Purposeful decision-making is at the heart of effective teaching. Our aim is to develop exemplary teachers with a strong liberal arts foundation who exemplify Benedictine values, and who consistently make professional decisions that help all students achieve their full potential as persons and as responsible world citizens in a democratic society.

Through formal instruction, field experiences, and supervised clinical teaching we strive to prepare educators who understand the complexities of today’s classrooms and students, and who are able to apply their knowledge for the benefit of their students.

The CSB+SJU Education Department stands in solidarity with antiracists and the work of antiracism. We endorse the JFS statement. We renew our commitment to the action of change that dismantles systems that perpetuate racism. We recognize that we work within education systems that struggle to realize anti-racist ideals and visions, and we pledge to combat racism and all forms of oppression within education systems. We commit to the ongoing deepening of our understandings of racist policies, practices, and curricula and furthering those understandings into antiracist actions and education. We pledge to stand in solidarity and advocate with people who experience racism or any form of oppression.

The CSB+SJU Education Department commits to taking actions, such as the following:

• Organize a series of community anti-racist and anti-oppression learning opportunities;
• Continue reexamining our own policies, practices, and curricula;
• Create classroom communities that uplift the voices and scholarship of peoples who are marginalized by racism and other forms of oppression
• Advance and actively teach antiracist teaching practices and pedagogies; and
• Continuously position ourselves as learners to do the ongoing internal and external work of antiracism.

Future teachers at CSB+SJU learn evidence-based literacy instructional practices consistent with the science of reading. Literacy methods coursework focuses on the National Reading Panel 5 pillars of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension), as well as oral language, writing, and motivation. They are taught the importance of and how to implement explicit, systematic, and sequential phonics instruction.  Future teachers are prepared to work with students with dyslexia and other disabilities that affect reading. The coursework covers symptoms of dyslexia, resources for students with dyslexia, and appropriate instructional strategies and interventions for students with dyslexia.