. Coursework completed through a CU Boulder-approved education abroad program will count towards the 30 credit hours in coursework though the Boulder campus.
Grading Policies
Passing Grades
Undergraduate teacher licensure candidates must earn a grade of C- or better for a course to fulfill degree requirements, skills requirements, or content requirements for elementary or secondary licensure. For elementary education candidates, whose content requirements are the same as their distribution requirements, this means that C- or better grades must be earned in courses fulfilling distribution requirements as well.
All undergraduate teacher licensure candidates must earn a grade of B- or better in their upper-division EDUC courses to progress through course sequences required for licensure. Courses in which grades of D+, D, or D- are earned may apply toward elective credit only.
Undergraduate majors in non-licensure programs must earn grades of C- or better in all courses applied toward major requirements. A grade of D- or better is required for all other courses applied toward non-licensure undergraduate majors (e.g., skills and distribution requirements, except the world language requirement as defined above).
Incomplete Grades
An incomplete (I) grade indicates that the student did not complete the requirements for the class by the end of the grading period for that semester, and has made a written agreement with the instructor for additional time to do so. Requests for incomplete grades must be initiated by the student and only when, for reasons beyond their control, the student is unable to complete the class requirements within the semester of enrollment.
To be eligible to request an incomplete grade in a course, a student must have
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satisfactorily completed at least 60% of all course requirements;
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a grade below the minimum grade required for that course to apply to degree or licensure requirements, calculating the missing coursework as zero.
If the instructor approves the request, the student and instructor should work together to generate a list of the outstanding work to be completed, its weighted value towards the final grade, and clear timelines for submission. The student must document the expectations on the Incomplete Grade Agreement Form, located on the School of Education website, and submit it for the instructor’s signature.
Submission deadlines should take into consideration time needed to read the materials and submit the grade change paperwork before university grading deadlines. The university allows up to one year to complete requirements, but the instructor may specify a shorter time period. If no updated agreement is in place and work is not submitted by agreed-upon deadlines specified in the agreement, the instructor will update the grade based on the work that has been submitted at that time. It is the student’s responsibility to keep track of their deadlines. If no update is submitted by the grading deadline of the semester one year after the semester in which the incomplete grade was earned, it will convert to an F grade per campus policies.
Pass/Fail and No-Credit Coursework
Coursework applied toward School of Education degree, minor, certificate, or licensure requirements may not be taken pass/fail or as a no-credit course. During the Spring 2020 semester, the Boulder campus created an exception to this policy due to the COVID-19 shutdown of in-person campus activities. In accordance with the requirements for passing grades described above, P+ grades, reflective of C- or better, are required for applicability to degree or licensure requirements for courses taken in spring of 2020.
Grade Replacement
Students may retake certain courses for grade replacement in accordance with university policies.
Grade Changes
To request a change in grade status after published deadlines (e.g. pass/fail to letter grade), you must complete and submit a School of Education Petition Form, located on the School of Education website. Please contact your primary academic advisor for details.
Attendance Policy
The education discipline is collaborative, therefore classroom presence and engagement is critical to appropriately reach a class’s learning goals. Classes may have a maximum number of absences after which work cannot be made up and the course is automatically failed, regardless of the nature of or reason for the absence. Each course’s attendance policies and expectations for make-up work will be clearly outlined in its syllabus.
Student Grievance Policy
The School of Education Student Grievance Procedure is intended to provide a procedure for the resolution of disputes between students and faculty or staff of the School of Education, as well as procedures for handling student disciplinary matters. Please consult the School of Education’s Student Handbook for the grievance procedures, located on the School of Education website. Any question about these procedures should be directed to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate and Teacher Education.
If you have a grievance with an individual faculty member, the first step is to speak directly to the faculty member about your concerns. However, if you feel that this would put your safety or wellbeing at risk, or if this doesn’t resolve the issue, please meet with your academic advisor.
Your academic advisor will help you navigate this process. If the complaint involves your academic advisor, the Director of Advising can support you in this process. Students in INVST Community Studies should first go through that program’s grievance procedures.
Advising
Academic advisors are students’ primary point of contact in the School of Education, and students should maintain regular contact with their assigned advisor, including meeting at least once per semester, to ensure that they maintain progress toward graduation and licensure requirements, if applicable. Undergraduate majors will have a hold placed on their record several weeks before their assigned registration date each term, and must meet with their advisor before they will be allowed to register unless otherwise exempted. Students in secondary teacher education programs (for teaching grades 6-12), who are also completing a major outside the School of Education, should maintain contact with advisors from the School of Education and from the School, College, or Department where their content-area major is located. In addition to working with their advisor(s), students should familiarize themselves with all policies and deadlines.
Students may make appointments with an advisor through Buff Portal Advising or by emailing edadvise@colorado.edu. More information is available on the School of Education's Advising webpage.
Graduation
Students wishing to graduate at the end of a term must submit an online application to graduate in Buff Portal, meeting all appropriate application deadlines published by the Office of the Registrar. Students who do not apply to graduate will not have degrees conferred, regardless of completion of requirements, and must apply to graduate for a future term.
Both the university and the School of Education hold graduation ceremonies only at the end of the spring semester. The School of Education spring ceremony is open to School of Education majors, minors, and certificate students who graduate that semester, as well as those who graduated in the previous fall or summer and those who will graduate in the subsequent summer or fall. The ceremony is also open to students pursuing teaching licensure who complete their student teaching in the spring or the previous fall semesters, regardless of the term in which they graduate (if different).
Students who apply to graduate but do not fulfill all degree requirements by the deadline for that term/year must submit a new online graduation application for the term in which they will fulfill remaining requirements.