Education Policy, Practice, & Analysis

This area of emphasis involves critical analysis of the relationship between educational policy and practice in K-12 settings and beyond. Work pursued in this area is holistic, examining both the explicit and tacit ideas, strategies, and world views of educators and policymakers who create, implement, and rationalize education policies.

Examination of state standards, for example, is geared less toward developing particular curricular content than toward exploring broad questions of the form and content of curriculum shaped by the standards. The breadth and depth of these issues necessitates concern for education extending beyond K-12 schooling, for example, to higher education and the impact of admission requirements upon elementary and secondary schools, or to whether and how state and federal-level policy making is appropriately democratic and responsive to particulars of local communities and families. Inquiry in this area is based in understanding of the conflicting aims of education, the nature of knowledge, and the demands of justice and democracy. Informed by the disciplines of history, sociology, anthropology, and philosophy and a broad range of research methodologies, work in this area is thus ultimately pragmatic, concerned with the practical consequences of policies as they are learned and implemented by practitioners in and around educational settings..

Representative Course Offerings

Preparation for teaching K-12 learners whose language of nurture is not English.
Credit Hours: 1-15
Max credits per degree: 15
Course Delivery: Classroom
Current issues and trends in the curriculum and teaching of social studies.A. Special Topics (1-3 cr)
Credit Hours: 1-3
Max credits per degree: 9
Course Delivery: Classroom
Open to advanced undergraduates and graduate students
Fundamental ideas and skills that students can use to begin to form personal philosophical perspectives on education that can be justified intellectually, practically, and ethically. Using case studies of realistic school situations and the theoretical work of a range of writers in education, students explore conceptions of teaching, learning, curriculum, and the relationship between school and society.
Credit Hours: 3
Course Delivery: Classroom
TEAC 433/833
Foundations, trends, and problems of selected national systems of education as seen in cultural perspective.
Credit Hours: 3
Course Format: Lecture 3
Course Delivery: Classroom
TEAC 434/834
Open to advanced undergraduates and graduate students
Basic issues in ethics and education. Using theoretical material and case studies, students consider such ideas and issues as the nature of moral judgment, equality, justice, caring, and respect for persons, and discuss how educators might respond in ethically justifiable ways to difficult situations they may encounter.
Credit Hours: 3
Course Delivery: Classroom
Description and explanation of cultural values as they relate to education.A. Gender (1-3 cr)B. Gender and Science (1-3 cr)D. Special Topics (1-6 cr)E. Rural Education (1-3 cr)
Credit Hours: 1-3
Max credits per degree: 15
Course Delivery: Classroom
The relationships and interactions among the high school student, a teacher, and the curriculum to the issues of school district, higher education, philanthropy, state department of education, and federal involvement in high school improvement efforts. The imperative and challenges for improving high schooling for all students.
Credit Hours: 3
Course Format: Lecture 3
Course Delivery: Classroom
Educational policy and practice and their interconnection.A. Special Topics in Educational Policy and Practice (1- 3 cr)
Credit Hours: 1-3
Max credits per degree: 6
Course Delivery: Classroom
Introduction to the field of teacher preparation in the United States. Includes media artifacts, books, and articles representing a wide range of ideological positions intended to deepen knowledge of key issues in teacher education. Explore how different approaches to teacher preparation address the achievement gap, discrepancies in teacher quality, and injustice. This course addresses issues of diversity and social justice in education.A. Supervision of Pre-service Teachers (1-3 cr)B. Teacher Development (3 cr)D. Initial Teacher Preparation (1-3 cr)E. Special Topics in Teacher Education (1-3 cr)J. Critical Conversations in U.S. Teacher Preparation Policy and Practice (3 cr)
Credit Hours: 1-12
Max credits per degree: 12
Course Format: Lecture
Course Delivery: Classroom
Major themes in philosophy of science and relates these to conceptions of research on human beings and social institutions, particularly as this is applied to schooling. Students consider such fundamental issues as whether educational research is a science, the form and purpose of educational research, and what research might imply for practice.
Credit Hours: 3
Course Delivery: Classroom
Critical examination of issues in curriculum development with an analysis of research and literature on the subject.A. Curriculum as Aesthetic Text (1-3 cr)B. Special Topics in Curriculum (1-3 cr)D. Curriculum Evaluation (1-3 cr)E. Curriculum as Spatial Text (1-3 cr)
Credit Hours: 1-3
Max credits per degree: 15
Course Delivery: Classroom
Study and application of teaching models and techniques based on research, theory, and exemplary practice.A. Instructional Assessment B. Special Topics in Instruction
Credit Hours: 1-3
Course Delivery: Classroom
Critical analysis of literature and research on teaching, learning, and schooling.A. Special Topics in Education (1-3 cr)
Credit Hours: 1-3
Max credits per degree: 9
Course Delivery: Classroom