Concordia University Texas – San Antonio

I am currently completing my MEd with Concordia in San Antonio and have had a mostly great experience so far. Initially, I heard about the school through another teacher I worked with who was in the program and knew I wanted to continue my education. With his encouragement, I applied and was quickly accepted, and the scheduling and pacing has worked very well for me– classes meet one night a week, Thursdays for me, for about four hours. Each course lasts 8 classes, and the entire program takes about two years, with some time off during the summer, and no class meetings during the winter break.
The only complication I had early on in my experience with Concordia was the location– I live and work in Alamo Heights, and their office being on Broadway was really convenient for my schedule and after school meetings. Unfortunately, after applying and being accepted, there weren’t enough applicants to the Curriculum & Instruction program at the Broadway location for them to open a class that semester, so I was asked to wait until the next semester or to pursue classes at another location. I did not want to delay, feeling as though I would be even less apt to go back if I put it off much longer, but to my dismay the only available location for the program was all the way on the other side of town at 1604 and Babcock, by Camp Bullis, As it turns out, I had further difficulties with the C&I program a year later due to lack of enrollment– with the state budget issues going on, many participants switched to Ed Admin rendering the few remaining students not a large enough group to constitute a whole program for that major. Seeing the benefits and hearing that I could go back and take the C&I courses at a later date, I went ahead and switched as well, but whether or not I’ll be able to take those classes remains to be seen. There was some miscommunication regarding the feasibility of getting a dual degree in education with two different specialities (which it turns out is not an option), due to some confusion when the dean of the SA location left and was replaced by Dr. Ramos. I have had some difficulty getting clear and correct information from him, but I have simply chalked it up to his being new at the position and it has never regarded anything particularly important.
That being said, the people are why I continue to go here. The majority of my cohort members work for NISD, and it was frustrating at the beginning of the program to hear so much about how great NISD is, but all of those teachers have a loyalty to their school district that is unmatched– and that kind of opinion towards your employer is hard to come by. I’ve tried to take the information I hear about NISD as it applies to what we study and discuss in class as typically a good example of how to do things. The staff at the school are very helpful and quick to resolve any issues or answer any questions that come up, and for the most part my instructors have been great– and you will likely have most of them for more than one class, as it turns out, allowing you to get to know them better and for them to understand your perspective in class discussions or assignments better.
Dr. Reza is very well organized for her classes and has a lot of thought-​provoking activities, particularly her final exams; Dr. Ewing is efficient at training for ILD and PDAS; Dr. Ray-​Blakely, who I have now and comes from a business background, also has very thought provoking activities for us to do; but by and large my favorite instructor has been Dr. Kenneth Rothrock, with whom we have had several classes and who supervised my principal practicum.
All in all, I have to highly reccomend this program for teachers wanting to complete their Masters in Education. Their programs also offer teacher certification for those new to the field, and principal certification for those wanting to move into administration. The school is also expanding their MBA program, for those who are business-​minded, and have a shorter program for Superintendent certification.
The best points I would like to emphasize about Concordia are the convenience (if you don’t have location issues like I did) — meeting one night a week is about as easy as it’s going to get. I know there are online programs, but I need face-​to-​face meetings to truly learn or to feel an obligation to put my best work forward, and I was able to get that from this school. A surprising amount of the learning comes not from the instructor or the texts utilized within the coursework, but through the discourse with other educators in your cohort reflecting on and applying the knowledge gleaned therein to the real world and specific situations we are working in.