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Education and Teacher Licensure

Available as a major or minor

Whether you want to teach or pursue another education-related career, Roanoke College is the place for you.

The Classroom Teaching pathway prepares you to teach at your choice of grade levels, kindergarten through 12th grade. In the Education Studies pathway, you will develop the background to pursue other careers in education such as counseling, curricular development, educational leadership, educational publishing and more.

Students walking with children on campus

Curriculum & Courses

Sample Course Offerings:

EDUC 240: Education Technology  
EDUC 250: Teaching and Learning
EDUC 300: The Inclusive Classroom

Students holding a chalkboard that says "when I grow up, I want to be a teacher"

Virginia has reciprocity with most states and territories which means your Virginia teaching license allows you to teach almost everywhere in the U.S.

What Makes Roanoke Different?

Roanoke College hosts national and state teacher development programs

Roanoke College is home to the Copenhaver Institute, a three-day professional development conference attended by educators from around the country. The institute received an Innovation in Teaching Education Award for its pioneering approach to professional development. Roanoke College also hosts meetings of the Virginia Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, a leadership organization dedicated to education advocacy.

speaker at Copenhaver

Bridges

Bridges, a student-of-color teacher pipeline program, is a national partner in the research behind making United States schools a more divers and welcoming environment for all students.

bridges students

Learn By Doing

Students Develop Tutoring Program for Children in the Community

Students taking the Education 250 course at Roanoke are leading a Literacy Enrichment Academic Program (LEAP) with Salem Presbyterian Church. Through the Saturday morning program, Roanoke students, who design the curriculum, offer tutoring in study skills, reading, writing, listening and more for kindergarten through 6th graders.

"It's a fun and low anxiety place for kids to learn," said Amanda Downs '17, a student tutor. The program "expands the classroom and becomes almost a lab" for Roanoke students, said Dr. Maria Stallions, former chair of the College's Education Department.

Student practicing handwriting

Passion for Teaching Heightened at Roanoke

As a child, Ashley Wolfe '16 developed a love for teaching. That love only deepened when Wolfe began tutoring low-income students during her time at Roanoke College. It really crystallized when, as a 2014 Summer Scholar, she worked with Dr. Leslie Murrill to create a family literacy program for a nonprofit center's elementary summer program.

Wolfe, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, is currently an elementary teacher with Richmond City Schools. She hopes to become an assistant principal, "showing my students and staff the same respect and dedication that the faculty, staff and students at Roanoke modeled for me."

Ashley Wolfe

Careers & Outcomes

The Virginia Department of Education ranks elementary education #1 on its list of critical teaching shortage areas.

ALUMNUS NAMED YALE NATIONAL FELLOW

Emma Kessler ’16 has been named a Yale National Fellow, one of 54 public school teachers selected to participate in national seminars and a two-week Intensive Session as part of the Yale National Initiative to strengthen teaching in public schools.

The 2021 seminars began on April 30 and will conclude in mid-August.

The Yale National Initiative builds upon the success of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, a partnership established in 1978 between Yale University and New Haven (Connecticut) Public Schools. The Initiative is a long-term endeavor to influence public policy on teacher professional development, in part by establishing Teachers Institutes for high-poverty, high-minority schools in states around the country. These institutes focus on the academic preparation of schoolteachers and on their application of what they study in the institute in their own classrooms.

According to a Yale National Initiative news release issued April 1, the seminars in which Kessler will participate provide public school teachers with deeper knowledge of the subjects they teach and firsthand experience with the Teachers Institute approach to high-quality professional development. This is intended to foster their leadership in an existing Teachers Institute or prepare them to lead the development of a new Teachers Institute.

Each teacher — including Kessler, a fourth-grade teacher in Roanoke County (Virginia) Public Schools — will write a curriculum unit to teach their students and to share with other teachers in their school district and elsewhere through teachers.yale.edu.

Emma Kessler holding a Yale pennant flag

TESL students at Roanoke College are often hired even before they graduate!

Faculty

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News

Events

  • Workshop: Communicating Your Research in a Nutshell

    This interactive workshop, the first of a two-part event, is intended to train researchers to better communicate their work with people outside of their field. Folks from all programs are encouraged to attend!

    Date:
    March 27, 2026
    Time:
    4 - 6 p.m.
    Location:

    Antrim Chapel

    Workshop: Communicating Your Research in a Nutshellevent image

  • Nutshell Games Competition

    Engaged in research? Consider competing in this year's Nutshell Games Competition for a chance to win an Amazon e-gift card.

    Date:
    April 21, 2026
    Time:
    6 - 7:30 p.m.
    Location:

    Antrim Chapel

    Nutshell Games Competitionevent image

Interested in studying education at Roanoke College?

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