Overview

• For the 2011-2012 academic year, 835 undergraduates and 1,370 graduate students enrolled in the College of Education.

• The COE currently partners with more than 200 Chicago area public and private schools through a host of improvement programs.

• In concert with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the Archdiocese of Chicago, the COE has established the Professional Development Schools (PDS) Network, an innovative educational concept designed to enhance pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade education while providing a creative environment for teacher training and professional faculty development.

• More than 3,000 COE graduates are employed as teachers, principals and administrators in the Chicago area.

Distinctions

• DePaul and the international nonprofit organization Facing History and Ourselves announced a first-of-its-kind, multiyear collaboration in 2012  to incorporate Facing History’s acclaimed resources, materials and classroom strategies on civic engagement throughout programs for working and aspiring teachers studying at COE. The collaboration, the first between Facing History and a university college of education, was made possible through a generous gift from DePaul Trustee and alumnus Jack Greenberg and his wife, Donna.

• Melissa Ockerman, assistant professor in DePaul’s College of Education, was named Counselor Educator of the Year 2012 by the Illinois School Counselor Association. Two alumni of DePaul’s graduate counseling program also won awards.

• At least 15 COE graduates have won prestigious Golden Apple awards since 1990. The Golden Apple Foundation recognizes and develops outstanding teachers, especially for schools of need.

• Special Education Professor Beverly Trezek has devised a groundbreaking method of teaching deaf and hearing-impaired children how to read. She has traveled worldwide lecturing on the topic and training teachers how to use the method.

• COE Assistant Professor Hanna Kim organizes a free hands-on, inquiry-based weeklong summer program to keep middle school girls interested in science and technology. Kim's Inquiry-Based Science and Technology Enrichment Program (InSTEP) was founded in 2008 by a Motorola Foundation Innovation grant.

• In summer 2011, Erin Mason, an assistant professor of human services and counseling, won a College Partner award during the Annual CPS Counseling Celebration for her ongoing work with the elementary school counseling program in CPS.

• Jim Duignan, associate professor and founder of the Stockyard Institute, an arts and pedagogical initiative that establishes collaborative, community-wide arts and education projects with youth, teachers, artists and residents in underserved Chicago communities. The Stockyard Institute coordinaties with area schools, youth centers, cultural organizations and community centers to design and organize temporary public art projects and sustainable art and education programs. Since its inception in 1995, the Stockyard Institute has connected with thousands of DePaul University students, local teachers, youth and community residents building, teaching, exhibiting, exchanging and publishing projects in Chicago, the U.S. and around the world. Duignan's work and models have been published by New Art Examiner, Artforum, Chicago Reader, Whitewalls, Proximity Magazine, New City, Palm Press, Routledge, AREA Chicago, Green Lantern Press and the New York Times.

• Kenneth Saltman, an associate professor of educational policy studies and research, won a 2008 American Educational Studies Association (AESA) Critics' Choice Award for his book "Capitalizing on Disaster: Taking and Breaking Public Schools" (Paradigm Publishers 2007), for its relevance to the foundations of education and the mission of AESA, originality of research, scholarly/intellectual impact on the field and the significance of the topic. The book argues that privatization policies such as the federal No Child Left Behind Act are designed to deregulate and privatize public schools, favoring businesses while undermining public oversight, community involvement and critical approaches to teaching and learning. 

Programs

• COE offers degree programs in early childhood education; elementary, secondary and physical education; bilingual/bicultural education; curriculum studies; educational leadership ; human services and counseling ; special education (language, literacy and specialized instruction); and social and cultural foundations in education

• With the support of the Big Shoulders Fund, COE partners with Josephinum Academy, Maria High School, Notre Dame High School for Girls and St. Benedict’s High School to provide professional development for teachers and administrators. The partnerships provide cross-school collaboration and teacher and student leadership opportunities aimed at enhancing student academic performance.

• In partnership with DePaul’s Study Abroad program, COE offers a program that allows students to examine educational issues and study the Spanish language in Mexico, where students take one or two education courses at La Universidad LaSalle.

• The Family Lab in COE has been serving students in Chicagoland for over 40 years. It provides diagnostic assessment and offers academic tutoring, instructional interventions and related support. Services are provided by graduate students who are supervised by university faculty members in a clinical setting. It also serves as a training facility for DePaul students in the counseling master’s programs

• The Web-Enhanced Family Literacy Initiative (WE FLI), which is funded by the Illinois Reading Council, embodies DePaul's central mission of serving the community through educational endeavors.

About the Dean

Paul Zionts was appointed dean of the College of Education in July 2009. Zionts is the author, co-author or editor of five books and more than 25 articles and chapters. A professor of special education, his research interests include educating children and youth with emotional and behavioral disorders, cognitive behavioral interventions and classroom management.

Before joining DePaul, he served as dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan-Dearborn from 2005-2009. He previously served as a professor and chair of educational foundations and special services at Kent State University and as professor at Central Michigan University.

The College of Education's website is education.depaul.edu.