Program Description

The overall goal of Show Me Multiliteracy is to provide access to affordable, customizable, state-of-the-art English language teacher training to better the educational outcomes of the language minority student population within the Ozarks region. The Missouri K-12 ELL Endorsement provides a 30-hour graduate-level experience for in-service teachers in Missouri. Additionally, there is an extended service learning project coupled with teacher inquiry that focuses on educators’ felt difficulties and the systematic implementation of current best practices.

Details

The Show Me Multiliteracy grant program provides tuition and fees for participants to receive 30 hours of graduate-level coursework. When participants complete the grant program, they will have both a TESOL Certificate through MSU (this will show up on students' transcripts) AND the K-12 ELL Endorsement through DESE (this will show up on students' teaching certificates).

In addition, participants may choose to take two additional courses (6 credit hours) to complete the MSIS degree. One of these courses may be covered by the grant while the other course will be self-pay. This is completely optional and up to the participant.

Length of the program

The endorsement on average will take two years to complete with TESOL courses generally lasting 8 weeks each.

Course delivery method

The program is delivered 100% online, except for the TESOL practicum (completed in your own classroom).

Entrance criteria

To be considered for the grant scholarship program, applicants must meet the following minimum criteria:

• The applicant is a certified K-12 teacher in the state of Missouri.
• The applicant is currently employed by a partner district school. Partner districts are Branson R-IV Schools, Kansas City Public Schools, Monett R-1 School District, Neosho School District, North Kansas City Schools, and Springfield R-12 School District.
• The applicant currently has English learners in their classroom and will continue to have ELs in class throughout the duration of the scholarship program.
• The applicant has a minimum 3.0 from their undergraduate program or the most recent 60 hours of combined undergraduate and graduate coursework.
• The applicant has demonstrated, through written explanation, that they are prepared to meet the rigors of the program.

The above constitutes minimum eligibility for the Show Me Multiliteracy program scholarship. Only applicants who meet all five eligibility criteria may be reviewed for consideration of a scholarship in the program. Note: eligibility for the scholarship is not the same as eligibility for admission into the TESOL Graduate program.

Cohorts

• Cohort I (Fall 2022 - Summer 2025)
• Cohort II (Spring 2024 - Summer 2026)

Benefits

• Complete TESOL Certificate (15 credit hours) - awarded through MSU
• Complete K-12 ELL Endorsement (15 additional credit hours on top of TESOL Certificate) - awarded through DESE

Missouri K-12 ELL Endorsement Requirements

21 credit hours in TESOL:

Course Code	Course Title	Credit Hours
ENG 605	Methods in TESOL	3
ENG 688	Sociolinguistics for Language Teaching	3
ENG 690	Grammatical Analysis	3
ENG 691	Linguistic Theory	3
ENG 695	Principles of Second Language Acquisition	3
ENG 696	Materials and Assessment in TESOL	3
ENG 697	Practicum in TESOL	3

9 credit hours in Special Education and Reading:

Course Code	Course Title	Credit Hours
SPE 310 or SPE 715	Education of the Exceptional Child	3
LTC 474 or LTC 710	Teaching Reading and Writing	3
LTC 574 or LTC 640	Instructional Interventions for Students with Reading Difficulties	3

See a sample Degree Plan.