Our Mission and Goals
La Salle University – Educators Setting the Standard
“…at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time” - T.S. Elliot
The Department of Education continues to set the standard for excellence in education through a strong vision of what future educationshould be. Thus, we educate students to become professional educators, and leaders in their schools and communities through service and other school experiences that stress powerful connections between theory and practice. Lasallian educators are forward thinking, ethically minded, and developmentally oriented teachers who positively influence the lives of diverse groups of students, particularly those in most need.
The mission of the Department of Education incorporates the de la Salle Christian Brothers tradition of teaching excellence and service. Our departmental focus on learning capitalizes on the need for all professional educators to understand and apply developmentally appropriate, content-rich, differentiated instructional, management, technological, and assessment practices that result in deep and meaningful learning.
A Lasallian educator is responsive to the needs of all students and the communities they serve through a rigorous curriculum. La Salle educators are knowledgeable, intellectually curious, reflective collaborative, confident, and proactive. They are service oriented – manifesting a measurable degree of devotion to assist students in need.
- The Professional demonstrates knowledge and application of how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of learning and development vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical areas, and designs and implements developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences.
- The Professional demonstrates knowledge and application of individual differences and diverse cultures and communities to ensure inclusive learning environments that enable each learner to meet high standards.
- The Professional works collaboratively with other professionals to create environments that support individual and collaborative learning, and that encourage positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self motivation.
- The Professional demonstrates knowledge the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and creates learning experiences that make the discipline accessible and meaningful for learners to assure mastery of the content.
- The Professional demonstrates knowledge of how to connect concepts and use differing perspectives by engaging learners in critical thinking, creativity, and collaborative problem solving related to authentic local and global issues.
- The Professional demonstrates knowledge and application of multiple methods of assessment to engage learners in their own growth, to monitor learner progress, and to guide the teacher’s and learner’s decision making.
- The Professional supervises and/or plans and implements instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context.
- The Professional understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.
- The Professional engages in ongoing professional learning and uses evidence to continually evaluate his/her practice, particularly the effects of his/her choices and actions on others (learners, families, other professionals, and the community), and adapts practice to meet the needs of each learner.
- The Professional seeks appropriate leadership roles and opportunities to take responsibility for student learning, to collaborate with learners, families, colleagues, other school professionals, and community members to ensure learner growth, and to advance the profession.
Adapted from InTASC Standards (2011)