Spring 2027

School and Society

Examines the interplay between schools and society, focusing on how societal and cultural influences shape school processes, policies, and pedagogy, and how schools reciprocally shape society.

offering recorded3 credits

Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Edgar Valles4.1/5 Erica Ramberg3.7/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Edgar Valles

Most work for the course was graded in discussions or essays completed outside of class. Lectures were interesting but felt unnecessary at times, as content in lectures and readings seemed optional.

What you’ll be able to do

Demonstrate an understanding of the social, cultural, and/or historical contexts of education policy.
Analyze education policy from multiple theoretical perspectives (e.g., historical, ethical/philosophical, economic/political, etc.).
Demonstrate analysis on education policy issues from diverse perspectives related to race, class, and/or gender, and other forms of social difference.
Recognize and apply principles of socially responsible and ethical research.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗

average GPA
letter grades

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Professors

Spring 2027

Edgar Valles

Adjusted rating

RMP difficulty

captured reviews

About this rating

Raw average: 4.91/5 from 11 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.

For this course: 4.9/5 raw quality · 2.0/5 difficulty · 7 reviews

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

Past student reviews · Edgar Valles

Edgar Valles created a welcoming, engaging atmosphere, often using music, art, or current events to make material interesting. Students described his lectures as knowledgeable and additive to readings, though some felt the content was optional because most grading occurred in discussions and essays. One student noted political views appeared in a post-election lecture, while others appreciated his care for diverse perspectives and his stance on public education.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.87 GPA, 92.0% A/AB (n=100 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.93 GPA, 97.8% A/AB (n=93 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.94 GPA, 98.6% A/AB (n=144 letter grades).

Erica Ramberg

Adjusted rating

RMP difficulty

captured reviews

About this rating

Raw average: 4.00/5 from 2 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 — Fall 2024: 3.95 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=29 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.92 GPA, 96.7% A/AB (n=30 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Jennifer Otting, Daniel Berman

Past students described Jennifer Otting’s EDPOL 300 as featuring only five papers, with three topics chosen by students, and engaging lectures. Daniel Berman’s sections had no exams, just a few essays and smaller writing assignments, with lots of in-class discussion and attendance tracking.

DANIEL BERMAN is recorded teaching in Fall 2020, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

EDGAR VALLES is recorded teaching in Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ELIZABETH HAUCK is recorded teaching in Spring 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

EMILY MILLER is recorded teaching in Fall 2024, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ERICA RAMBERG is recorded teaching in Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JENNIFER OTTING is recorded teaching in Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SHANSHAN JIANG is recorded teaching in Fall 2018, Spring 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

STACEY LEE is recorded teaching in Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2014, Fall 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

WALLACE GRACE is recorded teaching in Spring 2020. 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.

Section	Mode	Enrolled / capacity
LEC 001	Classroom Instruction	0 / 50
LEC 002	Classroom Instruction	0 / 50
DIS 301	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
DIS 302	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
DIS 304	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
LEC 003	Classroom Instruction	0 / 50
DIS 303	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
DIS 305	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
DIS 306	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
LEC 004	Classroom Instruction	0 / 50
DIS 307	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
DIS 308	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25

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 · Edgar Valles

Edgar Valles creates an engaging atmosphere using music and current events, prioritizing student perspectives. Students describe the class as a joy, noting he makes material interesting through diverse media.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.89 GPA, 93.9% A/AB (n=196 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.86 GPA, 95.4% A/AB (n=218 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.87 GPA, 95.1% A/AB (n=205 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Edgar Valles

Most work for the course was graded in discussions or essays completed outside of class. Lectures were interesting but felt unnecessary at times, as content in lectures and readings seemed optional.

Past student reviews · Edgar Valles

One student noted that Valles welcomed different viewpoints but felt political views became apparent during a lecture following a presidential election, which they did not admire.

Topics

Purposes of schooling and their historical shifts
Foundations of US education
Debates on teaching methods, curriculum, and evaluation

Skills

Analyze education policy from multiple theoretical perspectives including historical, ethical, and political views.
Examine education policy through lenses of race, class, gender, and other social differences.

Grades

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 · 0.04 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 300 · Spring 2027

School and Society

Recorded 2026-10-14

Raw records

[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:310:005968",
    "course_id": "EDPOL 300",
    "course_uid": "course_956cbf0bb44c5080eeb87440",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "005968",
    "source_subject_id": "310",
    "title": "School and Society",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
  }
]

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

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 Download part 2

Model & dataset provenance

{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "124d025adbbf5ce251595020b0eaddd388dfc546d586f45c464a7567185e4e8a",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}

School and Society

Summary

What you’ll be able to do

Grade history

Prerequisites

Professors

Edgar Valles

Erica Ramberg

Calendar & sections

Student experience

the class

difficulty & workload

Topics

Skills

Grades

Spring 2027 · Projected

Grades over time

Where this course fits relative to UW–Madison

Sources & history

Catalog & offerings

Student reviews

Grade history

Where this course fits relative to