What is the Urban Education Cohort?

During the junior and senior years, early childhood education majors are grouped into cohorts of approximately 25 students each. One cohort is designated as the Urban Education Cohort (also known as the "Urban Cohort" or the "UC"). This cohort develops teacher leaders with expertise in early childhood (preK-third grade) curriculum, instruction, and assessment through an in-depth focus on equity issues such as race, ethnicity, language diversity, sexual orientation, and gender identification and a particular emphasis on countering racial bias in and out of schools.

Urban Cohort students have presented at national conferences and have received prestigious USC and Early Childhood Education program awards. Recent Urban Cohort recipients of the USC Martin Luther King Social Justice Award are Daizha Green in 2018, Chelsea Jimenez in 2019, and Kyanna Samuel in 2020.

After completing the cohort experience, you will be ready to use in-depth knowledge and abilities as a teacher leader and mentor who advocates for and implements socially just practices in PreK-to-third grade classrooms, schools, and society.

What are benefits of the Urban Education Cohort?

• Placements in your senior year with teachers who work with our faculty and support innovative urban teaching.
• Instructors whose primary research and teaching focus is Urban Education and are passionate about developing teachers to be leaders in the profession.
• Cohort events such as local cultural experiences, films, and social occasions.
• Receive support toward attaining USC’s Graduation with Leadership Distinction.
• You can earn the Teaching for Urban Settings recognition to add to your resume.
• Attaining knowledge and experience that can set you apart in job interviews.
• You will join a national network of classroom teacher leaders committed to social justice.