Teachers College Community School: A History of Innovation and Community Engagement

Teachers College Community School (TCCS) stands as a testament to the enduring commitment of Teachers College (TC), Columbia University, to educational equity and community empowerment. Established in 2011 through a collaborative partnership between Teachers College, Columbia University, Manhattan Community Board 9, and the New York City Department of Education, TCCS is more than just a school; it is a vibrant hub of learning, opportunity, and community engagement in West Harlem.

Genesis of a Vision: The Founding of TCCS

TCCS emerged from a shared vision to provide exemplary, comprehensive educational opportunities to children in West Harlem. Recognizing the critical role of education in fostering individual and community development, Teachers College sought to create a school that would not only deliver best educational practices for teaching and learning but also address the holistic needs of its students and families.

As a non-selective, choice PreK-8 public elementary school, TCCS prioritizes families residing in Community School Districts 5 and 6, ensuring that local children have access to high-quality education within their own community. This commitment to local access reflects TC’s founding mission to bring educational opportunities to all members of society.

A Holistic Approach to Education

Teachers College’s guiding principle in creating TCCS is to deliver exemplary, comprehensive educational opportunities to children in West Harlem. This commitment translates into a multifaceted approach that encompasses:

Best Educational Practices: Implementing innovative and evidence-based teaching methods to foster academic excellence and intellectual curiosity.
Early Childhood Education: Providing a strong foundation for young learners, ensuring they get a good start in their educational journey.
Out-of-School Time Learning: Offering enriching after-school programs and other learning opportunities that extend beyond the traditional school day.
Social and Health Services: Providing comprehensive support services that address the social, emotional, and physical well-being of students, enabling them to thrive academically.

Teachers College: A Legacy of Educational Innovation

The establishment of TCCS is deeply rooted in the rich history of Teachers College, Columbia University, an institution that has been at the forefront of educational innovation for over a century. As education historian Lawrence Cremin, the College’s President from 1974 through 1984, wrote, “The history of Teachers College…is the history of American teacher education writ small.”

Read also: ISTE Standards Explained

Pioneering New Fields of Study

Throughout its history, Teachers College has been instrumental in launching new disciplines and paradigms in education. In 1898, the College offered 13 separate courses, increasing the number to 72 by 1906. Some notable examples include:

Comparative Education: In 1898, TC offered the world’s first course in foreign school systems, thereby fathering the field of comparative education, a discipline later shaped and reshaped by a succession of TC faculty members, including Harold Noah, Elizabeth Hagen, Isaac Kandel and Richard Wolf.
Nursing Education: At the end of the nineteenth century, the preparation of nurses was a hodge-podge affair, taught mostly through training schools organized by hospitals. There was virtually no training for those nurses who wanted to assume supervisory duties. In 1898, TC offered a program on “hospital economics,” the first to prepare nurses to become administrators and nursing educators. In 1910, a gift by TC Trustee Helen Heartley Jenkins created a division of nursing education at TC.
Nutrition Education: During this same period, TC faculty members Henry Sherman and Mary Swartz Rose were creating the field of nutrition education. In Summer 1904, Sherman began teaching a course at TC on the chemistry of food. In Fall 1909, Swartz Rose converted Room 401 in Grace Dodge Hall into the nation’s first nutrition education lab.
Special Education: By 1903, 10 schools in New York City were teaching special education classes based on Farrell’s curriculum. In 1915, Farrell joined TC as a lecturer and, with Leta Hollingworth, who by then was a professor of educational psycholoy and chief of the psychological lab at Bellevue Hospital, established nation’s first graduate program in special education.

Shaping Educational Thought and Practice

Teachers College has also been home to influential thinkers who have shaped educational thought and practice. John Dewey, who arrived at the College in 1904, sought to change education by grounding it in a child’s needs, interests and developmental capabilities. He believed that education must actively engage students in discovery, because learning occurs by doing - by making sense of one’s physical environment.

Edward Thorndike, who shared many of Dewey’s beliefs, pioneered in applying scientific methods to education research. Thorndike set up shop in the basement of TC in the fall of 1899, where he conducted a series of “puzzlebox” experiments to observe how animals learn through trial and error. Through these observations, Thorndike developed his Law of Effect, which holds that responses that occur just prior to a satisfying state of affairs are more likely to be repeated, while responses linked to negative outcomes are likelier to cease. He applied these ideas to humans and the practice of education, publishing, between 1903 and 1906, Educational Psychology, Theory of Mental and Social Measurements, The Elements of Psychology and Introduction to Teaching.

Addressing Contemporary Challenges

TC’s commitment to innovation extends to addressing contemporary challenges in education and society. During the 1950s and 60s, A. Harry Passow essentially launched the field of urban education, at one point leading a huge study of the Washington, D.C., school system that anticipated by decades the recommendations of later reformers. In 1986, psychologist Morton Deutsch founded TC’s International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution. Another current emeritus faculty member, Edmund W. Gordon, was one of the architects of the federal Head Start program in the 1960s.

TCCS: A Modern-Day Manifestation of TC's Mission

TCCS embodies the core values and principles that have guided Teachers College for over a century. By providing a comprehensive and equitable education to the children of West Harlem, TCCS is not only preparing them for future success but also empowering them to become active and engaged members of their community.

Embracing Diversity and Inclusion

TC’s rich history has been centered around improving the lives of the underprivileged since our founding by Grace Dodge in 1887. During the profoundly segregated 1930s and 1940s, TC provided graduate education for Black teachers, principals and leaders from the South. In 1973, the Edmund W. Gordon Institute for Advanced Study (formerly the Gordon Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME)) was created and led by our beloved, renowned and legendary psychologist Dr. Edmund W. Gordon. In 1996, the TC Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship Program was established to create opportunities for people of color to become members of the faculty.

In 2015, Students for a Quality Education (SQE), a multicultural student advocacy group, identified areas of needed improvements in diversifying teaching, curricula/syllabi, faculty hiring, mentorship and support for students and faculty. Also in 2015, TC launched the Center for Sustainable Futures, which examines how environmental, social, health and economic forces differentially impact groups based on ethnicity, socio- economic status, and other markers of identity.

Fostering Community Engagement

TC’s faculty, students and staff energetically pursued his last imperative, having launched countless initiatives to build community and advance practices around social justice and inclusion. Active engagement of the scholarly and professional community also extends to our community of more than 90,000 alumni, who play a vital role in our impact as an institution.

Innovation in Teaching and Learning

This past summer, courtesy of alumnus Nabeel Ahmad and doctoral student Dominic Mentor, Teachers College’s catalogue included a course on cell phones and their potential for teaching and learning.

tags: #Teachers #College #Community #School #history