Areas of Specialization

The department offers three areas of specialization. When completing applications for admission to graduate study, you must indicate the specific program area to which you are seeking admission.

Curriculum Theory and Development

pic of students

Students who specialize in Curriculum Theory and Development examine a broad range of theoretical perspectives that guide the work of curriculum deliberation, policymaking, and educational practice. The program offers a critical analysis of the various competing models for curriculum development and policy in educational institutions and education-related organizations. Courses focus on ways of revitalizing educational visions based upon interpretive, critical and postmodern perspectives. Students, through their coursework and research, consider a range of philosophical and practice questions central to curriculum deliberations: What should count as knowledge? Who controls the selection and distribution of knowledge? What knowledge is of most worth? How should curricular knowledge be made accessible to students? In what ways can we link curriculum knowledge to the biography and personal meanings of educators and students? How shall we treat others responsibly and justly in education? What traditions in the field exist to help us answer these questions? In addressing these questions, students develop the critical capacities to examine and inform curriculum policy, including the capacity to identify how broader social issues, such as race and the political economy, shape curriculum deliberations. Students who specialize in Curriculum Theory and Development prepare for positions as scholars, researchers, and leaders in public schools, higher education, schools of nursing, industry, museums, hospitals, as well as in government and private educational agencies.

Socio-Cultural Foundations of Education

Students who specialize in Socio-Cultural Foundations of Education draw from a range of intellectual traditions to frame educational issues and investigate education policies and practices. Students develop theoretical knowledge and methodological skills in one or more discipline-based and educationally relevant fields of study, such as the economics of education, the history of education, the politics of education, the philosophy of education or the sociology of education. Students study major works in these areas, consider competing theoretical frameworks for the explanation of educational phenomena, and develop the intellectual skills required to critically examine a broad range of education policies and issues. Coursework provides students with opportunities to examine how culture shapes education systems and process, enduring social issues associated with the operation of educational systems, and how different disciplines have explained the functions of education in a democratic society. Students who specialize in the Socio-Cultural Foundations of Education prepare for positions as scholars, researchers, and educational leaders capable of addressing critical national and international issues at all levels of government.

Education Policy

Students who specialize in Education Policy are given an opportunity to examine all aspect of education policy, including its development, its implementation, and its consequences for citizens, children, and educators. Although all students in the Department take coursework in policy studies, this specialization provides students with an opportunity to develop a more in-depth program of study in the political, philosophical, economic, sociological, and legal analysis of education policies and practices. Coursework examines the historic and current roles of federal, state, and local governments in shaping educational systems and processes; the distribution of educationally relevant resources and the consequences of those policies for educational equity; and the possibilities and challenges associated with school reform and institutional change. Specific attention in courses is given to current reforms and policies, including school finance litigation, school choice, competing models for school reform, and high-stakes accountability policies. Students who specialize in Education Policy pursue positions as scholars, researchers, policymakers, policy analysts, advocates for youth and educational leaders in private and public organizations.

Organizational Leadership and Policy Studies (OLPS)

This program area seeks to develop researchers and scholar practitioners interested in policy analysis, leadership, and change in educational organizations. Key areas of inquiry within this program relate to the design and implementation of education policy, educational reform at school, district, state, and federal levels, and educational leadership in K-12 school settings and other organizations that matter to student learning. Our program stems from the premise that cross-disciplinary studies and close connections between research and practice are essential for strengthening both educational research and educational practice especially in urban school systems and communities. Our graduates assume professional positions as principals, superintendents, central office administrators, directors of youth organizations, university professors, researchers in think tanks, policy analysts in federal and state agencies, school reform support providers, and organizational change consultants, among others. The mix of prospective researchers and practitioners in our area helps students develop professional networks that extend into research and practice communities and to move ably between research and practice.

top Top of page