Spring 2027

Education and Public Policy

Education and Public Policy examines educational policies, practices, and issues in social, cultural, historical, and political economic contexts in the U.S. and globally.

offering recorded1–3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Mary Michaud3.8/5Kelsey DalrympleRachel Williams

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · David O'Brien

Readings were described as hard, but the professor explained them very well during class.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Define the social, cultural, and/or historical context surrounding formal and/or informal education in the US and/or in a global context.

  • Relate educational policy in a national and/or global context.

  • Examine the causes and consequences of educational inequality related to race, class, gender, and/or other dimensions.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
EDPOL 150

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.33/5 from 6 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.94 GPA, 96.3% A/AB (n=27 letter grades).

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.89 GPA, 94.4% A/AB (n=18 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

BRETT BERTUCIO is recorded teaching in Fall 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

CATHLEEN MCCLUSKEY is recorded teaching in Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

DAVID O'BRIEN is recorded teaching in Fall 2024, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MARY MICHAUD is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MICHAEL FULTZ is recorded teaching in Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

NANCY KENDALL is recorded teaching in Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2020, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

RACHEL WILLIAMS is recorded teaching in Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

STACEY LEE is recorded teaching in Fall 2015. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 300
LEC 002Classroom Instruction0 / 300
LEC 003Classroom Instruction0 / 300
LEC 004Classroom Instruction0 / 300
LEC 006Classroom Instruction0 / 300

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · David O'Brien

David O'Brien's sections were interactive and discussion-based, with relaxed class dynamics that encouraged hearing multiple viewpoints.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.89 GPA, 96.2% A/AB (n=79 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.94 GPA, 95.3% A/AB (n=86 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.95 GPA, 96.2% A/AB (n=53 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · David O'Brien

Readings were described as hard, but the professor explained them very well during class.

Past student reviews · David O'Brien

One student felt the course skipped fundamental basics of philosophy and education, with little community building.

Topics

  • Educational policies, practices, and issues in social, cultural, historical, and political economic contexts
  • Contexts of formal and informal education in US and global settings
  • Causes and consequences of educational inequality by race, class, gender, and other dimensions

Skills

  • Defining social, cultural, and historical contexts of education
  • Relating educational policy across national and global contexts
  • Examining causes and consequences of educational inequality

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.09 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
EDPOL 150 · Spring 2027

Education and Public Policy

Recorded 2026-10-14
EDPOL 150 · Spring 2027

Mental Health & Ed Policy

Recorded 2026-10-14
EDPOL 150 · Spring 2027

School Choice in TV and Film

Recorded 2026-10-14
EDPOL 150 · Spring 2027

Nature Health & Learning

Recorded 2026-10-14
EDPOL 150 · Spring 2027

Bodies, Brains, and Education

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
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    "course_id": "EDPOL 150",
    "course_uid": "course_58183cd87826416af01f154f",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "005965",
    "source_subject_id": "310",
    "title": "Education and Public Policy",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
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    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "005965.92",
    "source_subject_id": "310",
    "title": "Mental Health & Ed Policy",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
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    "semester": "1274",
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    "offering_id": "1274:310:005965.94",
    "course_id": "EDPOL 150",
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    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "005965.94",
    "source_subject_id": "310",
    "title": "School Choice in TV and Film",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:310:005965.96",
    "course_id": "EDPOL 150",
    "course_uid": "course_58183cd87826416af01f154f",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "005965.96",
    "source_subject_id": "310",
    "title": "Nature Health & Learning",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:310:005965.97",
    "course_id": "EDPOL 150",
    "course_uid": "course_58183cd87826416af01f154f",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "005965.97",
    "source_subject_id": "310",
    "title": "Bodies, Brains, and Education",
    "credits_min": 1,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "bc8f9a6f022601b88d1a28e089ea9aa28ac1580763cdd63685960b5a9a9fa332",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}