ED-MS - Education (MS)
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Program Overview
Coterminal Master’s Program in Education
The Graduate School of Education admits a limited number of students from undergraduate departments within the university into a coterminal master’s program. For information about the coterminal option through the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP), see the details under STEP. Students in a coterminal program receive a bachelor’s degree in their undergraduate major and a master’s degree in Education. Approval of the student’s undergraduate department and admission to the Graduate School of Education’s master’s program are required. Undergraduates may apply after completing at least 120 units toward graduation (UTG). The number of units required for the MA degree depends on the program requirements; see the Master’s Handbook for additional information.
Applicants may learn more about the GSE’s coterminal application process from the Graduate School of Education’s website. All coterm programs accept online applications.
University Coterminal Requirements
Coterminal master’s degree candidates are expected to complete all master’s degree requirements as described in this Bulletin. Coterminal Master's Degrees describes university requirements for the coterminal master’s degree. Graduate Degrees describes university requirements for the master’s degree.
After accepting admission to this coterminal master’s degree program, students may request a transfer of courses from the undergraduate to the graduate career to satisfy the requirements for the master’s degree. Transferring courses to the graduate career requires review and approval of both the undergraduate and graduate programs on a case-by-case basis.
In this master’s program, courses taken three quarters before the first graduate quarter or later are eligible for consideration for transfer to the graduate career. No courses taken before the first quarter of the sophomore year may be used to meet master’s degree requirements.
Course transfers are not possible after the bachelor’s degree has been conferred.
The university requires that the graduate advisor be assigned in the student’s first graduate quarter even though the undergraduate career may still be open. The university also requires that the Master’s Degree Program Proposal be completed by the student and approved by the department by the end of the student’s first graduate quarter.
Master of Arts and Master of Science Degrees in Education
The Graduate School of Education offers Master of Arts degrees in the following specializations:
● Curriculum and Teacher Education (CTE) (This is not a credentialing program; see STEP below.)
● Global and Comparative Education (GCE)
● International Education Policy Analysis (IEPA)
● Joint Degree with Graduate School of Business (MA/MBA)
● Joint Degree with Law School (MA/JD)
● Joint Degree with Public Policy Program (MA/MPP)
● Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies (POLS)
The Graduate School of Education offers Master of Science degrees in the following specializations:
● Education Data Science (EDS)
● Learning, Design, and Technology (LDT)
In addition, an MA degree with a teaching credential is offered in the Stanford Teacher Education Program.
Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP)
STEP is a 12-month, full-time program leading to a Master of Arts and a preliminary California teaching credential. STEP offers a Master of Arts in Education that prepares program graduates for careers as teachers in single or multiple-subject classrooms. STEP Elementary prepares students to become teachers in multiple-subject classrooms. STEP Secondary prepares students to become teachers of English, World Languages (French, Mandarin, Spanish), Mathematics, Science (biology, chemistry, earth science, physics), and History/Social Science. STEP seeks to prepare and support teacher candidates to work with diverse learners to achieve high intellectual, academic, and social standards by creating equitable and successful schools and classrooms.
The 12-month STEP year begins in June with a summer quarter of intensive academic preparation and placement in a local summer school. During the academic year, students continue their coursework and begin year-long field placements under the guidance of expert teachers in local schools. The Master of Arts and teaching credential require a minimum of 45 quarter units, taken during four quarters of continuous residency.
Stanford undergraduates who enroll in STEP through the coterminal program must complete their undergraduate coursework and have their bachelor’s degree conferred before beginning the STEP year. Coterminal STEP students graduate with a Master of Arts in Education and a recommendation for a preliminary California teaching credential.
Applicants to STEP Elementary are required to meet the basic skills requirement by one of the following methods: pass the California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST), an approved out-of-state basic skills exam, the CSET: Writing Skills, and achieve qualifying scores on the SAT, ACT or AP examinations, or undergraduate coursework. Applicants must also pass the California Multiple Subject Examination for Teachers (CSET) and the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment Test (RICA).
Applicants to STEP Secondary must meet the basic skills requirement by one of the following methods: pass the California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST), an approved out-of-state basic skills exam, and achieve qualifying scores on the SAT, ACT or AP examinations, or undergraduate coursework. Additionally, applicants must demonstrate subject matter competence in one of two ways:
1. by passing the California Subject Examination for Teachers (CSET) in their content area; or
2. by completing a California state-approved subject matter preparation program.
The GRE is not required for STEP external or coterminal applicants.
The Stanford Teacher Education Program website provides further information regarding admission requirements, coursework, and credential requirements,
Minimum Units in the Program
Minimum University Units
Minimum of 11 courses from the core curriculum including education data science courses (2 courses), statistics courses (2 courses), EDS seminar (6 courses), and the Education Internship Workshop (1 course).
Minimum of 3 courses for the Educational Foundation.
Minimum of 6 courses in at least 3 areas of data science specialization.
A minimum of 17 units must be completed for a letter grade.
A 3.0 GPA must be maintained for all courses applied to the master’s degree.
Students must enroll in a minimum of 8 units during Autumn, Winter, and Spring Quarters, and cannot exceed 18 units in any quarter.
Note: if you wish to maintain eligibility to receive financial aid (such as loans), you must enroll in at least 8 units during the academic year and at least 6 units during summer.
All courses must be at or above the 100 level – courses numbered below 100 do not count toward the MS degree.
At least 25 units must be at or above the 200 level (course and course count toward this requirement).
At least 30 units must be from courses offered by the Graduate School of Education (EDUC units).
