Children, families, and schools offers a program of study in child development, childhood studies, and learning, examining how they relate to educational practice from birth through the the elementary school years. It includes our undergraduate early childhood education concentration, leading to Pre-K through 2nd grade licensure.
Programs
The Community Education and Social Change concentration prepares undergraduate students to work and provide educational leadership in community-based organizations through a social justice framework.
Educational leadership is ideal for students who want to transform preK-12 education, influencing policy and practices in a wide range of educational contexts and settings.
The Collaborative Teacher Education Pathway (CTEP) has two options for students: one for UMass undergraduates and one for students coming from other educational institutions, current teaching professionals who want to earn an M.Ed., or career changers.
Students in the higher education program aspire to be leaders in higher education, revolutionizing the field by working for social justice and equity in educational institutions.
The international education program prepares students for careers in international development building and strengthening educational systems across the two-thirds world. We are a community of scholar-practitioners who work alongside populations marginalized by structural inequalities such as gender, race, sexualities, ethnicity, poverty, and conflict.
Language, literacy, and culture scholars focus on a wide range of topics, including language acquisition, ESL, multicultural education, critical multiliteracies, children’s and young adult literature, and critical media literacy, seeking to transform education to better meet the needs of all learners in multicultural and multilingual contexts.
Transform teaching and learning by applying theory and research to practice. Use current and emerging technologies to create new media, design innovative instruction, and build online learning experiences that enrich informal and formal education.
The mathematics, science, and learning technologies doctoral program prepares students to improve learning and instruction in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines and to challenge inequities in STEM education.
Students in the research, evaluation, measurement, and psychometrics program learn to develop instruments such as tests, assessments, and questionnaires, to use new models and methods for data collection and analysis, design sampling frameworks, collect and analyze data, and conduct research and evaluation studies.
The school counselor education program prepares professionals who will nurture children's academic, vocational, personal, and social development and create school environments where all students can thrive.
Students in the school psychology program train to be school psychologists or to work in health-service settings by studying the theoretical foundations of the field while developing the skills they’ll need for their day to day work.
Science Education Online prepares elementary and middle school teachers to create inquiry-based science classrooms in a fully-online program.
The Secondary Teacher Education Preparation Program prepares students to become middle or high school teachers in English, history, political science/political philosophy, the sciences, modern foreign languages or mathematics.
Social justice education prepares teachers, leaders, and scholars to foster educational environments that are socially just, diverse, inclusive, and equitable.
Special education students become catalysts for change, helping increase educational opportunities and improve outcomes for children with disabilities and their families.
The teacher education and school improvement program prepares reflective, informed, and research-oriented scholars, practitioners, educators, and activists in the fields of teacher education, teacher development, and school improvement.
The college of education collaborates with other colleges and schools at UMass Amherst to prepare teachers of art, music, languages, classics, as well as specialists in speech, language & learning disorders.