Conceptual Framework: Summary of Key Ideas

Our candidates are engaged in learning and inquiry, and they create and transmit knowledge with application to their professional environments. College faculty strive toward pedagogy that balances theory and practical application.

We teach our candidates to read, understand, interpret, and apply high quality research. And we teach them to design and conduct their own forms of inquiry to examine effective practices in specific settings relevant to their fields, which contributes to the evidence on these practices.

We use inclusive processes for governance, planning, and communication. Through collaborative practices we address common barriers to change and societal challenges, in order to address structural and systemic school inequities together. Multiple connections with P-16 partners and communities are integral to our teaching, scholarship, and service.

We seek to be, and to prepare, transformative leaders who have the ability to engage in reflection. We help our candidates build a robust set of leadership skills so that they can carry out their work and support success in diverse urban settings.

In order to lead effectively, College faculty, staff, administrators, and candidates need to understand, keep pace with, and apply innovative processes. We believe innovation and creativity with regard to technology, program and policy development, and teaching and learning are essential components to achieving the College’s mission.

We are committed scholars engaged in the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge that contributes to intellectual discussions within our respective fields and across the disciplines. Our scholarship addresses issues of concern to the community.

As a teaching and learning community committed to urban education, we are advocates for the many diverse communities—locally, nationally, and globally—for whom “urban” means home. We also foster this commitment through teaching our students to be advocates for the communities they serve and for themselves. More broadly, we also commit ourselves to being fierce advocates for our professions, and for public support of education and human development.