Teachers College, Columbia University
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Teachers College, view down West 120th Street. |
Teachers College, Columbia University (sometimes referred to simply as
Teachers College; also referred to
Teachers College of Columbia University) was founded in
1887 by the philanthropist
Grace Hoadley Dodge and philosopher
Nicholas Murray Butler to provide a new kind of schooling for the teachers of the poor children of
New York City, one that combined a humanitarian concern to help others with a scientific approach to human development. From its modest beginnings as a school to prepare home economists and manual art teachers for the children of the poor, the college affiliated with
Columbia University in 1898, and went on to become the leading intellectual influence on the development of the American teaching profession. Under the terms of its affiliation with
Columbia University, it is the university which actually awards
master's degrees,
Ph.D., and
Ed.D.degrees to graduates of Teachers College.
The founders early recognized that professional teachers need reliable knowledge about the conditions under which children learn most effectively. As a result, the College's program from the start included such fundamental subjects as
educational psychology and
educational sociology. The founders also insisted that education must be combined with clear ideas about
ethics and the nature of a good society; consequently programs were developed in the
history of education and in
comparative education. As the number of school children increased during the twentieth century, the problems of managing the schools became ever more complex. The college took on the challenge and instituted programs of study in areas of
administration,
economics, and
politics. Other programs developed in such emerging fields as
clinical and counseling psychology,
developmental psychology,
cognitive psychology,
curriculum development, instructional technology, media studies and
school health care.
Today, Teachers College provides solutions to the difficult problems of
urban education, reaffirming its original mission in providing a new kind of education for those left most in need by society or circumstance. The college continues its collaborative research with urban and suburban school systems that strengthen teaching in such fundamental areas as
reading,
writing,
science,
mathematics, and
the arts; prepares leaders to develop and administer psychological and health care programs in schools, hospitals and community agencies; and advances
technology for the classroom, developing new teaching software and keeping teachers abreast of new developments. Teachers College also houses a wide range of applied psychology degrees, including one of the nation's leading programs in Organizational Psychology.
Notable
alumni include
Neil Postman,
Joyce Brothers,
Shirley Chisholm,
Albert Ellis,
Thomas Kean,
Georgia O'Keeffe,
Carl Rogers, and
Ruth Westheimer.
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Teachers College, Columbia Universitywebsite
