College of Education Teacher Preparation at the ELC

Demonstration School: What does that mean?

Teaching, Learning & Research are interwoven and ongoing at the Early Learning Community. As a model early childhood teaching and learning environment essential to the teacher preparation programs in the College of Education, the ELC serves as a site for field experiences and student teaching.

Graduate and undergraduate students of education enliven the experience of children in the Early Learning Community and allow our teachers to strengthen their knowledge of early childhood education through the mentoring of teachers-in-training. Teacher candidates in the College of Education have the privilege of working with your children alongside master teachers, right on campus where they are pursuing their degrees. Involvement in teacher preparation links the ELC to the full continuum of K-12 education, as well as establishes and sustains critical partnerships with the public schools and private educational providers in Forest Grove and surrounding communities.

Interdisciplinary Cooperation

Additionally, the school provides opportunities for educational research projects involving young children. Research furthers everyone’s understanding of early childhood and explores ways to successfully meet current challenges facing teachers and other professionals working with young children. University professionals value these collaborative observation and research possibilities for integrating the study of learning and child development into their respective disciplines or practices.

Research projects conducted at the Early Learning Community are sponsored and supervised by a faculty member and meet requirements of the Pacific University Institutional Review Board.