Elementary Education majors who graduate from Illinois State University are certified to teach kindergarten through ninth grade in Illinois. The program prepares students to teach in both the self-contained classroom and in at least one subject in a middle school or junior high school.
The Elementary Education major is the largest major at Illinois State and admission is competitive. This major program is founded on the national standards by the Association for Childhood Education International. The guidelines focus on what beginning teachers are expected to know and to be able to do.
One of the ways this is carried out is in the PDS program. The goal is to meet those guidelines by providing situations that give students the opportunity to better connect theory with the reality of the classroom.