University of Virginia | Curry School of Education

Effective Teaching | 21st Century Learning | Health and Wellbeing | Leadership | Public Policy

Curry's Themes

Situated in Mr. Jefferson’s university, the Curry School is uniquely positioned to contribute new ideas and solutions to the many challenges facing our society, our schools and our students. We have an eminent faculty whose expertise spans the spectrum of education-related disciplines, and our teacher education programs are ranked consistently in the top 10 by U.S. News & World Report. We are grounding our work in the best scientific thinking and evidence, so the professionals we prepare and the innovations we produce have lasting and demonstrable effects. We are focusing these efforts around five priority areas or themes.

Effective Teaching

Each year the Curry School of Education graduates over 160 bright, caring teachers who are well-prepared to create rich, supportive learning environments for their students and to meet the needs of the diverse population of students they will face. These new teachers are a critical component of our effort to solve the problems faced by the nation’s schools. At Curry, we leverage both our century of experience preparing the best teachers and our research into the nature of effective teaching. Here, an assortment of centers, research projects, and training initiatives exist to develop, evaluate, and disseminate new models for preparing and supporting teachers so they can best promote the achievement and well-being of all students.

21st Century Learning

The Curry School of Education has long been recognized for its excellence in preparing teachers to use innovative learning technologies in the classroom, especially in the subject areas of secondary mathematics and science. At Curry, we are pursuing a broader and deeper impact on teaching and learning in these areas so key to our society’s future. We contend that schools must redefine the type of learning they foster in students. In a world in which information, relationships, societies, and organizations will often be mediated online, students must be adept at complex thinking, reasoning, understanding sociocultural differences, fostering cooperation, and cultivating human resources. We will continue to develop resources that capitalize on the capability of technology to enhance learning opportunities for all students. Distance learning approaches and methods that engage students in advanced performance and deeper understanding will unlock the potential of students across the spectrum of ability, as well as ethnic, racial, linguistic, and socio-economic diversity.

Health and Well-Being

The Curry School is a comprehensive school of education touching all aspects of human development and education. We house a number of nationally recognized, research-based programs addressing the physical and psychological health and well-being of America’s children, youth, and adults. These programs include a top-ranked special education program, the well-known Young Women Leaders mentoring program, effective antibullying and school safety programs, and nationally recognized programs in kinesiology. The Curry School also provides valuable clinical services and professional training in areas such as psychology, counseling, and communications disorders to hundreds of children and families across the Commonwealth and nation.

We find that the challenges regarding children’s physical and emotional health and well-being may be as serious as the challenges to their academic achievement. Childhood onset of diabetes is on the rise, and the American Heart Association says that about 16 percent of all children and teens in the United States are overweight. A startling report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says that at least one in five children and adolescents have a mental health disorder. Left untreated, mental health disorders can lead to school failure, family conflicts, drug abuse, and violence. The Curry School’s programs aim to foster the health and well-being of all children and directly address threats to healthy development.
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Leadership

The authors of Schools Need Good Leaders Now said it well: “We need ‘learning-centered’ school principals—leaders who have a deep understanding of how students learn, not simply how to run a school.” We concur, and through the national Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate the Curry School has already begun developing state-of-the-art degree programs responsive to the needs of school leaders. These new leaders will be prepared to deliver innovations, manage change in school systems, and increase student achievement. The Curry School and the Darden Graduate School of Business have collaborated for several years on the Partnership for Leaders in Education, an innovative program that brings state and district education administrators to the University for training. Looking forward, the Curry School plans to connect in partnership with the School of Law and the School of Medicine to design and deliver the very best programs in executive education, making the Curry School and the University of Virginia a national model.
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Public Policy

To make the best decisions for our children, state and national policymakers need both creative and evidence-based solutions for designing and supporting schools that meet society’s needs. The Curry School is positioning itself to become the rare education school that not only participates in the national debates on educational policy and practice but shapes those debates. Our Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning has developed scientifically tested instruments for evaluating teacher effectiveness and an effective professional development program, both of which have been drafted into new Head Start legislation. As a consequence of this work we are active in improving the definition of “highly qualified teacher” in revisions to the No Child Left Behind Act.

In addition, the Curry School has a strategic partnership with the Commonwealth of Virginia to establish a center for policy analysis. Researchers will gather and analyze educational investment data that can be used in crafting legislation and policy. Such a center positions Virginia at the leading edge of states using data to shape education policy, and the Curry School will be at the core of the work.
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