Home / The Children’s School at Stephens College / Learning to Teach at Stephens

Learning to Teach at Stephens

A Lab School: Real Classrooms, Real Learning 

A laboratory school on campus gives Stephens students immediate access to real classrooms where they can observe master-level teachers in action and assist with learning experiences and projects in the first semester. Education students prepare and deliver lesson plans as they move toward student teaching. Stephens students have more than 400 hours of classroom experience before student teaching, more than four times the hours completed by students in a typical education program.

The Program 

• The First and Second Years: Students observe and participate in the classroom to support their exploration of the foundations of the profession. They also find their identities as teachers working with real kids. They complete 36 general education credit hours including coursework in human development, theories of learning, and the cultural, political, and historical influences on education. 
• Third Year, The Methods Year: Methods students learn to teach math and reading based on child-centered pedagogies. Education courses are integrated with and support field experiences. Methods students conclude their methods year with the Cluster, an integrated, two week unit based on a topic of their choosing.
• Final Year, The Student Teaching Year: Students culminate their work in the Children’s School with a 16-week student teaching placement at the lab school. They also complete a student teaching assignment in Columbia Public Schools or another district.

The Department

Stephens College has recently added a Secondary Education Certification program. Though secondary students will spend time in the lab school, their primary teaching experiences will be in secondary contexts with our partner schools. More information can be found on the program website. 

Working at the Children’s School

Work Study-eligible students can bolster their learning by working at the Children’s School. CSSC offers positions as before- and after-care (Extended Day) workers, lunch and recess workers, and classroom aids.

No other program will better prepare you to be an educator … and you are guaranteed to make close connections with supportive professors and peers!

Jillian Wruck ’24 

Learn More About CSSC

Enroll Now Schedule a visit Tuition & Fees