2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog College of Education

The College of Education includes the Departments of Educational Administration and Foundations and Special Education, the School of Teaching and Learning, the Cecilia J. Lauby Teacher Education Center, and the Laboratory Schools (Thomas Metcalf School and University High School).

The mission of the College of Education is to purposefully allocate intellectual and financial resources to develop talented graduates and professionals, establish meaningful partnerships, foster innovative faculty and staff, advance academic excellence, and embrace the principles of Realizing the Democratic Ideal.

The preparation and continuing professional development of educators is the core of this mission. The guiding framework for teacher education at Illinois State University, “Realizing the Democratic Ideal,” captures the values of education programs: “To teach in a democracy is self-consciously to take up the burden of improving the ethical and intellectual quality of our societal dialogue by including in it as many educated voices as possible.” A comprehensive offering of degree, licensure, and outreach programs operated year round at both undergraduate and graduate levels constitutes the primary mechanism through which the mission is fulfilled.

The College also fulfills its strategic mission of influencing education by interacting directly with practitioners in the field in a variety of partnerships in schools and other associations and agencies. In addition, the College is an active participant in discussions related to educational policy development within national, state, and local arenas.