Fall 2026

Introduction to Social Policy

SOCWORK 206 introduces the policy process in the U.S. by exploring political, economic, and institutional frameworks shaping public social welfare choices.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Marah Curtis4.2/5Laura Zimmerman

Summary

1 / 7

Historical reviews of Katherine Magnuson: Exams featured difficult multiple-choice questions that were not considered fair, and the textbook was overpriced and rarely used.

Grade history

average GPA
letter grades
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Fall 2026
/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.60/5 from 30 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: 3.08 GPA, 45.5% A/AB (n=33 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.33 GPA, 65.5% A/AB (n=55 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.08 GPA, 46.0% A/AB (n=50 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical review of Katherine Magnuson describes the course as containing political propaganda and featuring an overpriced, rarely used textbook. The reviewer reports that exams relied on lecture material but included difficult multiple-choice questions, which negatively impacted their desire to major in social work.

MARAH CURTIS is recorded teaching in Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. 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

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction63 / 750
DIS 301Classroom Instruction25 / 250
DIS 302Classroom Instruction23 / 250
DIS 303Classroom Instruction15 / 250

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

Meeting source records

Student experience

the class

A historical review describes the course as containing political propaganda and unfair multiple-choice exams, which discouraged the student from pursuing social work.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.33 GPA, 65.5% A/AB (n=55 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.13 GPA, 49.3% A/AB (n=71 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.08 GPA, 46.0% A/AB (n=50 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Katherine Magnuson: Exams featured difficult multiple-choice questions that were not considered fair, and the textbook was overpriced and rarely used.

Historical reviews of Katherine Magnuson: The experience was frustrating due to perceived political bias in lectures and an overpriced textbook that was hardly used.

Topics

  • Policy process problems and concepts
  • Political, economic, and institutional frameworks
  • Public social welfare choices

Grades

Historical instructor

Fall 2026 · 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 · 0.27 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Fall 2026

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

1283 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.

Selected offering source records
SOCWORK 206 · Fall 2026

Introduction to Social Policy

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
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  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:896:017340",
    "course_id": "SOCWORK 206",
    "course_uid": "course_47310a1e767b30435fb6a751",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "017340",
    "source_subject_id": "896",
    "title": "Introduction to Social Policy",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "a33e1c722e91b82d86944f465850e15febf164a74e4a1eb9768b058d3683450d",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}