About the Department

Mission Statement

Our mission is to prepare professionals who possess the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to transform early childhood, elementary, and life-long literacy education in the service of social justice and democratic ideals. As a department, we strive collectively to ensure that our students understand that:

• Learning and teaching are social processes with political implications.
• Teaching/learning is a life-long process.
• Educators, to be effective, must effectively engage their students.
• Educators are cultural and political workers who accept an active role in democracy and the promotion of social justice locally, nationally and globally.
• Critical education is a process that works to change "what is" while simultaneously preparing people to participate in "what is yet to be."
• Respect for the value and educability of every person is a fundamental principle of teaching/learning.