Message from the Chair
Dr. Dora Bailey

The mission of the Department of Education is to prepare students who demonstrate the willingness, thoughtfulness, and ability to engage in excellence in teaching, relevant scholarly activity, and active service. To accomplish this mission the department seeks to prepare practitioners who possess a global perspective for teaching, sound pedagogical knowledge and skills in assessment-based decision making for the purpose of differentiating instruction. The faculty actively works to develop the students' appreciation and ability to nurture individual differences throughout the teaching/learning process in order to help insure maximum realization of their development as competent and compassionate teachers of children, youth and adults. Courses are based on sound scholarship and emphasize high professional standards and ethics in keeping with the guidelines of learned societies and state and national standards for certification and licensure.

Although the department primarily serves the individual undergraduate and graduate student, it interacts with and provides service to the broader university community, as well as the community beyond the university. Strong linkages to schools are forged and preserved by the department's commitment to meaningful, carefully-supervised clinical and field-based student placements. An intertwined mission of the departments is serving the professional development needs of teachers, administrators, and support staff of area schools. Through the discharge of responsibilities described above, the Department of Teacher Education strives to prepare professionals who are committed to lifelong learning.