Mission of The Department of Education

The mission of the Department of Education is to advance the science and practice of education, and to promote related careers in counseling and mental health. Toward this end, the Department of Education offers state-of-the-art undergraduate and graduate teacher education programs, a Master of Arts in Teaching and a graduate guidance and counseling program. The Department of Education seeks to nurture minds, to advance knowledge, and to promote life-long learning.

The undergraduate teacher education programs lead to the baccalaureate degree in a variety of specialty areas. This course of study prepares students to become qualified teachers, and to assume the complex role of a teacher in the classrooms of the twenty-first century. The primary goal of the undergraduate teacher education program is to ensure success within the teaching profession by:

providing a comprehensive knowledge base that ensures competency in the subject matter and in the processes of education; and
providing the opportunity to develop appropriate clinical skills. This program reflects current trends in the field of education and emphasizes excellence in both the theoretical and applied domains.

The Department of Education also offers basic undergraduate psychology courses which complement the teacher education program. These psychology courses are designed to give direct support to other academic departments by providing a substantial course of study in the area of psychology. The department does not offer a psychology major.

Goal

The overarching goal of the teacher education programs is to develop culturally and ethnically sensitive instructional leaders who work to elevate the quality of schools and to improve achievement for all students, regardless of their environmental circumstances. The program strives to educate a diverse population of teachers who are able to address the unique challenges of the twenty-first century. Emphasis is placed on preparing minority and rural educators.

Objectives

The objectives of the Department of Education are delineated as follows:

To equip teacher candidates with the professional knowledge base of change strategies that enables them to participate in school restructuring;

To prepare teacher candidates to become engaged critical and creative thinkers, problem solvers, and reflective professionals;
To enable teacher candidates to review and embrace their personal heritage in order to facilitate learning for individuals from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds;
To develop teachers who are consumers, brokers, and generators of school-based research;
To prepare teacher candidates who are innovative users of and advocates for content technology-based instruction including internet resources and interactive dialogue;
To produce educational and community leaders who integrate state, national, and international priorities into instructional and assessment strategies;
To prepare teacher candidates who incorporate national and state professional standards, including INTASC principles, into their practice;
To prepare teacher candidates who incorporate the teacher education unit’s Conceptual Framework into their practice;

To demonstrate appropriate human, conceptual, and technical skills when working with students and other educational stakeholders;
To prepare teacher candidates with a commitment to the moral obligations of teaching so as to ensure equitable access to engagement in the best possible P-12 education for all children and youth including those with disabilities, those for whom English is a second language, and those who are gifted and talented.