First-year freshmen fall 2026 Early Action deadline is November 15.

Enduring Values in Teacher Preparation at Pratt Institute

November 13, 2025 12:30 PM – 5:00 PM

Nancy Ross Project Space

A black-and-white image of a classroom filled with students, predominantly boys, seated at desks focused on drawing or writing. In the foreground, a girl is holding a piece of paper and appears to be instructing a couple of peers. The classroom features high ceilings, hanging lights, and various educational materials displayed on the walls.

“The Art School of the future must teach not alone a pictorial art, but an applied art. Drawing in the public schools must be genuine and educational, and the manual training in the public schools must have a vital connection with true art principals, and a fitting adaptation of art to materials.” Source: Walter Scott Perry, Director of the School of Art, Annual Report of the Department of Fine Arts, Pratt Monthly, January 1903

From the first “Normal” classes (teacher preparation classes) in the late 1880s, to the undergraduate and graduate degrees in art and design education offered today, Pratt Institute has prepared art teachers for the public schools through a focus on hands-on, studio based learning. In 1894 the Institute resolved that normal art students practice teaching in the Saturday morning classes for children, a curricular requirement that has endured for more than 125 years.

Join us for the opening reception of an exhibition which examines these values within the shifting contexts of the country, the city and Pratt through archival materials.