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Elementary Education

This program is no longer accepting students as of January 1, 2025.

What You’ll Study

Are you curious about how children learn and grow? Our elementary education program provides students like you with a firm foundation in K-5th education. You will experience hands-on, experiential learning opportunities in the classroom and walk away from your Queens education confidently using different teaching methods in your classrooms.

Elementary school books on shelves

We also empower our students to develop their teaching philosophies and emphasize leadership development, preparing them for a successful and fulfilling career in education. Graduates of our program not only experience the supportive, highly qualified mentoring of our faculty, but they also benefit from the department’s close partnerships with local schools.

If you are interested in teaching, you know it’s more than a job. The best teachers make a difference by inspiring young minds, one student at a time.

How Will This Degree Enhance Your Future?

Teaching roles vary across cities, states, and institutions, and we equip our students to adapt their teaching skills to diverse classroom settings. Our strong ties with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, a nationally acclaimed urban school district, provide a significant edge.

Graduates from Queens University gain valuable student teaching experiences in various environments, helping individuals like you discover their passion and ensuring they’re well-prepared for their initial teaching position, whatever form it takes.

Highlighted Courses

  • Needs of Diverse Learners (EDU 225)
  • Data-Driven Instruction and Assessment (EDU 315)
  • Intro to Balanced Literacy: Diagnostics and Overview (EDU 345)
  • Application and Practice: Elementary STEM (EDU 485)

Student Highlights

“The Queens Cato Teaching Fellows program has been the best experience. The program allows fellows to experience diverse opportunities while making an impact in our local community.” – Marah Hild-Ladebauche

“When I completed the Elementary Education program, I was ready to teach in any classroom and any school. The clinical experiences were strategic and helped me learn how to be a successful teacher.” – Ashlyn Main

Program Contact

Dixie Abernathy, Ed.D.

Associate Professor, Education

abernathyd@queens.edu

Meet Your Professors

Other Program Opportunites

The Cato Teaching Fellow Scholarship is a unique fellowship that provides candidates with additional ways to grow their future career as a teacher and help them become a more well-rounded person and teacher leader.

Fellows are offered a variety of educational experiences that will transform their careers and prepare them to be highly successful teachers of 21st-century students. Our Fellows have rich opportunities to learn first-hand what classrooms look like across our nation by planning and visiting schools around our local community and beyond. During the sophomore year, Fellows visit the famous Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia. Junior year, Fellows plan their own visit to communities and schools across the United States. For example, we have visited the Teachers College in New York, and various schools in San Francisco, Washington State, and Utah.

The Cato Fellows Scholars have fun participating in team-building and bonding activities such as attending cooking classes, completing ropes courses, and whitewater rafting. As a Fellow, you also spend time serving others by making supplies for classrooms, collecting and delivering books to a local school, tutoring students in various schools, and volunteering for other organizations in our community. Fellows also build leadership skills by developing and implementing their own leadership and service projects each semester. Fellows have developed and led book studies, organized pen-pal programs with local schools, attended and participated in conferences, organized guest speakers for the School of Education, and more.