Online Programs

Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Relations

Degree Earned: BS Classroom Type: Fully Online Online and on campus classes Students are prepared to effectively serve diverse families and individuals in community, school, and social service settings. Alumni continue to law school for child and family law or immigration law, medical school for pediatrics or family medicine, social work, family therapy, school psychology, counseling education, higher education, or other graduate studies.

Certificate, P-3 Leadership

Degree Earned: Credit available Non-credit Classroom Type: Fully Online Provides elementary and early learning leaders with skills and knowledge to lead cross-system improvements and to implement instructional reforms that benefit our youngest learners, preschool through 3rd grade.

Certificate, Prosocial Leader

New Degree Earned: Credit available Non-credit Classroom Type: Fully Online The Prosocial Leader certificate is designed for school leaders who are interested in leading schoolwide social and emotional learning (SEL) programs. This professional learning experience consists of three courses remotely facilitated in partnership with CREATE and the Prosocial Leader Lab.

Doctor of Education in Leadership for Educational Equity, Designing for Professional Learning

Degree Earned: EdD Classroom Type: Fully Online The Designing for Professional Learning (DPL) concentration engages doctoral students in the creation, implementation, and study of learning design, learner-centered design approaches, and design-justice practices across academic, corporate, and community settings. Doctoral coursework is grounded in literature about equity-oriented learning; principles of design justice and learner-centered design; the impact of learning design on individuals and communities; and design-based research methods.

Doctor of Education in Leadership for Educational Equity, Early Childhood Education

Degree Earned: EdD Classroom Type: Fully Online Designed to prepare professionals to become leaders and advocates for all children and their families. Graduates lead system and policy development in inclusive, culturally, and linguistically diverse early childhood settings. These settings encompass a range of childcare, school, and community program environments.

Doctor of Education in Leadership for Educational Equity, Executive Leadership

Degree Earned: EdD License Classroom Type: Fully Online Equips passionate visionary leaders with new tools to create long-lasting positive change in their organizations or communities that is focused on equity, educational access, and social justice where students could flourish. Gain the skills you need to address the critical issues and challenges that exist in the field of education and educational leadership.

Doctor of Education in Leadership for Educational Equity, Higher Education

Degree Earned: EdD Classroom Type: Fully Online Enables leaders in higher education to continue their work while completing doctoral degrees. Graduates are effective leaders, passionate about educational access, equity, and social justice in diverse settings in higher education worldwide.

Doctor of Education in Leadership for Educational Equity, Justice, Equity, and Diverse Identities (JEDI)

Degree Earned: EdD Classroom Type: Fully Online This EdD concentration focuses on education for justice, equity and diverse identities (e.g., Latine, Black, AANAPI, LGBTQIA+, and dis/ability) and allows students to pursue research of interest that is adjacent to or within one of the above areas. The concentration area is designed to equip educators with the knowledge and resources to see opportunities in the range of complex challenges facing the education system and ground their approach in transdisciplinary and critical frameworks to advocate for educational equity and transformative, liberatory education.

Doctor of Education in Leadership for Educational Equity, Mathematics Education

Degree Earned: EdD Classroom Type: Fully Online Equips school leaders in designing strategies and pedagogies for improvement in the learning of mathematics. Graduates of the program become leaders in addressing issues of equity in math education, making connections to community and leadership, and making data-based arguments to advance the field.

Doctor of Education in Leadership for Educational Equity, Research Leadership

Degree Earned: EdD Classroom Type: Fully Online Actively gain research expertise that will prepare you for leadership roles in school districts, community-based organizations, P-12 assessment offices, and higher education institutional research. Learn how to lead long-term strategic research agendas and policy analyses, while proactively including diverse audiences who are affected by and can learn from research.

Doctor of Education in Leadership for Educational Equity, Science Education

Degree Earned: EdD Classroom Type: Fully Online Helps science professionals to gain the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to become leaders in the field of science education. Graduates are able to think critically about science teaching and the nature of science and make data-based arguments to advance equity in the field.

