College of Arts and Sciences

Secondary Education

  1. Home
  2. Academics
  3. Secondary Education

Why become a teacher at Appalachian?

Preparing quality educators is a cornerstone of Appalachian’s past, present and future. When it comes to teacher education, the state and region look FIRST to Appalachian for innovative instruction, faculty excellence and student success.

Appalachian offers one of the largest undergraduate teacher preparation programs in North Carolina, graduating approximately 500 teachers a year. With so many teacher education graduates working in the state, there is at least one graduate teaching in every county in North Carolina.

What is Secondary Education?

Secondary education, the stage of formal education also known as high school, beginning around age 11 to 13 and ending usually at age 15 to 18.

What is the difference between CAS and RCOE?

CAS is the College of Arts and Sciences where the following Secondary Education majors are housed by Departments that reside in this college and students receive instruction in the content area. RCOE is the Reich College of Education where many other teaching requirements and courses will take place in the process of earning your degree if you decide to become a teacher.

To view the teacher education timeline, requirements for admission to Teacher Education, student teaching information, or James Center for Student Success and Advising for PRAXIS Core and professional development support, click on the links in this section.

Teacher Licensure Programs in the College

Apply to Teacher Education

Admission to Teacher Education Requirements

An Application to Teacher Education must be completed prior to registration to Teacher Education coursework

Application Instructions 

Log-in to AppalNet.

  1. Select the “Student” tab
  2. Select the “RCOE Student Services” link
  3. Select “Application for Teacher Education” 
  4. If you have not met all of the pre-requisites, your AppalNET account will show what is missing. (if this is the case, you will need to contact your advisor, listed on your account) For a visual aid see the below application.
  5. If you meet all of the prerequisites, simply click submit. This will forward your application to your advisor. You will also receive an email acknowledging the submission of your application. 


Course Information

Undergraduate Bulletin

  1. Find the department home of your program (for example: Biology)
  2. Navigate to the major for secondary education (for example: Biology - Secondary Education Concentration, B.S.)
  3. Click to find course requirements for this degree track

First Teach banner 2

Getting Started

Information for First-Year Students (Freshmen)

Your goal as a first-year freshman is to progress through your General Education requirements, which total 44 s.h. Please make sure to carefully plan each semester with your advisor(s). Ideally, you want to satisfy General Education requirements as soon as possible before moving on to advanced courses.

Program Information

Secondary Education majors will need to apply for admission to the Teacher Education program in the Reich College of Education (RCOE). Admission is required in order to take advanced education courses.

All Secondary Ed. majors graduate in the College of Arts & Sciences, not the College of Education. However, admission to the Teacher Education program is a requirement for any student seeking a 9-12 licensure. More details on the application process to RCOE teacher ed programs are located on their webpage. If you have questions or difficulties with the application process, contact the following program directors depending on your major track (see below).

To view the requirements for admission to RCOE's Teacher Education program, student teaching information, or James Center support for PRAXIS 1 (Core) and other educational tests and processes, click on the links in this section.

Program Directors

Department of Biology

Department of Chemistry and Fermentation Sciences

Department of English

Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences

Department of History

Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures

Department of Mathematical Sciences

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Career Services

How to Get Assistance

  • Make an appointment via Handshake.
  • Career Studio 2 p.m.- 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday for resume review, interview advice and assistance on how to use Handshake for your job search.
  • You can also email us for a resume review -- careerguide@appstate.edu. Allow 5 business days for a review. 

Build Your Resume

Use our samples to help with resume formatting ideas to create your own from scratch! Below are some resumes that are specific to education majors:

Events