American Education for International Students (ELP 592) A person seeking to developing a better understanding of the United States could probably find no better place to begin than to study American education. Scholars in the U.S. both shape and are shaped by the communities they serve, and by American society at-large. Public schools in particular […]
American Education for International Students (ELP 592)
A person seeking to developing a better understanding of the United States could probably find no better place to begin than to study American education. Scholars in the U.S. both shape and are shaped by the communities they serve, and by American society at-large. Public schools in particular provide the foundation for America’s democracy and are perceived by many to be the gateway to the “American Dream”.
This course is intended to help international students develop a better understanding of America’s education system through readings, group discussions and projects and visits to area schools. In this course, students will examine American education’s philosophical underpinnings as well as its policy-making and governance structures. Students will then be asked to compare and contrast these policies and practices with those in their home countries.
Topics to be covered include: the history and goals of public education; the profession of teaching; equality of educational opportunity; multicultural and multilingual education; local control, choice, home schooling and charter schools, power and control at the state and nation levels; textbooks, curriculum and instruction, e-learning and cyber bullying; and the courts and the schools.
ELP592 Multilingual Course Brochure for Fall 2013
ELP592 Course Flyer for Fall 2013
Comparative and Global Studies in Education (ELP 566)
We are pleased to offer this important, new, graduate-level course in Comparative and Global Education. This is a great opportunity for our students to gain in-depth exposure to key educational issues in global context.
This course provides an overview of research paradigms, methods, and current trends in comparative education. The course exposes students to different theoretical lenses, research paradigms and strategies that are being used to study education in comparative perspective (e.g., sociology, economics, and policy analysis). Special emphasis is placed on large-scale international surveys of educational achievement studies (e.g., TIMSS, PISA, TALIS) and their implications for national education policy making and education research in the United States and other countries.
The topics and issues to be explored in the fall 2013 include: IEA-/OECD-type Cross-National Comparative Policy Studies; School Accountability, Autonomy, and Choice; Teacher Education, Teacher Quality, and Teacher Policies; and Educational Inequality in International Context.
ELP566 Course Flyer for Fall 2013
Comparative Higher Education (ELP 511)
This course is an introduction to the study of higher education from an international comparative perspective. All GSE students, both U.S. and international, in the programs of higher education, educational administration, educational culture, policy and society, foreign and second language education, and bilingual education who want to develop the comparative perspective are welcome to join to further their international perspective in higher education. It is designed especially for master’s and doctoral students who may be interested in:
- Examining higher education from an international, comparative global perspective to better understand US colleges and universities;
- Preparing for administrative positions in colleges and universities that may require an understanding of international students (e.g., admissions or student affairs);
- Preparing to return to a university in a home country to take either an administrative or a faculty position and who who wish to know more about how colleges and universities operate worldwide;
- Understanding what we in the US may learn from higher education in the UK, France, Germany, China, Korea, Latin America, the Middle East, or Africa;
- And many other gems that GSE students should know!
ELP511 Course Flyer for Spring 2013
Cultural Diversity in Higher Education (ELP 513)
This course is the first in a series of courses designed to explore cultural diversity in educational settings. The cultural diversity series is intended to help students to develop an awareness and deeper understanding of cultural diversity issues. The series also challenges students to understand themselves, other people, and institutional structures in increasingly complex and dynamic ways. The first course, Cultural Diversity in Higher Education (ELP513), is designed for all students regardless of prior course work or training in cultural diversity issues. ELP513 will explore cultural diversity specially in relation to gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, ableism, and social class. The course will use developmental and sociological concepts to analyze social identity formation, social group differences, inter- and intra-group differences and relations. Concurrently, this course will explore models for implementing successful diversity management initiatives.
Economics of Education (ELP 543)
The economics of education is a field within the subject of Economics that draws upon many areas of economic specialization. This particular course is a survey course at the introductory level. It assumes that the student has at least some willingness to gain a general background in economics, enough to apply basic microeconomic concepts to a variety of educational policy issues. The course will emphasize the development of analytic skills in using economic tools for educational policy. Although the course will require familiarity with algebra and basic statistics, it will not require calculus.
It will be useful to students interested in educational administration, educational planning and policy, and those with interest in pursuing further studies in the economics of education proper.
The course readings will be made of canonical articles; though not necessarily the most recent in the literature, they will be examples of formative contributions in the overall debates. Reading examples for a variety of policy topics will be drawn from such field journals as Economics of Education Review, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, and Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.
ELP543 Course Flyer for Fall 2013
Education and Social Stratification (ELP 590)
Education (K-16+) is a major contributor to processes of social stratification, where it is well established that wide variation exists in academic achievement, course taking patterns, and academic attainment at the K-12 level for varying groups in the population. Similarly, notable variation exists in patterns of college matriculation, persistence and graduation, as well as linked graduate/professional school experiences and later socioeconomic outcomes.