Early Childhood Special Education (License)

Degree Earned: License Classroom Type: Fully Online Online and on campus classes Offers a perfect fit for those interested in providing culturally responsive, family-centered, developmentally effective early education for children with disabilities in an inclusive setting. Specialists in early childhood special education are in high demand in Colorado and nationally, and play an important role as both lead teachers and specialists who support classroom teachers.

Endorsement, Director of Special Education

New Degree Earned: Endorsement Classroom Type: Fully Online University of Colorado Denver’s Director of Special Education endorsement program includes 150 clinical practice (internship) hours. It provides the coursework necessary for a practicing P-12 educator with a principal license and a master’s in Special Education or equivalent degree accepted by the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) to receive the Director of Special Education endorsement from CDE.

Endorsement, Early Childhood Special Education

Degree Earned: Endorsement Classroom Type: Fully Online Online and on campus classes Designed for teachers with early childhood, elementary, or special education licenses to advance and deepen their expertise in educating young children with special needs and supporting their families. On-campus, hybrid, or fully online formats are available. Recipients become lead teachers in classrooms or specialists supporting classroom teachers.

Endorsement, ELEVATE Early Childhood Special Education

New Degree Earned: Endorsement Classroom Type: Fully Online The ELEVATE – ECSE added endorsement program at University of Colorado Denver is designed for teachers holding a Colorado Early Childhood Education license and currently teaching in Colorado who seek to add the ECSE endorsement to their license. The program prepares educators to be leaders who will enrich the life experiences of young children (birth to eight years) with delays and disabilities and their families. It is a one-year (3 semester) added endorsement program with an option to complete the MA in Early Childhood Education.

Endorsement, Middle School Math

Degree Earned: Endorsement Classroom Type: Fully Online Designed for currently licensed teachers seeking career advancement and a deeper understanding of how to engage middle school students in math. This endorsement gives teachers the unique qualifications needed to support and challenge students with diverse abilities and backgrounds.

Endorsement, Teacher Librarian

Degree Earned: Endorsement Classroom Type: Fully Online The Teacher Librarian endorsement program will prepare you to meet the requirements from the Colorado Department of Education for an added Teacher Librarian endorsement to your current teaching license.

Graduate Certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis

Degree Earned: Graduate Certificate Classroom Type: Fully Online Offers an opportunity to become a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA) to those who are passionate about identifying and championing the strengths and assets of children with differing abilities.

Graduate Certificate in Applied Measurement

Degree Earned: Graduate Certificate Classroom Type: Fully Online Online and on campus classes Learn to measure the abstract variables used in daily decision-making. This involves deep critical thinking skills and the ability to combine statistical learning with understandings of human behavior. Individuals working in social sciences, education and mental health and who want to deepen their knowledge of diversity, respect, equity and inclusiveness may be particularly interested in this offering.

Graduate Certificate in Applied Statistical Modeling

Degree Earned: Graduate Certificate Classroom Type: Fully Online Online and on campus classes Learn advanced statistical modeling skills that have direct connections to practical educational issues and socially-just solutions for urban and diverse communities. Think and reason with quantitative data, especially using large scale datasets.

Graduate Certificate in Classroom Assessment

Degree Earned: Graduate Certificate Classroom Type: Fully Online Online and on campus classes Learn how assessments in education both support and hinder individuals in diverse groups. There are many biases to be aware of and overcome as we create more culturally inclusive assessments moving forward. We prepare students to be leaders in schools and districts who can advocate for change using data.

Graduate Certificate in Culturally Responsive Methods

New Degree Earned: Graduate Certificate Classroom Type: Fully Online Learn how to conduct research studies and evaluations with a culturally responsive lens. We prepare leaders who can advocate for diversity, respect, and inclusiveness using data.

Graduate Certificate in Early Childhood Education Pedagogy

New Degree Earned: Graduate Certificate Classroom Type: Fully Online Provides Reggio-inspired experiential learning in ECE pedagogy to complement students’ current competencies and experiences. Courses can articulate into CU Denver and Boulder Journey School’s MA in Innovative ECE.

