The mission of the Minnesota State University, Mankato' s College of Education (COE) is to prepare principled professional practitioners who thrive and succeed in diverse environments, promote collaborative and generative communities, and engage in life-long learning.
Our mission states what we do, what our job is. We accept the responsibility to focus our work on helping children, youth, families, adults, and communities to succeed. We do this work together with schools, agencies, organizations, and other entities. One avenue that we employ is initial preparation of professionals - teachers, counselors, speech pathologists, administrators, and leaders. The COE also provides advanced preparation in the form of customized professional development, advanced degrees, certificate programs, collaboration, and partnership.
It is our vision to be important in terms of the success of our broad professional community, our region, and society. Our vision also includes the proclamation of our conceptual framework. In this statement, we express our "intellectual philosophy" - the specifics of what the faculty believe about good teaching and learning. Because the conceptual framework reflects the unique thoughts and beliefs of the faculty at Minnesota State Mankato, it reveals the specifics of how we relate to one another, how we see our programs, and how we hope our graduates will do their work. Further, it provides direction for the development of programs, courses, teaching practices, performance assessments of candidates, practices and policies regarding service and scholarship, and accountability systems. Simply put, the conceptual framework should be reflected in both what happens and how things are done in the unit as it works to reach its vision.
Grounded in a vision of learning communities, the Professional Education unit has at its heart collaboration and connectedness to students, schools, neighborhoods, and society. To achieve this vision, the Minnesota State Manato graduate is a person of passion for and proficiency in content, with thoughtful and principled pedagogy, and a strong sense of educational purpose.
These educators possess the attributes, knowledge, and refined skills to assist students and families to be successful. They see their own growth as a product of reflection about experience-always seeking answers to questions about student learning and development that begin with words such as "why", "how", and "what if". Similarly, these educators believe that student learning occurs in a cycle of experience, reflection, and re-conceptualization-a process of seeking new knowledge that both fits into and changes existing understanding.
These educators work to form broad-based, diverse learning communities. They foster a climate where respectful and enthusiastic conversation, collective consideration, and shared understandings emerge. They guide and nurture learners to live in a diverse and open society. In these learning communities, understanding, honesty, openness, directness, and good will serve to move everyone forward.
The Professional Education unit and its graduates share with P-12 schools the responsibility for educating growing communities of color and English Language Learners. The focus of this responsibility is to help all students achieve the knowledge and skills needed to flourish as successful members of society.
Unit Emphases:
Professional education programs at Minnesota State Mankato have identified technical standards for their professions (teaching, counseling, and educational administration). These standards identify minimal capabilities necessary for success in the profession and therefore the preparation programs. They are the basis for the professional standards that are specified by the state of Minnesota and the statements of dispositions. These sets of documents provide great detail for the curriculum of the programs. Corresponding assessments have been created to measure and monitor candidate performance. The Minnesota State Mankato conceptual framework provides seven program emphases that identify how MSU graduates will be taught to accomplish the standards.
In each professional education program, these emphases are taught and in turn assessed across the program and later in graduate and employer surveys.