ELP590 explores the relationship between education and social stratification processes in American society. This course will review sociological theories and empirical research that have been concerned with the connections between family of origin and educational outcomes, and between educational attainments and labor market outcomes. The course will pay close attention to multiple bases of stratification in American society, such as social class, gender, and race/ethnicity. Although literature is drawn primarily from the United States, some cross-national material will be employed. The topics and issues to be explored in Spring 2014 include: theories of stratification; status attainment models and social mobility; mechanisms of stratification, specially as linked to schools; transitions from school to work; vertical and horizontal gender stratification; educational expansion and persistent inequality; and institutional arrangements of education systems and social stratification.
This course will provide a venue for students to think critically about the role of K-16+ institutions in explaining both educational and occupational attainment processes as well as launch their own research project on a topic of interest. The course will be valuable for those whose own work is centrally located in issues of stratification as well as those who wish to become more informed as to the ways in which educational institutions serve as “sorting machines” for the broader society.
ELP590 Course Flyer for Spring 2014
Education in a Global Economy (ELP 525)
Education is critical to our future prosperity.
In the emerging logic of global comparative and competitive advantage, education is viewed as the lynchpin for economic development. Education will be called upon to respond to current needs and for future opportunities.
This course provides an introductory survey of the links between education and economic development with examples from around the world. We start by surveying differences in educational attainment and schooling investments in various regions of the world in recent years. The course then moves to explore the factors that influence primary and secondary school enrollment and success in developing countries, the role played by higher education on economic growth, and the nature of inequities in educational outcomes on the basis of income, gender, race, and ethnicity–among other things.
Throughout the course there is a focus on key policy issues in education and economic development, such as the gender gap in schooling, child labor force participation, adult literacy programs, the role of international organizations (such as the World Bank), and the relative impact of public versus private spending on primary, secondary and tertiary education.
No previous background in economics is required; the course is theory driven, not math based. It is thus suitable for MA and PhD students interested in global issues and policy matters.
ELP525 Course Flyer for Spring 2014
Media, Globalization, and Education (ELP 687)
The so-called Arab Spring highlighted for many the role that new technology like Facebook and Twitter can play in generating new social formations and promoting social change. Information can now circulate around the world instantaneously and in ways that cannot always be controlled or contained by governments and nation states. The rapid, world-wide proliferation of new technologies and media forms has opened up important questions about the status of culture and knowledge today. New and emergent poular cultures are developing around the world, blurring the line between “consumer” and “producer” as never before. More and more information is now available across more and more kinds of media platforms, in ways unimaginable even a generation ago. While education has never been more important, core ideas about culture and knowledge and expertise and authority are now being challenged in new ways. In this course, we will explore these issues–the new challenges that education faces as it negotiates this now inextricably global landscape. Students will acquire a critical perspective on globalization and related phenomena–a set of processes that often seem natural, immutable, and beyond the control of individuals.
This course will be appropriate for all GSE students as well as students across the university interested in these concerns. It will be especially appropriate for those interested in:
- Exploring the ways “official knowledge” is being challenged or opened up by digital communications, including “open access” venues and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), and the implications for education;
- Examining the ways stable notions of “culture” have been challenged by young people around the world who are participating in new kinds of “subcultures” and other emergent cultural formations;
- Thinking about pursuing research related to globalization and education (This includes doctoral and master’s students);
- And gaining a better understanding of the range of global forces that are now permeating the everyday lives of all students (This includes teachers and administrators).
ELP687 Course Flyer for Spring 2013
Multicultural Education: Theory and Practice (ELP 582) [Hybrid Course]
Are you a multicultural educator?
How multicultural are you?
We, aspiring or in-service K-20 education leaders–whether classroom teachers, school administrators, or policy makers, at various levels and local, regional, national, and international contexts–live with and work with and for the ever-increasingly diverse population in this multicultural society with the hopes and goals that we serve the mission of education for all. Then, how active and transformative are we, in our personal and professional philosophy and educational practices, to realize our mission to help each one of our diverse students to learn in a better, equitable educational environment?
This hybrid course–the seminar with face-to-face classroom meetings and online participation combined–is designed to create and engage in the dialogic, reflective venues through which we discuss such critical issues of multicultural education as language, gender, ethnicity, race, class, disability, and sexual orientation in not only the U.S. but also other countries. Through on-going discussion with reading, viewing, evaluating, and reflecting on relevant scholarly literature, films, lectures, interviews, and empirical case studies and ethnography, and doing a case study as a class project, students will gain a deeper understanding of and sensitivity to the dynamic conditions of multiculturalism and their influence on the construction and re-construction of personal, communal, and social identities.
