Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Dr. Gail Shroyer, Chair
261 Bluemont Hall
1100 Mid-Campus Drive
Manhattan, KS 66506-5301
(785) 532-5550
FAX (785) 532-7304

Elementary Program | Secondary Program | Graduate Program

The Department of Curriculum and Instruction is committed to addressing the needs of a broadly divergent set of constituencies.
Our program involves undergraduate and graduate components
in both elementary and secondary education.

Our primary responsibility, as part of one of the oldest and strongest land-grant universities in the nation, is providing quality instruction and clinical supervision in both on-campus and field-based settings. Our major goal – developing educators who are knowledgeable, ethical, caring decision makers– is intertwined throughout our undergraduate program and is the basis for our national accreditation by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). To meet this goal, students are prepared as educators to appreciate differing viewpoints, consider new and divergent thinking, weigh ideas carefully, evaluate conventional wisdom, and obtain accurate and useful knowledge.

For over 20 years, K-State has utilized a Professional Development School (PDS) Partnership with local school districts. Professional Development Schools strengthen and integrate practical field experiences and play a critical role in the professionalization of teaching. Partner schools serve as sites to integrate theory from professional studies with practice in clinical settings where fieldwork is interspersed and aligned with course work.

The goals of the K-State PDS Partnership include: preparation of new teachers; continuing professional development for both preservice and experienced educators; provision of resources, people, and support to help all children reach high levels of academic excellence; and practice-based inquiry including action research projects and classroom innovations that explore how children learn, how teachers learn and how schools improve.

Elementary Education Program
The elementary education program prepares you to teach children in kindergarten through sixth grade in a self-contained classroom. Elementary education is a career in which you can find the satisfaction of helping children learn, work closely with other caring adults, and contribute to the future of the world by educating tomorrow's leaders.

Secondary Education Program
The secondary education program prepares you to teach in grades six through twelve (high schools, junior high schools, and middle schools). Secondary teachers prepare to teach in one or more content areas. Critical and analytical thinking, careful and thoughtful communication, and a desire to explore, question, and solve problems are promoted in the secondary education major.

Graduate Program
The graduate program in Curriculum and Instruction offers a variety of graduate-level courses in all curricular areas with specific emphasis upon trends and recent developments in practice, theory, and research. Our graduate faculty have a professional commitment to the delivery of exemplary instruction, production, interpretation, and dissemination of sound and useful research and scholarship, leadership, collaboration, and service within the profession, and promotion, understanding, and celebration of diversity. Graduate degrees include the Master of Science (M.S.) the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.).