Fast, Inexpensive Master’s Degree Program Popular with Teachers

Beaumont’s Lamar University and Lamar alumnus Randy Best, owner of a for-profit education company, created a public-private partnership to offer the program. Lamar controls admission to the program, designs the curriculum, and provides the instruction. Best’s company, Higher Education Holdings, provides course materials to students and markets the program.

Many school HR administrators have reviewed the curriculum and are impressed enough to encourage teachers to apply. Lamar dubbed the program Academic Partnerships because school districts typically have a hand in getting teachers started.

Regular programs offer courses lasting 16 weeks, the length of a normal semester. All of the Academic Partnerships courses last five weeks. Teachers anxious to earn advanced degrees—and the school district stipends that often come with them—are happy about the quick pace. Critics question whether such a fast-paced program can adequately prepare teachers for the next step in leadership in their districts.

The total price tag for a master’s degree through the program is $4,950, less than half the cost of a traditional master’s degree. The low cost of the program appears to be attracting teachers who might not have considered pursuing master’s degrees in the past.

Academic Partnerships offers two degrees, one in school administration and one in teacher leadership. The school administration program is based on the curriculum offered in the university’s traditional program, so no state approval was required. All the university had to do was notify the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) of its intent to offer the course online.

The teacher leadership degree offers advanced training to allow teachers to become leaders of their peers. This degree program still has to earn the THECB approval. In spite of that detail, teachers on the leadership track have started their courses. The first five courses are the same for both degrees so they could conceivably switch tracks if state approval of the teacher leadership degree plan is delayed.

Lamar earns the first 16 percent of all Academic Partnerships revenues plus an additional sum for new classes prepared and taught by the university’s faculty. Lamar officials say the program is operating in the black. The company gets the remaining revenue.

The popularity of the program has boosted Lamar’s student enrollment and Higher Education Holdings’ profits. Best says that the interest the program has generated shows that it’s meeting a previously unmet need.

—“Dallas-Fort Worth teachers flock to quicker, cheaper master’s program,” by Karen Ayers Smith, The Dallas Morning News, Feb. 18, 2008.