Dr. Antonio L. Ellis is a member of the SAVE GSEHD Coalition, an alumni of the Graduate School of Education and Human Development (GSEHD) at GW, and Senior Professor Lecturer and Director of the Institute on Education Equity and Justice at American University.
In this recent op-ed in EDULedger, he addresses the situation in GSEHD: "Many students who pursue teaching do so because of personal experience in under resourced schools, a desire to give back, or a commitment to social change. When admissions policies narrow access for Black, Latino, and Indigenous students, colleges of education are often the first units deemed unsustainable.
This pattern is increasingly visible at urban PWIs, including The George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development. GSEHD has long positioned itself as a hub for equity driven leadership, urban education, and public service. Yet like many education schools housed within elite institutions, it operates within broader enrollment and budget pressures that intensified after the end of affirmative action. As GWU has navigated shifting enrollment patterns and rising institutional costs, education programs face heightened scrutiny precisely because they are less lucrative and more mission driven than programs in business, policy, or international affairs.
This is not unique to GWU. Across PWIs, education schools are being asked to justify their existence using market logic, even as their social value grows more urgent. Program pauses, cohort reductions, and faculty attrition are often framed as neutral budget decisions. ...
The quiet dismantling of education programs at PWIs should concern anyone committed to democracy. Colleges of education sit at the intersection of race, labor, and civic life. When they disappear, it signals not just institutional belt tightening, but a retreat from the public good.
Institutions like The George Washington University must decide whether their education schools are expendable or essential. If universities claim a commitment to equity, they must reinvest in education degree programs, redesign admissions practices that value lived experience and community engagement, and stop treating teacher preparation as a financial liability."
Click here to access the Op-Ed.