English for Speakers of Other Languages (EFSLANG 600 level) and Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation (ATHLETIC) courses cannot be applied toward the master’s degree.
EDS students will design a course of study in consultation with the Program Director to ensure individual training goals are met.
The goal of the EDS MS is to train the next generation of data scientists who have a substantive background and concern with educational topics. The requirements are aimed at accomplishing this goal, but we recognize students may come in with more developed skills and background in certain areas and more room to grow in others. As a result, it may be advisable for students to request changes to course requirements, substituting various courses and building expertise where needed so as to make sure the EDS program trains students to be the best education data scientists possible. To this end, students can propose substituting certain course requirements after discussion, review, and approval by the program director so as to make sure training goals are satisfied. Requests for substitutions should be made through a petition form.
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Note: All course information is subject to change. Please consult ExploreCourses and Axess for final course offerings.
Education Internship Workshop
The Education Internship Workshop (course) is a course designed to support the EDS internship experience. Starting with a suitable internship agreement, students will explore personal learning goals, share experiences, reflect on their progress and development, and connect their internship to past and future academic coursework with fellow EDS and other GSE students.
Education Data Science Seminar
Each quarter during the first year, students will enroll in a 1-3 unit seminar course (EDUC 259A-C) designed to introduce emerging topics in the field of education data science, review and discuss relevant developments and topics. The seminar includes community building, guest speakers, student-led programming and learning, and working towards an EDS Seminar Paper (first year). In the second year of the program, seminar sessions (EDUC 259D-F) will focus on student Capstone Projects, providing an opportunity for collaboration and feedback, and time for final presentations of projects in the final quarter.
Introduction to Education Data Science
course “Introduction to Data Science: Data Processing" and course “Introduction to Data Science: Data Analysis” are a sequence of two courses that focus on working with education data. The first course focuses on how you can thoughtfully assess, manage, clean, and represent data. The second course moves to an overview of various data science techniques to understand social phenomena (supervised and unsupervised learning). Students may substitute EDUC423A and EDUC423B with more advanced data science courses or more Education Foundation courses by petitioning a substitution request to the Program Director. This petition must be submitted before the start of EDUC 423A and EDUC 423B (Autumn and Winter Quarter of the first year, respectively). The petition can be found on the GSE's current student website.
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Students will be required to take two courses in statistics in order to employ these analyses in their data science courses later in their course of study.
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Students must develop substantive breadth and depth in data science skills. To this end, students will complete three of five available tracks, each composed of two courses (see below). The areas of concentration offered are Natural Language Processing, Network Science, Experiments & Causal Methods, Measurement, and Learning Analytics. These courses are established courses at Stanford University and will allow for interprofessional education of GSE students and graduate students from other departments.
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Non-fluent speakers of English are strongly encouraged to take one of the following writing courses.
All courses must be at or above the 100 level. Courses numbered below 100 do not count toward the master’s degree.
At least 23 units (half of the total minimum units) must be at or above the 200 level. course and course count toward this requirement.
At least 30 units must be from courses offered by the Graduate School of Education (EDUC units).
At least 15 units must be taken for a letter grade (as opposed to Credit or Satisfactory).
A 3.0 GPA must be maintained for all courses applied to the master’s degree.
All students must enroll in a minimum of 8 units during Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarters and cannot exceed 18 units in any quarter (exception: HCP students take 3-7 units)
LDT students are required to register for exactly 6 units in Summer quarter. The remaining 39 units need to be completed in Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarters.
English for Speakers of Other Languages (EFSLANG 600 level) and Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation (ATHLETIC) courses cannot be applied toward the master’s degree.
See the “Coterminal Degree” section for unit requirements applying to students admitted through the coterminal degree program.
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Note: all course information is subject to change. Please consult ExploreCourses and Axess for final course offerings.
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Students must register for a minimum of one unit of Education Internship Workshop (course or equivalent) for at least two quarters during the year. A maximum of 9 internship units are accepted for the master's degree.
Recommended electives for LDT include a range of courses related to learners and education. Students may take electives from any department at Stanford, with advisor’s approval. Also, students are encouraged to approach professors for Directed Reading (course) on a topic of special interest to them.
The online Learning Portfolio consists of substantial work done during the year, together with a reflection on the learning represented by that work. The Master’s Project consists of a design project conceived and developed by the student. The project proposal and reports will include a description and analysis of the learning problem, the theoretical approach and research used to address it, the design proposal, prototypes, and learning assessments. The Master’s Project must be submitted to the student’s advisor for approval by the end of winter quarter and presented to the public late in the summer. Both the Learning Portfolio and the Master’s Project Report are due in summer quarter.
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At least one course about evaluation and research methods used in Education. Pre-approved courses are listed above (3 units minimum).
Choose at least one. Both are encouraged.
LDT students have first enrollment priority in EDUC 200B in Autumn quarter and third enrollment priority in Winter quarter.
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At least one course in which students learn and apply a user-centered design process. Pre-approved courses are listed above (3 units minimum).
Any course with the CS 147, 247, 347, or 377 prefix (e.g., CS 377U) may count towards the Design Process requirement.
Any full d.school course may be used to count towards the Design Process requirement.
Any “Design of Learning Experiences” course (listed below) can instead be used to count towards the Design Process requirement.
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Other courses by petition. Courses in other departments may be appropriate for certain subjects.
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At least two courses applying user-centered design to a learning problem. Pre-approved courses are listed above (6 units minimum). Students are highly encouraged to take more than two of these courses.
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At least one course examining technology from a critical, social, historical, or philosophical perspective (3 units minimum).
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