STEP Secondary is a 12-month, full-time program leading to a Master of Arts in Education and a preliminary California Single Subject Teaching Credential. Its small size (approximately 70 candidates), access to top faculty and qualified cooperating teachers, and coherent design offer highly focused instruction interwoven with hands-on teaching experience, sustained mentoring, and personalized advising. STEP recognizes the integration of the many areas of knowledge that underlie effective teaching and provides multiple opportunities for observing, planning, and practicing diverse pedagogical approaches in specific clinical contexts.

STEP Secondary teacher candidates gain an unusual amount of classroom experience in this 12-month program, and, thus, are extremely well-prepared for their first year of professional teaching. After a summer at a local middle school, teacher candidates are placed in year-long field placements under the guidance of expert cooperating teachers in local middle schools and high schools. Increasingly, classroom placements are with Partnership Schools that are actively engaged in projects of school reform and that have partnered with Stanford to combine professional training with cutting-edge school-based research. The teaching practicum consists of an average of four hours each day at the school site and a weekly seminar at Stanford. Teaching responsibilities gradually increase during the year with the candidates' growth and development.