Secondary Mathematics Major
This program provides undergraduate students with a robust and appropriate set of courses that will prepare them for teaching in the high school setting. The Mathematics major will prepare students for the state of Illinois Professional Educator License (PEL) with a Secondary Subject-Matter Endorsement.
This program and its associated major, minor, and concentration coursework is offered in both blended and online formats.
Program Learning Outcomes:
PLO1. Apply knowledge of self, students, curriculum, content, and effective instruction to develop appropriate learning outcomes and design activities that meet diverse learner needs, including racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds.
PLO2. Develop formative and summative assessments to engage learners in their own growth, monitor learner progress, and use data to guide the teacher's and learner’s decision-making.
PLO3. Demonstrate practices that view and value students as individuals within the context of their families and communities, and demonstrate respectful and responsive interactions with students that motivate, support, and advance their development and learning.
PLO4. Establish an asset-based learning environment of high expectations that centers learning around students’ experiences and positions them as co-creators, disrupting previously held beliefs or models of education that have underserved historically marginalized students.
PLO5. Engage students in learning through effective use of intentionally selected technologies, emphasizing flexibility and adaptability in the use of digital tools.
PLO6. Use feedback from a variety of stakeholders to continuously improve professional practice. PLO7. Develop information literacy and civic-mindedness in students through explicit instruction in the evaluation of sources, critical analysis, and authentic application.
PLO8. Use culturally responsive communication to collaborate with colleagues, families, and community members toward the goal of sharing responsibility for student success and wellbeing.
PLO9. Demonstrate culturally responsive methodologies of Mathematics instruction in middle and secondary grade classrooms, including classrooms using a multi-disciplinary approach to Mathematics instruction that incorporates Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) studies.
Admissions Requirements:
Admission to the B.A in Secondary Education program is a two-step process. In the first step, students are admitted to National Louis University with a preliminary admission status in the B.A in Secondary Education program. In the second step, students must be admitted to the licensure program which updates the admission to fully admitted status in the B.A in Secondary Education program. Students must be admitted to the licensure program before beginning their Student Teaching in Secondary Education course (SEC 470).
Licensure Program Admission Requirements:
- Achieve junior standing (90 quarter hours or more)
- Achieve a GPA of 2.5 or better on all previous coursework, with grade of "C" or better in all courses
- Creation of account in the Educator Licensure Information System (ELIS)
Program Details:
- Requires 180 QH including 60 QH of General Education for completion
- Requires completion of all courses in the program with a grade of "C" or better, with the exception of SEC 470, which must be completed with a grade of "B" or better
- Demonstrate a 3.0 GPA or greater on a 4.0 scale
- Requires completion of the following courses at NLU: EDU 351, SEC 377, SEC 400, SEC 410, SEC 470, and STEM 415
- Requires successful completion of necessary program assessments, including the professional disposition assessment
- Credit for Prior Learning may be accepted for EDU 200
- Candidates are required to complete Educator Preparation Mathematics Minor as part of the Secondary Education degree requirements in order to qualify for Mathematics endorsement
- Candidates may complete one of the concentrations listed below:
Required Courses
General Education Requirements
Communications
The following courses are recommended:
| ENG 101 | Beginning English Composition | 5 |
| ENG 201 | Intermediate English | 5 |
| ENG 203 | Effective Speaking for the Undergraduate | 5 |
Note: Students transferring credit from other institutions or applying coursework previously completed at NLU may use any three general education courses in the following disciplines: academic writing, oral communications, and any course in the area of communications.
