Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Chair: VerJanis A, Peoples
Professors: VerJanis A Peoples
Assistant Professors: Tonya J. Rose, Erin Scott-Stewart, Emily Jackson-Osagie, Alisa Ross
Instructors: David Geralds, Debra Clark, Alberta Williams, and Elizabeth Eves-Robertson
Assessment Coordinator: Natalie Chesser
Residency Coordinator: Jean Dyer
The Department of Curriculum and Instruction is an integral component of the newly redesigned School of Education. Programs offered by the Department of Curriculum and Instruction prepare career educators who become reflective practitioners, goal oriented professionals, and effective pedagogues who are skilled in research based instruction and assessment strategies. The department seeks to prepare teacher candidates to become critical thinkers who teach from multicultural and global perspectives and model best teaching practices. Experiences are provided in academic programs which allow teacher candidates to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and dispositions by integrating a variety of instructional learning and problem solving strategies that facilitate an understanding of children's uniqueness, while promoting learner participation within the world-wide web of information. Such experiences result in meaningful and experiential learning outcomes for all candidates.
Our programs are accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE); that accrediting has now become the Council for the Accreditation of Educational Programs (CAEP).
Teacher Certification
This department offers Bachelor of Science degrees in two elementary education programs. One program is designed to prepare candidates for certification as teachers in grades 1-5. The second elementary education program-Special Education Mild/Moderate: An Integrated to Merged Approach (Grades 1-5) prepares candidates for certification in regular grades 1-5 as well as special education grades 1-5.
In addition to elementary programs, the department offers a Bachelor of Science degree in middle school education-Special Education Mild/Moderate: An Integrated to Merged Approach (Grades 4-8). Teacher candidates completing the above program are certified and qualified for teaching grades 4-8 in both regular and special education classes. The Department of Curriculum and Instruction also offers minor concentrations that lead to secondary teaching certifications. These concentrations are designed to prepare teacher candidates for certification in grades 6-12 and K-12 (music) in one or more of the following specialty areas:
Bachelor of Arts in English with teacher certification
Bachelor of Arts in History with teacher certification
Bachelor of Music (vocal or instrumental) with teacher certification
Bachelor of Science in Biology with teacher certification
Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with teacher certification
Bachelor of Science in Physics with teacher certification
Bachelor of Science in Mathematics with teacher certification