Depth of Study or Area of Focus

The Liberal Studies curriculum covers the seven subjects taught in elementary schools.  Additionally, the California Standards for K-8 teacher preparation mandate that future teachers acquire in-depth knowledge in one of the seven subject areas.

Students starting in Fall 2019 or 2020 (Gold ACL) or Fall 2021 (Grey ACL) will meet this requirement through an Area of Focus.   LBST students in the ESM option will select one of the areas that can be found on the second page of the ACL.  ITEP students will select one of four areas that can be found on the second page of the ITEP ACL.

Students in the Pink and Blue Catalog ('04-'18) years will meet this requirement through a Depth of Study which consists of a choice of 16 subject area options.  LBST students will select one of the 16 subject area which can be found on the Depth of Study Worksheets link.

 

How to declare your Depth of Study or Area of Focus

If you are interested in ITEP, you must meet with a Liberal Studies advisor to be sure that you are on track and able to complete the program.  Your advisor will add you to the program if you qualify. 

If you are interested in ESM, you can go to your Student Center in your myCSUSM account to update your major with your area of focus.

In the drop down menu 'other academic' on the left side of the page, select 'Change of Major or Minor'.

Click the link at the bottom of the next page to Change Major.

Your major should show 'Liberal Studies BA'.  You will need to select 'Liberal Studies-Elem Subj BA'  in the drop down list for major.

The Required Subplans drop down menu will appear and you can select your Depth of Study or Area of Focus from that list.

Be sure to confirm your selection.