Spring 2027

Introduction to Social Policy

Introduction to Social Policy explores the U.S. policy process and the political, economic, and institutional frameworks structuring public social welfare choices.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Marah Curtis4.2/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Katherine Magnuson

Exams consisted of straight lecture material but included multiple-choice questions that a student described as difficult and unfair.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Describe the main programs and policies in the U.S. social welfare system, how they are funded and administered and who they serve.

  • Integrate and incorporate knowledge of the U.S. social policy system to analyze emerging policy issues and assess proposals.

  • Compare U.S. social spending and income poverty rates to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries to further assess U.S. social policy in an international context.

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
SOCWORK 206 used by

“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

Spring 2027

Marah Curtis

Adjusted rating
RMP 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

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

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 750
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 250

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

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Katherine Magnuson

A past student found the class frustrating due to perceived political bias and an overpriced textbook that was rarely used.

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

Past student reviews · Katherine Magnuson

Exams consisted of straight lecture material but included multiple-choice questions that a student described as difficult and unfair.

Past student reviews · Katherine Magnuson

One student reported that the class experience was so negative they lost interest in majoring in social work.

Topics

  • Political, economic, and institutional frameworks of public social welfare.
  • Main U.S. social welfare programs, funding, administration, and beneficiaries.
  • International comparison of U.S. social spending and poverty rates with OECD countries.

Skills

  • Analyze emerging policy issues and assess proposals using knowledge of the U.S. social policy system.
  • Compare U.S. social spending and income poverty rates to OECD member countries to assess U.S. social policy internationally.

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 · 0.15 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.

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Selected offering source records
SOCWORK 206 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Social Policy

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": "1274:896:017340",
    "course_id": "SOCWORK 206",
    "course_uid": "course_47310a1e767b30435fb6a751",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "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.

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": "57bb12330e09577452eac9b60b85282d8a2f514f470973fcdaa1af366e21e0f6",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}