POLITICAL ECONOMY AND EDUCATION

EDPOL 150

Examines a variety of topics related to educational policies, practices, and issues in social, cultural, historical, and political economic contexts in the U.S. and around the world.

EDPOL 355

Public education in the United States is an inherently political site that offers an important institution to understand politics, power, and injustice broadly. Explore these themes from multiple angles: (a) the layered histories of injustice at the intersection of race, class, gender, and more in historical and present cases; (b) the power of ideas in shaping policy possibilities; (c) shifting levels of governance and questions of injustice; and (c) perspectives of key actors, interests, and stakeholders. Consider the politics of education in relation to broader social, spatial, historical, and political economic contexts. Develop critical analytic and conceptual tools to deeply understand and analyze how power and politics are impacting contemporary educational policy events. By drawing from grassroots and subjugated perspectives, cultivate a policy imagination towards more just educational possibilities, and explore the necessary policy infrastructure and movements to sustain them.

EDPOL 675

Introduction to the origins and development of the field of comparative and international education (CIE) and to explore how scholars engage some of the theoretical, ideological, methodological, and topical debates that characterize research in the field of CIE policy.

EDPOL 240

Examines the socio-cultural, political and economic forces that shape education around the world, including in the U.S. Explores a series of essential questions about the means and ends of education, including: the purposes of schooling in different locations; the role of schooling in producing inequality or supporting social change, particularly in relation to class, race, gender, migration, language, and abilities; global educational reform; global educational assessments; curriculum and pedagogy; and teacher education.

EDPOL 345

Engages with contemporary issues in the economics of education across the K-12 and postsecondary policy arenas in the US and beyond. With foundations in human capital and the education production function, covers a wide variety of topics, including teacher labor markets and teacher quality, school choice, K-12 and higher education finance, and the individual and collective returns to education. Discuss, present, and critique education policy issues through the lens of economics and apply course content to current issues in education policy, including creation and dissemination of recommendations for education policy and practice.