Campus Connection

With an array of programs, there's something for everyone in the School of Education

Education has never been a one-size-fits-all career path. The School of Education at UW-La Crosse, led by Dean Marcie Wycoff-Horn, has worked to develop a flexible menu of programs to prepare each of our gradates for a successful future.

Since its inception, the education field has been a dynamic one — reliant on the innovation, creativity and passion of educators and school leaders. UWL’s teacher preparation programs strive to be innovative, flexible and responsive to the unique passions and needs of each student.

In the midst of a severe teacher shortage, UWL continues to have a competitive number of students applying for admission to the School of Education. Every qualified education student deserves to have access to a quality education as well as a wide array of opportunities to meet the needs of our graduates.

Educators are needed everywhere: in urban and rural settings, in public and private schools, at home and abroad, and everywhere in between. Through partnerships, generous donors and excellent faculty, UWL has been able to develop many different programs to meet our students’ needs. Here are some of the highlights:

Professional Development Schools

This program is an effective way to offer a rigorous and thorough experience throughout their clinical experiences.

Professional Development Schools (PDS) are schools that have joined with a university to accomplish educational goals that are mutually beneficial to each. These schools are clinical sites where cohorts of future teachers participate in structured learning experiences as part of their professional education programs.

Accelerated Tracks 

These tracks offer students the opportunity to accelerate their track to licensure.

• Faculty-Led Study Abroad in Luxembourg: Special Education Field Students spend the summer teaching and learning through a partnership with a school in Luxembourg.
• Milwaukee Urban Experiences: Field Students spend the summer teaching and learning through a partnership with the Notre Dame School of Milwaukee.

Urban Experiences 

This program offers students the chance to teach in an urban setting. In addition to the Milwaukee Urban Experiences program, UWL collaborates with UW-Milwaukee to offer an urban student-teaching experience.

• Institute for Urban Education: Student teachers can choose to be placed in an urban setting in the Milwaukee area. These placements are culturally diverse, urban teaching experiences.

High-Impact Student Teaching Opportunities

These programs offer students a chance to branch out from a traditional student teach placement, based on their interests.

• Puerto Rico: Students spend the winter term teaching and learning how to teach English to non-native speakers at a school in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• Japan: Students spend the summer in Tokyo and surrounding cities, becoming immersed with Japanese people and culture through ART and TESOL coursework, visiting cultural sites and considering education.
• Educators Abroad: This partnership is designed to provide student teachers with an opportunity to complete one quarter of the student-teaching semester abroad. Some of our previous placements include Taiwan, Bahrain, Kosovo and South Korea.
• Wisconsin Improvement Program: Through this internship, student teachers will participate in a full-semester placement in a school system, where they are employed by the school district and receive a stipend.