Humanities and Fine Arts
| ART 105 | Race, Identity and Experience in American Art | 5 |
| HIS 103 | History Across the Globe | 5 |
Note: Students transferring credit from other institutions or applying coursework previously completed at NLU may use any two general education courses in the following disciplines:
- Humanities: foreign language, history, literature, philosophy, religious studies, interdisciplinary humanities and fine arts, interdisciplinary humanities and social sciences
- Fine Arts: visual arts (including art history, art appreciation, and studio arts, such as drawing, painting, digital art, or film), film and cinema studies, and performing arts (including music appreciation, music theory, and music performance, theatre appreciation and performance, and dance)
Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Choose three courses from the list below (one must be math and one must be a natural science):
| MTH 101 | Introduction to Mathematical Concepts | 5 |
| MTH 102 | Statistical Foundations | 5 |
| MTH 103 | Precalculus/Integrated Math Concepts | 5 |
| SCI 101 | Physical Science | 5 |
| SCI 105 | Environmental Biology with Lab | 5 |
Note: Students transferring credit from other institutions or applying coursework previously completed at NLU may use any three general education courses in the following disciplines:
- Mathematics: college-level and not developmental in nature
- Natural Sciences: physics, chemistry, earth science, astronomy, geology, physical geography, biology, human anatomy and physiology, microbiology, genetics, botany and zoology; and interdisciplinary fields such as environmental science, and ecology and conservation
- Mathematics or Natural Sciences
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Choose two courses from the list below:
| HIS 102 | Civics and American Government | 5 |
| EDU 200 | Applied Educational Psychology | 5 |
Note: Students transferring credit from other institutions or applying coursework previously completed at NLU may use any two general education courses in the area of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the following disciplines: anthropology, economics, geography, history, human geography, political science, psychology, sociology, interdisciplinary social/behavioral science, interdisciplinary humanities and social and behavioral science.
Program Specific General Education Requirements
| EDU 200 | Applied Educational Psychology | 5 |
| EDU 220 | Children’s Literature for Educators | 5 |
| EDU 305 | Equity in Education | 5 |
| MTH 103 | Precalculus/Integrated Math Concepts | 5 |
Career Development Requirements
First-time Freshman
| CAR 214 | Creating and Communicating the Professional Brand | 5 |
| GEN 103 | Student Success Seminar | 5 |
Program Requirements - 70 QH
| EAL 400 | Educational Foundations for Learning English as an Additional Language | 5 |
| EDU 210 | Educational Philosophy- A Historical Account | 5 |
| EDU 301 | Adolescent Development | 5 |
| EDU 351 | Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in Middle and Secondary Education | 5 |
| MTH 211 | Calculus and Analytic Geometry I | 5 |
| MTH 212 | Calculus and Analytic Geometry II | 5 |
| MTH 215 | Calculus and Analytic Geometry III | 5 |
| SEC 377 | Literacy in the Middle and Secondary Content Areas | 5 |
| SEC 400 | Methods of Teaching Math in Middle and Secondary Education I | 5 |
| SEC 410 | Methods of Teaching Math in Middle and Secondary Education II/Practicum | 5 |
| SEC 470 | Student Teaching in Secondary Education | 10 |
| SPE 401 | Introduction to Special Education and Methods of Teaching Students with Disabilities | 5 |
| STEM 415 | Inquiry-Based STEM Topics in Secondary Math Education | 5 |
Educator Preparation Mathematics Minor - 30 QH
| MTH 217 | Multivariable Calculus | 5 |
| MTH 308 | Probability and Statistics | 5 |
| MTH 315 | The History of Mathematics: A Problem-Solving Approach | 5 |
| MTH 320 | Elementary Differential Equations | 5 |
| MTH 420 | Discrete Mathematics | 5 |
| MTH 410 | Linear Algebra | 5 |
Secondary Education Student Teaching Enrollment Requirements
Admission to and continuance in student teaching are contingent on the following actions.
Candidates must:
- Be accepted into the Undergraduate College of Educator Preparation Licensure Program (see above).
- File, by the designated deadline, the Office of Field Experience Application for student teaching.
- Pass the Secondary Education Content Area Tests prior to SEC 410, per ISBE requirements.
- Complete all of the licensure courses except for SEC 470 (Student Teaching) with a grade of "C" or better.
- Successfully complete necessary program assessments, including the professional disposition assessment.
Graduation and Licensure Requirements:
Completion of the degree requires the following be met:
- All courses leading to licensure must have a grade of "C" or better, except for SEC 470: Student Teaching.
- Pass SEC 470: Student Teaching with a "B" or better.
- Have an overall GPA of 3.0.
- Achieve a satisfactory rating on all field assessments during student teaching demonstrating knowledge, skills and dispositions to teach Secondary Education.
Completion of the Professional Educator License, awarded by ISBE, requires the above, as well as the following:
- Earn a passing score on the appropriate content test.