Teacher Education & School Improvement
Reflective, informed, and research-oriented
Interested in Teacher Education & School Improvement, as of July 2026 see the new expanded EdS and PhD program in Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum Studies. Contact TLCS [at] umass [dot] edu (TLCS[at]umass[dot]edu) for more information.
The Teacher Education & School Improvement program at UMass Amherst prepares reflective, informed, and research-oriented scholar-practitioners, scholar-educators, and scholar-activists in the fields of teacher education, teacher development, and school improvement.
We believe teachers' work is intellectual and political work: academically rigorous, highly complex, and deeply relational. As such, teacher educators have a responsibility to cultivate teachers who are reflective practitioners with deep knowledge of their content area and of the social, political, and cultural dynamics of teaching and learning.
Our students undertake scholarship that advances these goals by enhancing our understanding of effective teaching and teacher-education practices and by increasing our society's capacity to implement such practices.
We are committed to supporting research and practice that advance the aims of educational equity and social justice.
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Benefits list
Our values
We seek students who are experienced educators and wish to develop their expertise in issues related to teacher education, teacher development, and school improvement, and we value the practice-based knowledge and experience that our students bring to the classroom. We also value the integration of scholarship and practice, and our graduate students have access to a variety of research, teaching, and apprenticeship experiences. Many of our students go on to tenure track positions in colleges and universities while others work in K-12 as teachers and administrators.
In the News
Arce ’26PhD Wins 2026 Antonia Pantoja Award
Joel Arce ’26PhD was selected to receive the 2026 Antonia Pantoja Award by the Latino Scholarship Fund of Western Massachusetts.
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In a groundbreaking collaboration, Dr. Royce Kimmons (Brigham Young University), Dr. George Veletsianos (Royal Roads University), and Dr. Torrey Trust
Torrey Trust Named in Top 30 Higher Ed IT Influencers
UMass College of Education Professor Torrey Trust was named by EdTech: Focus on Higher Education as one of the “30 Higher Ed IT influencers to Follow in 2024.”