Graduate Certificate in Early Literacy

Degree Earned: Graduate Certificate Classroom Type: Fully Online Equips preschool and primary grade teachers and para-educators with advanced skills in the development, assessment, and instruction of literacy for young learners. The certificate includes methods that help all learners-including those who are linguistically or culturally diverse-gain important literacy skills.

Graduate Certificate in Leadership for Learning Design and Technology

Degree Earned: Graduate Certificate Classroom Type: Fully Online CU Denver’s Leadership for Learning Design and Technology certificate focuses on transformative change, culture, and initiative for modern learning organizations; with distinct themes of vision building, culture shifting, innovation nurturing, business modeling, and knowledge management.

Graduate Certificate in Learner-centered Instructional Design

Degree Earned: Graduate Certificate Classroom Type: Fully Online CU Denver’s Learner-centered Instructional Design certificate focuses on human centered design, learning engagement and motivation, and learning frameworks. You’ll explore distinct themes of design-thinking, learning aesthetics, universal design, and system usability.

Graduate Certificate in Literacy and Language Development for Diverse Learners

Degree Earned: Graduate Certificate Classroom Type: Fully Online Offers educators and leaders nationwide a deep dive into literacy development, assessment, and instruction and equitable educational access for all children.

Graduate Certificate in Mathematical Content Knowledge for Teaching

Degree Earned: Graduate Certificate Classroom Type: Fully Online Fosters educators' success by enhancing their ability to engage students in math reasoning while increasing their own knowledge of mathematical content.

Graduate Certificate in Online Teaching and Learning

Degree Earned: Graduate Certificate Classroom Type: Fully Online CU Denver’s Online Teaching and Learning certificate focuses on effective online & hybrid learning designs, high impact practices, and modern learners; with distinct themes of instructional design, inclusive pedagogies, active learning, and emerging pedagogies.

Graduate Certificate in Program Evaluation

Degree Earned: Graduate Certificate Classroom Type: Fully Online Online and on campus classes Experiences and connections with urban and diverse communities are at the heart of our online Program Evaluation certificate. Coursework involves helping real schools, community organizations and non-profits thrive through effective and culturally responsible program evaluation practices.

Graduate Certificate in Qualitative Methods and Analysis

New Degree Earned: Graduate Certificate Classroom Type: Fully Online Develop your abilities to collect and analyze words, images, and observations to gain a deeper understanding of phenomena. We prepare leaders who can advocate for diversity, respect, and inclusiveness using data.

Graduate Certificate, Digital Teacher Librarian

Degree Earned: Graduate Certificate Classroom Type: Fully Online Equips teacher librarians to lead the way in digital, media, and information literacy development in their schools and create an inclusive, future-ready learning culture for building essential student skills.

Graduate Credential in Neurosequential Model in Education

Degree Earned: Graduate Credential Classroom Type: Fully Online Provides trauma-informed knowledge and hands-on tools and strategies for educators, directors, principals, mental health professionals, early interventionists, and special education staff to use with PreK-12 students who present with a variety of challenging behaviors in educational and treatment settings. This credential is available only to graduate degree seeking students at CU, as well as graduate alumni.

Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education

Degree Earned: MA Classroom Type: Fully Online On campus Online and on campus classes Prepares educators to work in inclusive and diverse early learning environments with young children (infancy through age eight). Graduates gain practices that embrace the whole child in culturally and linguistically diverse public school or community-based early childhood education settings, emphasizing family-centered practices. It is offered in on-campus, hybrid, or fully online formats. This MA does not lead to a license or endorsement.

Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education, Early Childhood Special Education (Endorsement)

Degree Earned: MA Endorsement Classroom Type: Fully Online Online and on campus classes Prepares early childhood educators to become specialists in special education to meet the unique educational needs of young children with and without developmental disabilities. This pathway leads to becoming a classroom teacher or a specialist supporting classroom teachers.

Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education, Early Childhood Special Education (License)

Degree Earned: MA License Classroom Type: Fully Online Online and on campus classes Prepares individuals who wish to support early childhood special education teachers or teach young children (infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and early elementary) with developmental disabilities, while partnering with their families and communities. This program is offered in on-campus, hybrid, or fully online formats.

Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education, Online with Boulder Journey School

Degree Earned: MA Classroom Type: Fully Online A new online MA in Early Childhood Education to study innovation for children birth to age 8, at Boulder Journey School, inspired by the schools for young children in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Study quality multi-media examples of learning and teaching, engage in collaborative examination of documentation, and develop interpretations and new practices to innovate the field of Early Childhood Education.

Master of Arts in Leadership for Educational Organizations, Leading Change for Student Success in Higher Education

New Degree Earned: MA Classroom Type: Fully Online Prepares you with the practical, applied leadership knowledge needed to transition into roles of increasing responsibility within the field of higher education. This fully online program has a strong focus on equity and social justice and a competitive online tuition rate, making it attractive to Colorado residents and non-residents.

Master of Arts in Learning Design & Technology

Degree Earned: MA Endorsement Classroom Type: Fully Online CU Denver’s Learning Design & Technology program is unique. Students combine 12-credit certificates to create customized paths based on each individual’s career interests and goals.

Master of Arts in Literacy Education

Degree Earned: MA Classroom Type: Fully Online Online and on campus classes Prepares educators to work with diverse K - 12 students to develop reading, writing, and oral language skills. Graduates gain in-depth knowledge about building on students' languages, abilities, cultures, and real-world experiences to design highly effective and relevant teaching practices.

Master of Arts in Literacy Education, Reading and Writing, Reading Specialist (Endorsement)

Degree Earned: MA Endorsement Classroom Type: Fully Online Prepares educators to work with diverse K - 12 students to develop reading, writing, and oral language skills. This concentration and endorsement enhance literacy instruction skills and credentials and provide advanced knowledge and training to build on students' languages, abilities, cultures, and real-world experiences.

Master of Arts in Research and Evaluation Methods

Degree Earned: MA Classroom Type: Fully Online Online and on campus classes MA students come from a variety of backgrounds with the common thread of questioning status quo and exploring ‘what works’ in their field. This program is very practitioner-focused providing an opportunity for those who are interested in improving schools, social programs, and community organizations through high-quality research and evaluation, data-driven decisions and the dissemination of evidence-based research.

Master of Arts in Special Education

Degree Earned: MA Classroom Type: Fully Online Online and on campus classes Prepares licensed teachers to identify and champion the strengths and assets of children with differing abilities. Graduates are equipped with the most impactful and effective skills for leading inclusive classrooms and collaborating with professionals in the field and the community.

Master of Arts in Special Education, Applied Behavior Analysis

New Degree Earned: MA Classroom Type: Fully Online Online and on campus classes The Special Education MA with a concentration in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) combines seven courses in our ABA certificate, two specific course electives and a practicum. Graduates will acquire the degree and supervision hours needed to sit for the BCBA exam.

Master of Arts in STEM Education, Math

Degree Earned: MA Classroom Type: Fully Online Online and on campus classes Positions teachers to work successfully in leadership roles in urban and diverse schools and understand the important role mathematics play in students' lives. Graduates help meet the high demand for qualified, effective mathematics teachers. Core Courses are fully online. You may choose elective courses in on-campus, hybrid and fully online formats.

Master of Arts in STEM Education, Math-Science

Degree Earned: MA Classroom Type: Fully Online On campus Online and on campus classes Positions teachers with expertise in STEM learning and highly effective assessment and teaching practices to effectively guide today's learners. Graduates help meet the demand for qualified math-science teachers and become leading educators at the forefront of this field. Offered in on-campus, hybrid, and fully online formats.

Minor in Digital Media Design for Learning

Degree Earned: Minor Classroom Type: Fully Online The Digital Media Design for Learning minor focuses on using digital and social media platforms and technologies to design and produce learning experiences and materials for people in school, organizational, and community settings. ­

Undergraduate or Graduate Certificate in Early Childhood Education Coaching

Featured Degree Earned: Undergraduate Certificate Graduate Certificate Classroom Type: Fully Online Provides experiential learning in best coaching practices for teacher-leaders, coaches, directors, principals, home childcare providers, early interventionists, special education staff or anyone looking to strengthen their coaching competencies and understanding of systems thinking.