Elementary Education


Overview & Academics

The ELEMENTARY EDUCATION Program is a licensure program that prepares teachers to work in grades K-6. Graduates will understand how to enhance and direct the natural curiosity of young children and help them make academic progress, form positive self-concepts, and develop initiative and responsibility.

Major Requirements

Core requirements:

  • Survey of Mathematics
  • Information Systems Concepts
  • Fundamentals of Communication
  • Systems of Grammar
  • History of the South or North Carolina History
  • Psychological Development in Childhood

Major requirements:

  • Educational Theory and Practice
  • Introduction to Teaching
  • PRAXIS Core Academic Lab for Instructors
  • Books for Children, K-6
  • Elementary Methods for Integrating Arts*
  • Laboratory Methods in Science for the Elementary School Teacher*
  • Technology in Education*
  • Reading, K-6*
  • Language Arts, K-6*
  • Curriculum in Elementary Education*
  • Elementary Methods and Materials in Social Studies*
  • Education Foundations and Diversity*
  • Educational Assessment*
  • Teacher Education Licensure Test Preparation Lab*
  • Practicum in School Setting*
  • Classroom Management and Collaborative Leadership Seminar*
  • Directed Teaching: Elementary Education*
  • Introduction to Special Education

Admission Criteria:

  1. Pass the Praxis Core tests (reading, writing, math) as required by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Students who have earned a total score of 1170 on the SAT (reading and math) or 24 on the ACT (reading and math) are exempt from Praxis Core testing requirements. Students who have at feast 570 on the SAT Math or 600 on the SAT Reading sections may be exempt from part of Praxis Core.
  2. Achieve an overall GPA of 3.0 on all previous course work completed at North Carolina Wesleyan University.
  3. Have a successful interview with a subcommittee of the Teacher Education Council.
  4. Provide two positive recommendations from faculty and submit required admission paperwork.

Minor Requirements

No Minor Offered

Career Options
Elementary Teacher: K-6

Teacher Education Faculty

Dr. Kelvin Spragley
Associate Professor of Education & Director of Teacher Education/Coordinator of Diversity and Inclusion Programming
Ph.D., North Carolina State University 
kspragley@ncwc.edu
252.985.5165

Dr. Patricia Brewer
Associate Professor
Coordinator of Special Education
pbrewer@ncwc.edu
252.985.5220

Dr. Lois Hart
Associate Professor of Education
Coordinator of Field Assignments
lhart@ncwc.edu
252.985.5164