Oct 03, 2024  
2017-2018 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2017-2018 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Elementary Education, BA


Return to {$returnto_text} Return to: Undergraduate Academic Programs

College Education
Academic Award Bachelor of Arts
Credits Required 125 semester credits
Faculty Lead Molly Quick

The major in Elementary Education prepares students to become professional teachers for both public and private schools from kindergarten through the 8th grade. Aspiring teachers study the liberal arts, Bible and theology, educational foundations, psychology, assessment, learning theory and pedagogy, and instructional methods for the varied subjects required for elementary teaching: reading, mathematics, visual arts, drama, language arts, science, health and fitness, social studies, and music. During two semesters, students demonstrate their teaching skills in public or private school classrooms, leading to formal certification by the State of Washington.

Teaching Certificate Endorsements and Academic Subject Area

Elementary education majors earn the endorsement for kindergarten through 8th grade and a middle level endorsement in Humanities, Mathematics, Science, or English Language Learner (ELL). Middle level candidates may teach any self-contained classroom within that grade span or their subject specialty within 4th through 9th grades; ELL candidates may teach in any K-12 classroom.

Professional Standards and Performance Assessment

Within the context of educational restructuring and accountability for learning results, the performance of each candidate is evaluated in multiple ways over time. Assessment of candidate performance focuses on demon-strated competency in both knowledge and teaching skill, which employs varied strategies to measure professional knowledge, subject matter mastery, and teaching effectiveness. Measures include written examination, oral communication, classroom management, curricular and instructional design, practice teaching, projects and portfolios, written expression, visual and musical arts, and the success of children in field settings.

College of Education Outcomes

The College of Education, directed by broad research and theory, and in accordance with state standards, prepares teachers in eleven specific proficiencies. These outcomes guide our candidates’ experience throughout all of our COE programs. Specifically, in our BA in Elementary Education we aim toward the following outcomes:

Holistic Teachers,

  1. Candidates identify the influences of cultural background and situation for each student;
  2. Candidates demonstrate culturally responsive pedagogy aimed at the holistic learning of all students;
  3. Candidates equip students to appropriately engage their unique backgrounds in their own academic, social, and emotional development.

Adaptive Teachers,

  1. Candidates identify the different ways in which students acquire, demonstrate, and reinforce content knowledge and procedures;
  2. Candidates demonstrate differentiated teaching, adapting instruction where appropriate to meet student needs while remaining aligned with learning standards;
  3. Candidates equip students to adjust their own learning strategies and practices in order to overcome learning obstacles.

Learner-Focused Teachers,

  1. Candidates identify a variety of assessment tools through which to monitor and promote positive impact on student learning;
  2. Candidates demonstrate reflective instruction, analyzing student work in order to further develop their own pedagogical practices;
  3. Candidates equip students to reflect on their own learning by identifying learning targets and their progress toward them.
  4. Candidates pass their state-required WEST-E/NES content assessments necessary for certification (content areas: Elementary Education, Middle Level (ML) Humanities, ML Mathematics, and ML Science).
  5. Candidates pass their state-required edTPA pedagogy assessment necessary for certification (pedagogy areas: Elementary Education).

Core Curriculum Requirements: 60


Humanities: 9


  • 6 credits in this area must be from Writing Practice courses* (see Course Descriptions  for applicability)
  • ENGL xxx3 Any Literature course 3 credits
  • HIST xxx3 Any Course in History 3 credits
  • 3 additional credits selected from the following 3 credits
    Art (ARTE), Bible (BIBL), Drama (DRAM), English (ENGL), History (HIST), Language (LANG), Music (MUSI), or Theology (THEO)

Social Sciences: 9


  • 6 credits in this area must be from Writing Practice courses* (see Course Descriptions  for applicability)
  • Select a minimum of two disciplines from the following:
    Business Administration (BUSM), Communication (except COMM 1213), Economics, Education (EDUC), Geography (GEOG), Health & Fitness (PEDU), Management (BMGT), Marketing (BMKT), Philosophy (PHIL), Political Science (PSCI), Psychology (PSYC), or Sociology/Anthropology (SOCI)

Science and Mathematics: 4-7


  • MATH xxxx College-level Mathematics 3 credits #
  • SCIE xxxx Science course with Lab 4 credits ##

# Math requirement may be satisfied with MATH 4523 - Mathematics Content and Methods I
## Middle Level Science Endorsement: SCIE 1103/SCIE 1101 - Principles of Biology Laboratory w/lab required

Formation and Calling: 5


Core Electives: 9-12


Any college-level courses

Pre-Major Requirements: 28


Pre-Major requirements may be applied to the Core Curriculum requirements or General Electives

Humanities


Science and Mathematics


  • SCIE xxx3 Physical Science 3 credits
  • SCIE xxx3/1 Science with Lab 4 credits

Professional Requirements Elementary Education: 47


Middle Level Subject Area Endorsement: 11-20


Select one Middle Level Endorsement: English Language Learner, Humanities, Mathematics, or Science

English Language Learner Endorsement: 14


(exclusive of Core Curriculum)

Humanities Endorsement: 11


(exclusive of Core Curriculum)

Language Arts Elective: 3


Select one of the following

Science Endorsement: 19-20


(exclusive of Core Curriculum)

Ecology Elective: 3-4


Select one of the following

General Electives: 0-6


Any college-level courses

Return to {$returnto_text} Return to: Undergraduate Academic Programs