Mission
The College of Education and Human Development prepares its students to be reflective lifelong
learners; advocates for diversity and social justice; and engaged, effective,
transformative educators and mental health professionals.
Vision
The College of Education and Human Development will be a recognized regional leader in the
preparation and ongoing development of educators and of mental health
professionals. The College will be especially acclaimed for its leadership in
the following areas:
- Performance-based assessment practices.
- Field-based and clinical practice.
- Evidence-based process improvement.
- Achievements in teaching, scholarship, research and service.
Core Values
- Education sustains democracy.
- Education provides powers of concentration and worthy objectives upon which
to concentrate.
- Education is a life-long journey worth the effort.
- It is our professional responsibility to create and maintain a learning
environment that builds up the human spirit, both socially and intellectually.
- We remake the world when we share our intellectual ideals, model ethical
standards, embrace human diversity, and engage in civil and professional
service.
The Professional Education Unit
The professional education unit seeks to offer the highest quality academic
programs, balancing innovation and best practice, to meet the needs of adult
lifelong learners. The faculty, staff and administration are committed to
seeking and maintaining national accreditation of the unit and all of its
programs, enhancing existing programs as well as creating new programs
including doctoral studies. We integrate the wide-spread use of technology into
curricula, content and modes of instruction. Together, we foster an
understanding and appreciation of the significance of human diversity in
ethnicity, socio-economic status, gender and learning styles.
Conceptual Framework
Reasoned eclecticism, the harmonizing element in all the unit’s activities,
emerges from the unit’s emphasis on the development of competent
practitioners:
- who operate at high cognitive levels; and
- who attend primarily to application and testing of knowledge (rather than to
theoretical orthodoxy).
Increasing attention on performance assessment asks teacher educators to
redirect their focus from the theoretical into the teaching/learning environment
where theory and practice meet. The unit believes that reasoned eclecticism
produces desirable results and outcomes more frequently than any single, more
purely theoretical approach.
A vital characteristic of the successful reasoned eclectic practitioner is a
high level of cognitive development and operation. The unit is committed to
moving candidates from lower pre-conventional levels of cognitive complexity to
higher post-conventional cognitive levels in order to optimize their application
of reasoned eclecticism. Graduates at higher stages have the knowledge, skills
and dispositions to change the learning environment in accord with the diverse
needs of diverse students.
The professional education unit is dedicated to the development of
knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions of GSU candidates through
reflective analysis and guided inquiry to optimize student learning.
Summary of Candidate/Graduate Outcomes
The Educator Preparation Program Unit (EPPU) prides itself on preparing excellent
educators to serve our schools and our communities. Whether as a
classroom teacher, school service personnel or administrator, the
success of our candidates impacts the world around us.
The tables below contain detailed information on program assessments and the success of our graduates:
- Candidate Performance on Key Assessments:
- Employment and Employer Satisfaction Surveys (coming soon)
School District Partners:
GSU places candidates in the cities, suburbs and rural communities throughout the region.
Click here for a listing of host sites and partner districts.
General Information:
Cost of Attending GSU
Student Loan Default Rate
College of
Education and Human Development
Dean's Office
708.534.4050
Faculty Office Center, Room
G256
Hours: Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.