Our teacher education program has an excellent reputation. What makes teacher education at Mount Mercy so special is that we emphasize continuous, hands-on experience with students and teachers, beginning early in the program. You will gradually build your strengths in instructional planning, teaching strategies, and classroom management.

By staying in touch with schools over the course of your studies, you will build bridges between theory, research, and application. You will find that area schools will value the important experience you will have gained through student-teaching in diverse environments.

Our program offers majors in both elementary and secondary education. Elementary education majors receive in-depth preparation in at least one additional field of study. Secondary education majors must have at least 30 semester hours in an academic field, in addition to the major's requirements.

Supplementing our academic program, the Curriculum Center in Busse Library provides convenient access to many materials used by teachers (texts, adolescent literature, teaching resource books, etc.). We also sponsor a club, the S-ISEA (Iowa State Education Association) which is a great way for you, as an education major, to build experience.

While valuing the diverse cultural environments in which our students will teach, we also offer an emphasis for those who wish to teach at parochial schools. The Teachers in Catholic Schools program is optional, and must be taken in conjunction with another endorsement. Given our heritage as a Catholic university, this program is unique to Mount Mercy and the Cedar Rapids area. The University also offers Early Childhood, Secondary or Special Education as a minor. You can find more information in the current catalog.