We are a diverse community of internationally recognized faculty with a commitment to equity, access, and social justice. Our programs include literacy acquisition, sociocultural theory, Indigenous education, heritage-language revitalization, the study of households and community settings, children’s and adolescent literatures and literacy, science and mathematics education, environmental learning and sustainability, curriculum theory, classroom organization and management, and teacher education and development.
Teacher certification programs
Our undergraduate degree programs in Early Childhood Education (birth-age 8) and Elementary Education (grades K-8), with a Bilingual Endorsement option.
We also offer a teaching degree through a new partnership with Sunnyside Unified School District called Pathways to Teaching.
At the graduate level, the Teach Arizona program (available in Tucson and Phoenix/Chandler) leads to a master's degree with certification as a teacher of Math, Science, English, American government, History, or Spanish in middle or high schools (grades 7-12). Additional programs lead to endorsements in bilingual education, reading, and English as a Second Language (ESL). For more information on teacher certification programs, go to the certification programs page.
Another option is our master's degree in secondary education through our Alternative Path Program. This is a two-year, professional, alternative certificate program in which students develop as teachers, meet certification requirements, and earn a master’s degree while teaching full-time in middle or high schools. With a conceptual framework based on equity literacy, the program uses context specific pedagogy to help nurture teachers’ appreciation of the unique schools and students they serve. Students in the program, called teaching interns, receive assistance in placement in a Southern Arizona middle school or high school where, as a teacher of record on an Alternative Teaching Certificate, they deepen their teaching practice while being paid as full-time teachers. Throughout the program, teaching interns receive support and guidance from assigned university coaches and mentors as well as a school-based mentor in the schools in which they teach.
Other undergraduate noncertification programs
If you are looking for noncertification programs, we have two excellent options: Leadership and Learning Innovation and Adolescents, Community, and Education (ACE) minor.
Graduate programs
These include degrees in Language, Reading & Culture (M.A.), Teaching & Teacher Education (M.A., M.Ed.), and Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies (Ph.D.). The LRC master's program revolves around the study of the teaching and learning of literacy and biliteracy in the educational context of cultural and linguistic diversity. Read our related program position statements. The TTE master's programs focus on a wide variety of aspects of teaching and learning, including teacher preparation and development, curriculum theory and policy, and subject-specific content such as mathematics and science.
Teachers in Industry is a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math)-focused program providing in-service middle and high school teachers a combination of paid summer work in Arizona businesses and industries with intensive coursework that leads either to a master's degree in Teaching & Teacher Education or professional development credits, depending on individual needs. The doctoral program in Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies prepares students to investigate and address a broad range of issues in teaching and learning. Emphasizing a sociocultural perspective, the program nurtures innovative ways of knowing, methods of inquiry, and approaches to problem-solving.
Visiting Scholars
Read about our Visiting Scholars.
Our statement on social justice
In March of 2014, we unanimously approved a position statement committing ourselves to principles of equity, diversity, and an academic climate dedicated to social justice. This commitment reflects an orientation to our goals and practices in education as well as the stance that individuals bring a variety of linguistic, social, and cognitive strengths from their families and communities into the classroom. As a department, we commit to holding one another and ourselves accountable, through our research and practice, to rejecting entrenched inequalities and to cultivating new discourses as groundwork for imagining new social worlds.
As you contemplate applying to our department for undergraduate or graduate degree programs, please review this statement. The principles in this statement and the overall orientation underlying them will be reflected in your course work and in the academic expectations we have for you.
Read our complete Position Statement on Social Justice.
Annual TLS Colloquy
The TLS Graduate Student Colloquy is a fantastic opportunity for educators, students, researchers, visiting scholars, and community members to engage with graduate student research from across departments and programs on teaching and learning for social justice. This year the colloquy will be held in person and will bring together students, scholars, and community activists from the Tucson area. More information about this event can be found on the TLS Colloquy information page.
