The Department of Teaching & Learning holds as its central mission educational research and the preparation of educators at all levels. The department ensures that its professional education programs are based on essential knowledge, established and current research findings, and sound professional practice.
Mission & Values
The Department of Teaching and Learning aims to work with educators, learners, families, and communities to engage in research, teaching, and service that are aligned with our core values as follows:
- Center and serve the diverse needs of urban, suburban, and rural communities both locally (e.g., serving Clark County School District) and broadly (e.g., communities in the state of Nevada, the nation, and internationally) by establishing collaborative and mutually beneficial partnerships that value community knowledge and practices.
- Prepare and support educators who recognize students as critically conscious, civically active participants in democratic and global societies both locally and transnationally.
- Advocate for racial justice through critical self-reflection, action, and transformation to dismantle interlocking vectors of oppression and promote liberation and joy.
- Affirm diverse perspectives to promote belongingness for all learners, educators, families, and communities, situated in connectedness to identities, positionalities, and standpoints related to race, ethnicity, caste, gender identity and expression, socioeconomic class, immigration status, national or geographic origin, spirituality/religion, first language, sexuality, disability, age, generation, family configuration, education, and additional aspects of intersectional identities.
- Center equity-oriented, justice-centered, inclusive, and culturally relevant/responsive/sustaining approaches in our research and teaching to work toward equitable learning opportunities, environments, and achievement in partnership with collaborators (e.g., students, families, communities, schools, school districts, and community organizations).
- Prioritize problem-posing dialogues centered on humility, dedicated to our ongoing individual and collective struggles to become more fully human in connection with the earth.