Program areas at TC
Instruction: Teachers College is the first and largest graduate school of education in the United States. Since its inception, the College has viewed education holistically, with the conviction that education must work in tandem with efforts to improve and ensure the health and psychological wellbeing of individuals and communities. Thus, in addition to focusing on PK-12 classroom education, Teachers College has helped forge and advance fields of inquiry such as education psychology, nutrition education, special education, conflict resolution, adult learning, movement sciences and many more areas in human development. Throughout history and contemporary discourse, the College has been at the forefront of innovative ideas and inquiry designed to create opportunity and equity for individuals across the lifespan, particularly among marginalized communities and racialized populations. Today, approximately a third of TC's tenure track faculty are psychologists and health educators (165 full-time faculty). The College continues to take a multidisciplinary approach through its 45 academic programs in 10 departments across education, health and psychology. The College continues to receive high marks for its academic offerings. In 2016, the Middle States Commission for Higher Education emphatically renewed the institution's accreditation for the next ten years, affirming the College's efforts to shape 21st-century approaches to teaching and learning through "a research-inspired multi-disciplinary approach, blending both theory and practiceX and "responsiveness to emerging societal issues surrounding education." In 2021, the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP), founded in 2017, granted full, seven-year accreditation to TC's educator preparation programs. Issued with no recommendations for improvements, the accreditation was accompanied by an official commendation citing the "quality of [TC's] programs . . . and deep, responsive, inquiry-based engagement with schools and learners in New York City." Additionally, in 2023, Teachers College tied as the #1 graduate school of education according to U.S. News and World Report.
Auxiliary Enterprises: Provides a convenient source of meals and lodging for students enhancing their College experience. Another major component of auxiliary enterprises is the Teachers College Press. Established in 1904 as the Bureau of Publications, the Press is one of the oldest and most distinguished publishers of educational materials in the United States. Since 1965, when the Bureau of Publications became Teachers College Press, its primary purpose has been to publish works that respond to, examine, and confront issues and change pertaining to education and the educational process. Over the years, the publication program has included scholarly and professional works in all areas of education-from early childhood and curriculum to philosophy and critical theory; from assessment and school reform to parenting and social issues. It now publishes more than 70 titles a year with more than 1,200 titles in print. Among the Press's authors are many of the most distinguished educators from throughout the world, including members of the Teachers College faculty.
Research, Training and Public Service: Teachers College's faculty includes some of the most internationally prominent and respected scholars, researchers and practitioners in their various fields. Our faculty examine a diverse range of topics, including the impact of poverty on the brain, the legal basis for a constitutional right to education, culturally relevant curriculum, public sentiment on climate change, the impact of microaggressions on wellbeing and language development on the autism spectrum. TC's Vice Dean for Research continues to lead efforts to strengthen the institutional infrastructure to support faculty and their work. TC's annual external funded research and training expenditures for FY23 were in excess of $49 million with major funding provided by the US National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, The Muslim World League, Ascendium Education Solutions Inc, the Bezos Family Foundation and other public and non-profit . Teachers College has also engaged with Columbia University and Barnard on new efforts to pursue collaborative research across institutions. With a critical voice in national and global discourse, TC emphasizes public and community engagement as opportunities for faculty, staff and students to implement the College's values into practice for social good. The College's Digital Futures Institute continues to gain momentum as an interdisciplinary hub that explores innovative uses of technology through teaching, research and public engagement. Faculty engaged in policy research are thought leaders and influencers in early childhood education, community colleges, social services, school finance, national learning standards and funding of national health programs. The College brings academic experts and other thought leaders on a range of issues to campus through visiting professorships, named lectures and other events. TC faculty are also widely known for innovative curriculum development in academic subjects; school-based health education; nutrition education; organizational psychology; developmental psychology; and more. Teachers College partners with the local community through several innovative school partnerships. The Teachers College Community School (TCCS), located in West Harlem, provides expertise, academic enrichment and support throughout the school, specifically: professional development for teachers; development and evaluation of curriculum; and academic enrichment. More than 20 TC students participate in programs at TCCS during each academic semester. Through TC's Edmund W. Gordon Institute for Urban and Minority Education, which celebrates its 50th year in 2023, the College also supports the university-assisted community school initiative called Raising Educational Achievement of Harlem (REACH), which brings together community-based organizations and institutional partners to provide academic support and enrichment, mentoring, and mental health support at local schools. REACH supports more than 800 students in three partner schools in Central Harlem.
Academic Support: Provides support services for the College's primary mission of instruction, research and public service. The College provides students with access to its Gottesman Libraries, one of the nation's largest and most comprehensive research libraries in education. The collections reflect TC's commitment to advanced study in education, psychology, and the health professions. The library has developed extensive collections including 500,000 printed volumes and Substantial non-print collections.
Student Services: Contributes to a student's emotional and physical well being and intellectual, cultural and social development. The College awarded approximately $37 million in financial aid in FY23, has roughly 5,500 students and over 43 student organizations including the TC China Society, ASL Club, Coalition of Latino Scholars, Student-Parent Group, Queer TC, Rural Education and Healthcare coalition, and the Student Senate. The Graduate Writing Center (GWC) provided more than 1,300 support sessions in FY23. GWC holds weekly writing groups for students and workshops each semester on topics such as literature review, APA formatting, and notetaking.