Endazhi-gikinoo'amaading
Phonetic Pronunciation: Ayn duh zhi-gi kin oo uh maw ding
The name of the Education Building (EduE) is representative of the Ojibwe cultural tradition of teaching and learning. It means a Place of Teaching and Learning Together.
Department of Education Vision
We envision a world in which education positively contributes to each person's ability to reach their potential in acting for society's good.
Department of Education Mission
Our mission is to prepare learner-sensitive educators with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to contribute to a better society.
Department of Education Goals
Community
- Strengthen and develop community connections and engagement through collaborations, research, service, and participation.
- Support a positive and inclusive college climate by advancing equity, open communication, dynamic engagement and respect.
Diversity/Intercultural Awareness
- Advance and support opportunities to become culturally competent citizens with a focus on social justice.
International/Global
- Support the development of global citizens who understand the complexities of living in a globally interconnected world.
Research
- Advance excellence in research that builds upon our shared values as expressed through the CEHSP mission and vision.
Student Success
- Prepare and equip students to be critically reflective learners and practitioners [through efficient and effective processes]; programs and curriculum optimize efficiency and effective practices.
Sustainability
- Model and prepare students to critically evaluate sustainable practices to enhance economic, environmental, physical and social, and professional needs.
Department of Education Conceptual Framework
Our Learner-Centered Educator conceptual framework is rooted in diverse theories, philosophy, collective wisdom, research, and best practices. The name “Learner-Centered” is a deliberate choice expressing our belief that all educational decisions, from policy to classroom instruction, must be centered on the complex identities, needs, and aspirations of the learner.
The Learner-Centered Educator conceptual framework is not our curriculum, but rather, our guide for all Department of Education programs, graduate and undergraduate degrees, licensure, and certificates. The framework is an articulation of the collective beliefs and values of the department faculty, deliberated and articulated in collaboration, toward cultivating these beliefs and values in students as emerging educators. We strive to live out the values and beliefs expressed in the themes of the conceptual framework as a department community, on campus, and in our relationships with schools, families, and communities locally, regionally, nationally, and globally. The Learner-Centered Educator conceptual framework is a nexus of the following five themes which are the guideposts of our collective curriculum, pedagogy, and scholarship in the department: community, critical reflection, justice & equity, accessibility, sustainability.
Community
The most meaningful learning happens within the context of community. This understanding drives us to equip learners with the knowledge and skills to build inclusive, relational environments that honor diverse voices and lived experiences. Many of our programs are structured to facilitate community among our learners, and our teaching and scholarship seeks to serve local, national, and global communities beyond our department.
Critical Reflection
Creating and maintaining community requires awareness of how community members have been socialized by ideologies and systems that often divide and subjugate people. Critical reflection requires all community members to (1) question normalized values, structures, and practices forming our learning communities, (2) consider their own positionality and impact on the learning community, and (3) continually re-imagine the learning community in response to our ever-changing society.
Justice & Equity
Like Freire, we believe the highest purpose of education is humanization. Critical reflection reveals the ways in which society and schools may either cultivate or suppress, people’s humanity. Our learning communities practice critical reflection to engage and transform educational spaces in pursuit of more just and equitable realities. In our American context, this includes a focus on democracy and indigenous sovereignty.
Accessibility
Critical reflection on inequity compels us to seek accessibility for all within the diverse learning community, regardless of ability, background, or circumstance. Our programs emphasize removing barriers to education and equipping our emerging educators with the tools to design inclusive policies, responsive curricula, and differentiated instructional experiences. By prioritizing accessibility, we prepare emerging educators to advocate for equitable opportunities in their learning communities, fields of study, and society.
Sustainability
Sustainability is a mindset that understands the connectedness of life. This mindset supports systems and practices that seek the well-being of individuals and their communities, both present and future, equally. Our faculty are committed to pursuing the sustainability of natural environments and humanizing social structures, and this commitment is woven into our teaching, service, and scholarship. We also strive to equip emerging educators with approaches and practices for sustainable professional lives.
Works Influencing the Learner-Centered Framework include:
bell hooks. (2003). Teaching community: A pedagogy of hope. Routledge.
Dewey, J. (1910). Experience and education. University of Chicago Press.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Continuum.
Gay, G. (2023). Educating for equity and excellence: Enacting culturally responsive teaching. Teachers College Press.
Giroux, H.A. (1988). Teachers as intellectuals: Toward a critical pedagogy of learning. Bergin & Garvey.
Gorski, P.C. (2025). Equity literacy institute. https://www.equityliteracy.org/
Levang, E. (2024). Rights of nature and the St. Louis Estuary. Open Rivers. https://openrivers.lib.umn.edu/article/rights-of-nature-st-louis-estuary/
Ladson-Billings, G. (2014). Culturally relevant pedagogy 2.0: a.k.a. the remix. Harvard Educational Review, 84(1), pp. 74-84. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.84.1.p2rj131485484751
Paris, D. & Alim, H.S. (2017). Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world. Teachers College Press.
Tomlinson, C.A. (2017). How to differentiate instruction for academically diverse classrooms (3rd. ed.). Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).