About Us

Rice seeks talented and creative individuals who will play leadership roles in the future of American education.  Increasing public concern about the quality of public education has spurred careful analysis of school organization, subject matter, and children's learning styles.  The role of the teacher also is transforming.  Rice faculty and teacher-education graduates are championing many exciting reforms that are changing the way children are taught in the Houston area and beyond.  Rice University's Education Certification Programs for secondary education (grades 8-12) offer unique opportunities to study in an urban setting with a diverse student population and opportunities for teachers to be leaders in school improvement.

If you are passionate about children and care deeply about their futures--consider teaching.  If you are excited about a particular topic--discovering a new poet or a planet's unknown moons, solving problems in a laboratory or in a political contest, conversing in another language or in a computer network--consider teaching.  If you want graduate-level professional studies that help you develop your own teaching style and your own capacities to create curriculums and instructional programs for a variety of classroom settings--consider Rice.

Why would a university famous for its programs in engineering and science, history, and music care about secondary schools?  Because the need for exceptional teachers is great and Rice has a record of success in preparing them.  Some of our entering Master of Arts in Teaching candidates come directly from undergraduate studies at Rice or other universities across the nation.  Others are making career changes or reentering the workforce, including a museum educator planning to teach art, an architect who always wanted to teach history, and a medical researcher who has become a popular and effective physics teacher.

When our graduates leave Rice, they are eagerly sought for teaching positions.  They typically become leaders early in their careers, developing innovative curriculums, joining or even leading teacher teams, creating interdisciplinary curriculums, writing programs and student publications, and taking responsibility for bringing technology or the arts into their schools.