THE POLITICS OF EDUCATION

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 145

Introduction to K-12 education policy, policy processes, and school governance in the United States. Examines the multiple and sometimes conflicting goals that animate education debates; the discourses and representations of schools, students, and education policies that shape policy and politics; research on education and education policy; and the various lenses and conceptual tools that can help us understand education policy. Includes original policy texts, empirical and conceptual research, current events, and film. Considers how key themes may be useful (or not) for thinking about early childhood education, higher education, and K-12 education in historical and contemporary, US and and global, contexts.

EDPOL 640

Introduces the social, political and cultural influences surrounding educational policies and practices and the role of teachers in education policymaking. Focuses on the purpose(s) of schooling, considering questions such as: What should the purpose of schooling be? How do our assumptions regarding the purpose(s) of schooling shape our understandings of education policies and practices? Considers educational inequalities and contemporary education policies.

ELPA 961

Orients contemporary policy issues in education by connecting education policy to rigorous research evidence, using a theoretically motivated and disciplinary-based approach to understand educational policies, processes, and outcomes. Considers current efforts to "translate" key research findings to practitioners, policymakers, and laypersons in schools and communities, where the results can help improve educational practice and results. Discusses how research evidence from a range of disciplines - including psychology, sociology, social work, and economics - has been, is being, and could be applied to educational practice and education policy.

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.