A commitment to preparing skillful, imaginative and socially engaged artist/teachers lies at the heart of all of Massachusetts College of Art’s undergraduate teacher preparation programs. Student artists who are inspired to pursue a teaching career can choose from among four possible preparation tracks:

• An Art Teacher Education track that provides a broad, generalist education in studio work and teaching. Art Teacher Education concentrators take a variety of electives in 2D, 3D, Design and other areas of studio interest, as well as a rigorous program in Art Education studio courses and education seminars;

• A Studio Education track that provides expertise and preparation in a single studio area along with Art Education studios and seminars;

• A Museum Education track, specializing in art history, museum study, and art education – for students who want to work in museums or programs interfacing with collections or gallery exhibitions.

• A Community Education track, designed to prepare art educators to work in settings outside the traditional classroom – in hospitals, after-school programs, cultural centers, homeless shelters, and other settings where art making is needed, but is not always accessible;

Students in all four tracks take introductory seminars in the teaching of new and traditional media during their sophomore year.  At the same time, they begin exploring how children and youth learn through a course in Art and Human Development. A series of four courses – Saturday Studios Pre-Practicums I and II, Issues and the Individual Learner and Creating Community – expose students to practical work in the field, as they first observe, then teach classes in MassArt's Saturday Studios Program. This program, which forms the cornerstone of the college's Art Education Preparation, allows students to plan and teach Saturday morning art classes for children in grades 4 through 12. " Art Education students are artists themselves, and they bring that experience, along with all they have learned from their pedagogical courses, to their work with children and youth, " Kelly says.  The Saturday Studios program draws children from around the regions and offers classes in Life Drawing, Portfolio Preparation, Drawing from Observation, and many others.

Students in the Art Teacher Education and Studio tracks are preparing to qualify for the Initial license in Visual Art at either the Pre-K - 8 or 5-12 level.  They take a required ninth semester, which includes a twelve-week Student Teaching Practicum in a school.

Students in the Community Education and Museum Education tracks take the same core preparation program described previously but choose to teach in alternative settings. Community and Museum Education students may fulfill allprogram requirements for the BFA in eight semesters; however, the department strongly recommends that Community and Museum educators also complete a ninth semester community-based practicum.

All students are required to complete four Art Education Interdisciplinary Portfolio courses demonstrating their competency in art making during their junior and senior years. Art Education portfolio classes are unique in that students integrate their own art practice with their coursework in critical studies and art education. In the ninth semester, in addition to their internship and teaching placements, students take two additional courses: a fifth and final Capstone portfolio course, in which they develop a senior studio project, and a Curriculum seminar.