Teacher certification at Lawrence is available to Lawrence undergraduates, alumni, and graduates from other colleges and universities. All graduates are classified as non-degree seeking. Graduates should consult the catalog and call the Education Department's administrative assistant at (920) 832 6714. Undergraduate information can be found here and in the catalog.

Why Teach?

There are many good reasons for becoming a teacher: for many, it is the pure enjoyment of working on a daily basis with young people; others find it allows them to pursue an ongoing, passionate interest in history or biology or music; and some see it as offering a lifestyle whose daily and yearly rhythm is compatible with raising a family. 

Most Lawrentians in our teacher certification program, however, would agree that, above all else, teaching is a way of making a meaningful difference in the lives of others and a means by which they can make an important contribution to the common good of their local community.  We believe, too, that those Lawrentians who discover teaching is their calling, the work in which they will find lifelong interest and happiness, choose it because they are committed to empowering their students with the academic skills and knowledge necessary to full participation in the civic, economic, and cultural life of their community.  And, we believe most Lawrentians who decide to become teachers also agree that teaching is, ultimately, a moral act through which they encourage their students to dream a different and better world, and inspire in them the willingness to act in order to bring that world into being.

Why Choose a Liberal Arts Approach to Teacher Education?

The practice of teaching is a tremendously challenging and intellectually complex art, craft, and profession rolled into one.  In a society as diverse as ours, therefore, teaching demands the abilities, dispositions, and habits of mind provided by study of the liberal arts.

At Lawrence, this liberal arts approach to teacher education differs from “teacher training” approaches that attempt to provide every graduate with a specific body and prescribed amount of knowledge and skills.  Instead, Lawrence seeks to prepare educators who skeptically ask why and not simply what or how, who have the ability to critically investigate and understand the world they and their students inhabit, and who have learned how to learn in order to solve new problems and challenges as they arise. 

Historically, then, Lawrence has held fast to the belief that the most effective teachers are those who possess a mastery of their subject areas, understand the interrelationships among different fields of knowledge, and make an abiding personal commitment to lifelong learning—all of which, taken together, are the hallmarks of a liberally educated person.  Lawrence has also held firm to the belief that effective teachers are familiar with and able to use the best pedagogical knowledge available (e.g., theories of learning and child development, methods of instruction and classroom management), can articulate a coherent philosophy of education that guides decisions about what and how to teach, and are able to think carefully and critically about their own practice.

Toward those ends, Lawrence's teacher education program is divided into three roughly equal parts.  The first requires that students acquire a broad education in the natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, and fine arts (i.e., the liberals arts as a whole); the second requires that students achieve intellectual depth and focus by majoring not in education but in the specific discipline or subject they intend to teach; and the third requires that students gain expertise in educational studies and in pedagogical theory and practice.

Such an educational program, we are convinced, provides Lawrence graduates with the preparation to teach effectively across all disciplines in which we offer licensure, in diverse cultural, economic and geographical settings, and with students of varying cognitive, social, emotional, and physical needs and abilities.

Lawrence University Teacher Education Program Standards

Lawrence University’s liberal arts approach to teacher education is in accordance with Certification Rules PI 34 of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.  Lawrence students must demonstrate they have mastered the 13 Teacher Education Program Standards in order to complete the program and be certified for licensure.  These standards incorporate the Wisconsin Teacher Standards (PI 34.02) with the addition that the student “understands the connections among the various liberal arts and sciences,” in keeping with the liberal arts approach to teacher education described above. 

A list of the 13 standards and potential sources of evidence for meeting each standard can be found under Program Standards on this website.

Certification Areas

Students who seek certification to teach middle school or high school (early adolescence through adolescence) may choose from nearly all majors, including English, history, the social sciences, the natural sciences, environmental studies, mathematics, computer science, theatre arts, and English as a second language.  Students may seek broad field certification in social studies or the natural sciences by supplementing their major with additional courses.

Students who seek special-field certification to teach art, music (choral, general, or instrumental), or foreign language (Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Latin, Russian, and Spanish) are certified to teach at all levels, Kindergarten through 12th grade (early childhood through adolescence).

Lawrence does not offer general elementary certification, but students who wish to teach elementary school can begin studying the field of education, including gaining significant practicum experience at the elementary level, before pursuing a graduate elementary certification program at another institution.  (It may be to your advantage to be certified for licensure in both secondary and elementary education, even if your primary goal is to be an elementary classroom teacher, since dual licensure can expand job opportunities and provide more flexibility (and security) in your career.)

Students who have already graduated from college can also be certified for licensure through Lawrence.  This typically involves a year of coursework (at reduced tuition) followed by a semester of student teaching.  Contact the department chair for details.

Detailed Information

Follow the links at left for more information about teacher certification requirements and the process of becoming a teacher through Lawrence.  Exact requirements for each certification area can be found in the university catalog.  Students also receive a Teacher Certification Handbook when they apply to be formally admitted to the program.