Mission and Goals Statement
The University of Michigan School of Education
The School of Education is a national leader in its field and a highly regarded academic unit. Its programs of teaching, research, and service advance knowledge about education and improve educational practice in important ways, not only in Michigan, but nationally and internationally as well. At the same time, the School faces difficult challenges as educational institutions at all levels experience unprecedented demands for change and improvement. The School of Education recognizes its responsibility to play a leading role in helping others meet these demands while meeting them itself.
The University of Michigan also must respond to demands that it address important educational problems in society. A strong School of Education with creative leadership, superior knowledge production, and key roles in improving professional practice can help the University achieve its goals and meet its responsibilities in this regard. Both the University and the School of Education must become deeply involved in the reform and betterment of American education. The enlightened self-interest of the University requires such involvement, not only because K-12 schools provide the University with its diverse and high-achieving student body, but also because the University's key constituencies demand such leadership in return for public support.
To guide our work and to meet the ever-changing demands of educational reform, the School of Education Executive Committee uses an on-going planning process. This statement summarizes the current results of our planning efforts in terms of mission and goals, societal and university challenges, recent improvements, and planned developments.
Mission
The School of Education's mission focuses on the improvement of learning and teaching in educational settings. We value the importance of teaching and research within a major research university and we seek to balance these activities with our obligations to serve the education professions. Striking such a balance depends on three key ideas--centering our research squarely on the improvement of educational practice, offering high quality programs of instruction for present and future educational practitioners, and collaborating directly with other educators to improve practice. The idea of this balance is incorporated in our mission.
The mission of the School of Education is to improve teaching and learning at all levels of education through the development of leading programs of teaching, research, and service.
Goals
To pursue this mission, four goals guide our decisions and actions. These goals call for the School to focus its scholarship on issues of learning and teaching, offer exemplary programs of instruction, apply knowledge to improve educational practice, and increase diversity in staffing and curricula. In discussing each goal, we will first elaborate on the challenges from which it arises and then outline our recent improvements and new developments designed to achieve it.
Goal 1: Using diverse intellectual perspectives, the School of Education will focus its scholarship on issues of learning and teaching in educational settings.
Goal 2: The School of Education will create and maintain programs of instruction that are intellectually powerful, coherently organized, effectively taught, and valued by students.
Goal 3: The School of Education will create and apply knowledge to improve professional practice.
Goal 4: Reaffirm and revitalize the School of Education’s commitment to diversity.
