Online Ed Students Outpace Classroom Students in Career Exam

Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas is one of the state’s public institutions of higher learning. The school has been a leader in developing online degree options for its students, who can opt for a blended degree program in many academic areas and pursue several undergraduate degrees through a complete distance learning program. There is currently a master’s in nursing degree program available online for students who are registered nurses and an online option for the master’s of science in health promotion.

The University has just announced that the graduates from their online education administration degrees have turned in some impressive test results that outrank those achieved by their counterparts studying in classroom environments. The master’s in education is the standard degree requirement in Texas for professionals who want to be school principals. The Texas Examination of Educator Standards for Principals is the certification exam required of all school principal candidates. Otherwise known as the “principal’s exam,” the test is the culmination of a two-year graduate program.

Ninety six percent of Lamar’s online education enrollees in the master’s program passed the exam during the test sessions held over the spring and summer of 2009. The distance learning graduates scored, on an average, sixteen points higher than students statewide, and outpaced the majority of all students who attended the graduate program in education on campus.

The two online education programs at Lamar are the Master’s in Educational Administration and a Master’s in Teacher Leadership. The first is the option chosen by students who want a role in school administration. The second is primarily a degree in instruction and curriculum development, a specialty in the field that requires extensive interaction with the teaching staff during the course planning process.

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