TLES

Fast Facts

Between 1997 and Jul. 1, 2006, programs for preparing school teachers and administrators were housed in two very large and complex departments; the Department of Educational Studies and the Department of Teaching, Learning and Leadership.
On Jul. 1, 2006 these two departments were replaced by three new departments; one for school administrators, the Department of Educational Leadership, Research and Technology (ELRT) and two departments that now house WMU ’s largest teacher education programs, the Department of Special Education and Literacy Studies (SPLS) and the Department of Teaching, Learning and Educational Studies (TLES).
The department currently has 23 ranked faculty members. They include five full professors, 12 associate professors, four assistant professors, two term instructors and one faculty specialist.
Undergraduate students in TLES fall into three general categories of pre-service teachers; early childhood, elementary and secondary.
Each year about 100 elementary pre-service teachers participate in the Urban Program. This program, a school/university partnership established in 1999, is designed to assist undergraduate students in developing deep knowledge of and facility with, teaching in urban schools.
The department awards two master’s degree programs: the Master of Arts in Socio-Cultural Studies of Education and the Master of Arts in The Practice of Teaching