Neighborhood & Surrounding Community
Teachers College has deep ties with the local community. The following are examples of projects and offices whose work directly impacts our cities, students, and educators.
The Office of School and Community Partnerships (OSCP) was established in October 2007 to coordinate and increase the College’s engagement with New York City K-12 public schools. The Office builds on a long legacy that reflects the College’s founding mission to bring educational opportunities to all members of society. At the heart of this commitment is a belief in the moral imperative that Teachers College, like all higher education providers, should bring intellectual, human, and financial resources to bear on improving educational outcomes for the children and families in their own communities. In establishing deep partnerships with schools, the OSCP seeks to direct resources and expertise into areas where they are most needed and where there are pronounced disparities in educational access and achievement between advantaged and disadvantaged groups. In doing so it shares accountability for students’ success in its surrounding community, while also strengthening knowledge, teaching, and research at the College.
The OSCP also oversees the development and ongoing operations of TC’s new public elementary school. Opened in collaboration with the New York City Department of Education in September 2011, the Teachers College Community School (TCCS) is a university-assisted, non-selective community school that applies state-of-the-art knowledge and best practices in teaching, learning, and child development. The educational program is designed to develop each student’s knowledge and skills, love of learning, and individual strengths as the foundation for academic and life success. A focus on global awareness celebrates the diversity of the community and prepares students for the social demands of the 21st century. The school also seeks to integrate delivery of services for children and families that help students optimize educational opportunities. Supplementary educational services including early childhood programming, family literacy, after school programming, and social and health services are provided. TCCS is intended to demonstrate how affiliation with a higher education institution can lead to effective implementation of comprehensive educational services in an urban, community public school. Visit online.
The Cahn Fellows Program for Distinguished Principals at Teachers College, Columbia University is committed to recognizing outstanding principals and providing them with opportunities for professional, intellectual, and personal growth. Our goal is to strengthen the public school system by investing in its most effective school leaders.
The Center for Technology and School Change is committed to the creation of innovative learning environments for all students. Recognizing technology as a catalyst for transforming instruction, the Center engages in research and practice to reimagine approaches to equitable education in the digital age.
The Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME) was created in 1973 to serve the interests of those who are often hidden, disregarded, or underestimated. Our mission is to use research and demonstration to show the most promising practices in schools and out-of-school settings where youth are learning powerfully and feeling good about themselves while doing so. We are also interested in rethinking the way we do research and the way that we often perceive of populations being researched in urban education. Through work with university based researchers, classroom teachers, students, parents, community advocates, and elected officials, we hope to create networks committed to the relentless pursuit of educational excellence.
The mission of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project is to help young people become avid and skilled readers, writers, and inquirers. We accomplish this goal through research, curriculum development, and working shoulder-to-shoulder with students, teachers, and school leaders. The organization has developed state-of-the-art tools and methods for teaching reading and writing, for using performance assessments and learning progressions to accelerate progress, and for literacy-rich content-area instruction. Thousands of teachers regard the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project as a continual source of professional renewal and education. Well over 170,000 teachers have attended our week-long institutes and over 4,000 participants return each year to annual Saturday Reunions.