Fast Facts
The Department of Teaching, Learning and Educational Studies at Western Michigan University houses two undergraduate programs leading to teacher certification:
- Elementary Education
- Early Childhood General and Special Education and Lower Elementary Education: Birth through Grade 3
Two Masters of Arts degree programs are offered, each allowing specializations developed in consultation with a faculty member:
The Department of Teaching, Learning and Educational Studies at Western Michigan University collaborates with two other departments to offer additional unified undergraduate programs leading to teacher certification:
- Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL): K-12 with Elementary Education PK-3
- Special Educational Learning Disabilities K-12 with Elementary Education PK-3
The department’s programs are shaped by a common set of core beliefs which provide focus to our learning, teaching and ongoing engagement with our community. Our core beliefs include the important stances we take in reflecting, knowing and learning.
Our department faculty works together with faculty in the areas of special education, literacy studies, educational technology and many departments in the College of Arts and Sciences to coordinate coursework to see that our programs and graduates meet state and national standards for teacher certification.
Interns and pre-interns in undergraduate programs work in a wide variety of school settings in communities in southwest Michigan. A key to the success of these experiences is an award-winning support and accountability system built on the concept of school cluster sites where our students receive active mentoring and supervision as they learn to teach.
Accreditations and external program review
- Association for Childhood Education International
- National Association for the Education of Young Children