The Department of Educational Studies offers two distinct undergraduate programs: (1) a major or minor in educational studies and (2) a preparation program for students intending to teach at either the elementary or secondary level. The department also offers a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program for students preparing to teach at the secondary level.

Given these programs, the department offers a comprehensive study of formal and informal educational institutions and practices, and the ways they are affected by social forces. Interdisciplinary by design, classes draw on diverse methods of inquiry to analyze critically the historical and contemporary ways that people educate and are educated in the United States and societies across the globe. Theory, research, and practice work together to help students become more informed as consumers and producers of knowledge in a variety of educational contexts. Students learn to ask questions about the relationships between knowledge, power, and identity in educational contexts, and to reimagine education and its contribution to a democratic society.