Mission and Pillars

College of Education Mission Statement 

The College of Education’s mission is to prepare professionals who are committed to equity, excellence, and evolution, and have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to succeed in diverse settings.  

PILLARS 

The three pillars (formerly conceptual cornerstones) represent the building blocks for which we structure our domains and establish learning outcomes for our educator preparation programs. 

• Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion 

• Future-Ready, Adaptable, and Life-Long Learners 

• Holistic Teaching and Learning 

EQUITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION 

The paradigms and the practices utilized in training the teacher education candidates far exceed an attributive approach to addressing equity and diversity (Banks and McGee, 2012).  
We hail our heroes and celebrate our holidays; however, we are deliberate in providing multiple opportunities for our teacher candidates to experience the competencies that will enable them to function as culturally responsive educators (Gay, 2010). Investing in strengthening and transforming university-based preparation and ongoing professional development for educators is crucial to enhancing academic success for the nation's learners. (AACTE, 2020) We are deliberate in providing multiple opportunities for our teacher candidates to experience identity, ideology and action, the competencies that will enable them to function as culturally responsive educators (Gay, 2023).  

Teacher education candidates should be able to demonstrate the ways by which their approaches to instruction accommodate for and build upon the cultural capital (Franklin, 2004) and funds of knowledge (Gonzales, Moll, and Amanti, 2005) that all learners bring to the classroom. Through content integration, knowledge construction process, prejudice reduction, equity pedagogy and empowering culture and social structure, teacher education candidates should be able to implement culturally (relevant) teaching in their classrooms. (Banks, 2023). Furthermore, our teacher education candidates create learning environments that promote a commitment to and respect for equity and diversity in all forms - racially, ethnically, emotionally, linguistically, and cognitively. 

FUTURE-READY, ADAPTABLE, AND LIFE-LONG LEARNERS  

Future-Ready, Adaptable, and Life-Long Learners involve global competencies and an in-depth exploration of the learner and learning through making global connections to tackle challenges. This effort represents meaningful growth of learners’ knowledge, skills, cultural participation, empathy, and capacity for understanding complexities and contradictions. Learners’ proficiency matures through collaborative projects involving them with people from regions and nations other than their own, aided by innovative technology.  

The teacher's role is to create settings in which learners experience multiple perspectives, participating with them in inquiry, dialogue, and action. Development of global competencies is an approach to pedagogy, not a curriculum topic. Globally competent people demonstrate their ability to connect, collaborate, and create meaningful products or artifacts with others throughout the world. 

  Educating our children in the 21st century and beyond has and will continue to be influenced by global varieties that will profoundly change what we teach and how we teach. In the past decade, educators, business, and government leaders have come together and collaboratively advanced that, in addition to the 3R's (reading, writing, and arithmetic), national and state standards driving curriculum development must address learning and innovating skills: creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication, and collaboration (Battelle for Kids, 2019). 

HOLISTIC TEACHING AND LEARNING 

Educating the whole learner requires that teacher candidates work in tandem with their local school districts and professional development schools to instill an understanding of healthy lifestyle practices and learners, design physically and emotionally safe classrooms that encourage learning, promote active engagement of learners through activities that connect the school with surrounding communities, recognize the importance of functioning as a caring adult to support student growth through individualized instruction, and prepare learners for college and career readiness by challenging them to succeed in global context. 

DOMAINS 

Domain I: Academic Content Knowledge and Planning for Learning 

The candidate will demonstrate the ability to: 

• acquire academic knowledge of content areas taught in schools to develop all PK-12 learners' understanding and performance. 

• recognize and apply New Jersey Student Learning Standards and national standards as the framework for planning. 

• understand the components of effective teaching in various content areas and for various learners. 

• plan instruction appropriate to the diversity, skills, and real needs of all PK-12 learners in the classroom. 

• specify learner outcomes in clear, concise objectives and assessment align the objectives to authentic and varied assessments. 

• incorporate a range of evidence-based instructional strategies, resources, and technological tools. 

Domain II: Environments for Learning 

The candidate will demonstrate the ability to: 

• create and maintain an inclusive, accessible, and culturally responsive environment throughout academic and social spaces.  

• foster relationships with all learners that center their funds of knowledge, identities, and cultural capital.  

• collaborate and engage with school professionals to promote collective responsibility for the wellbeing of the school and greater community. 

• establish a positive classroom environment and maintain this climate as a whole.  
   

Domain III: Instructional Practices for Learning 

The candidate will demonstrate the ability to: 

• include people in higher education and other educational contexts.  

• implement pedagogical practice to engage all learners’ strengths, needs, interests, and experiential backgrounds. 

• incorporate relevant learning activities that provide meaningful experiences that foster creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration for all learners. 

• analyze and integrate technology appropriately to enhance learning outcomes. 

• synthesize their knowledge and pedagogical skills across content areas so learners can transfer and apply their learning in relevant situations. 

• model for all learners how to monitor their own understanding through self-reflection and metacognitive strategies. 

Domain IV: Professional Disposition and Values for Learning 

The candidate will demonstrate the ability to: 

• nurture individual, cultural, and linguistic perspectives, show respect for the diverse talents of all learners, and is committed to developing their self-confidence and competence. 

• have positive expectations for all students and demonstrates commitment to meet their educational needs in a compassionate, just, and equitable manner. 

• foster community values and cultural norms. 

• demonstrate their responsibility to model behavior that exemplifies educational advocacy, professionalism, inclusivity, and equity. 

• be a life-long learner who engages in continued intellectual and professional growth. 

Domain V: Network for Learning 

The candidate will demonstrate the ability to: 

• advocate for equitable academic, civic, and social emotional outcomes with stakeholders who have been historically underserved. 

• collaborate through multiple modalities with stakeholders: families, school professionals, businesses, and community organizations to promote growth and development. 

• engage in professional development as a lifelong learner and practitioner. 

• use technology in appropriate ways, modeling digital citizenship.  

• engage in global cross-cultural communities and collaboration.  

• utilize inquiry and critical thinking skills to address local and global contexts. 

• engage in a community of practice with educators and school personnel in diverse settings to make decisions, design learning, and establish goals that consider all learners.