Educational Theory and Policy (EDTHP)

An introduction to disciplinary and interdisciplinary studies in educational theory and policy.

Surveys group-oriented education policies internationally, especially comparing those of Britain, Taiwan, India.

Education is one of the most important factors affecting major demographic shifts and processes worldwide, including the first and second demographic transitions. If, as the old sociological adage goes "demography is destiny," then our destiny is educationally transformed demography. Interdisciplinary research across demography, sociology, neuropsychology, and epidemiology is developing a strong research literature about how the thinking style, behavior, and attitudes of the educated human radically change fundamental dynamics underlying the world's population. The whole way in which we come to our jobs, spouses, and lifestyles; how many children we have and how we raise them; how long we are likely to live, and what will be our eventual demise are all heavily influenced by how much education we have had. The collective force of widespread education and its influence on rising cognitive abilities, scripts for living, and economic well-being are creating a distinctly new type of human population with major benefits and future challenges for a sustainable human population. At the same time, individuals' schooling is also influenced by demographic change. This seminar covers key concepts, theories, and methodological issues related to the intersection of demographical and cultural changes from the education revolution and their impact on subsequent demographic processes.

The interaction between educational theory and social structure, focusing on the role of practicing intellectuals in contemporary institutional settings.

Examination of contemporary U.S. school reform, with a focus on contrasting theoretical perspectives and the application of policy analysis principles. EDTHP 520 Perspectives on Contemporary School Reform (3) This course examines contemporary U.S. school reform, with several purposes, with a focus on contrasting theoretical perspectives and the application of policy analysis principles. It consists of the following objectives:1. To gain an appreciation of how school reforms develop, including the rationale behind them and how visions of school change become mediated by social and political contexts as they become policy. 2. To analyze what produces continuity and change in schools and classrooms, including why some reforms persist, why some fade, and why some recur. 3. To gain an understanding that the implementation of school reform is a product of the interaction between the larger context (social, economic, political, ideological, and environmental factors), the character of schools as institutions, and the actions of groups and individuals. 4. To gain and strengthen skills in analyzing a policy argument, its assumptions, and use of evidence in order to construct a coherent and compelling policy analysis of a school reform on your own.The course is an advanced seminar with approximately 15 students enrolled. The course will be offered once in every two-year (4 semester) cycle. Course evaluation includes policy analysis exercises, weekly written responses to readings, responsibility for leading the seminar, and a cumulative research paper examining and analyzing a school reform. Attendance and participation also are part of the course evaluation.

This course bridges theoretical statistics coursework and practical research with real, large-scale data sets. The course emphasizes hands-on data preparation and analysis using statistical software. More specifically, the course will give an overview of national and international data resources that are available for educational researchers, survey the most widely used data analysis techniques in educational research, and use statistical software and large-scale datasets to produce useful results for educational policy research.

The aim of the course is to help students view the educational system and students' educational decisions through the lens of economics. We will discuss the methods that economists commonly employ to study education and read recent empirical articles that examine the impact of educational policies and practices. At the end of the semester, we will discuss insights from the field of behavioral economics, which builds on the standard economic model to better understand decision making. This course also surveys the empirical literature on the economics of education which is organized into several broad topics, including human capital and economic return to education, school choice and college access, and education production. Finally, the course covers a variety of econometric methods that are widely used in the economic study of education. These methods include regression models (e.g., ordinary least squares, discrete choice models, Multi-level modeling, panel data models, etc.) and commonly used techniques to deal with self-selection and causal inference (e.g., quasi-experimental methods).

Effective reading of academic articles in educational policy based on quantitative methods.

This course is designed to give students an overview of large-scale international assessment databases and to demonstrate how these databases can be utilized to investigate critical issues in education from a comparative perspective. A number of empirical studies using large-scale international assessment databases will be reviewed, and these analyses will be replicated via computer labs. Students will develop a good understanding of large-scale international assessment databases and will learn to apply an appropriate method to address a particular topic of interest. Students will also develop a wide range of research skills necessary to independently conduct comparative research, including but not limited to formulating a research question, conducting a literature review, analyzing empirical data, and interpreting results. Although the focus is mainly on datasets relevant to education and education policy research, the skills taught in the course are broadly transferable to other social sciences including sociology.

This course considers testing, the reasons that policymakers have widely adopted testing, and implications of testing for educational equity. EDTHP 527 Testing and Educational Equity (3) Results from standardized testing reveal that there are large disparities in test scores that parallel racial and ethnic lines in the U.S. For almost two decades, American policymakers have embraced increased testing in K-12 education as a means of reducing these disparities.The objectives of this course are to help you to understand why testing policies have proliferated, to explore how such policies might or might not affect academic achievement, and to think critically with regard to the policies' impact on students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.In essence, the course's central question is this: In what ways might testing policies ameliorate or increase disparities across racial and ethnic groups?

Historical study of social dimensions in the formation of education policy.

The course objective is to use an international comparative lens and sociological perspective to examine the social, cultural, political and economic forces that shape childhood and the role education plays in this process.

Studies in the historical development of educational theory.

Provides students with an overview of dominant sociological theoretical perspectives on schools, schooling, and education in modern society. SOC (EDTHP) 538 Sociology of Education (3) This graduate course in the Sociology of Education covers the major sociological theories and empirical research on the role of formal education in society. The object of the course is to have the student become conversant with the main lines of sociological research applied to education and social development at the individual, community, and societal levels. Since sociology of education has had considerable impact on educational policy over the past 50 years, a second goal of the course is to understand this relationship and avenues for future research and policy analysis from a sociological perspective. This course is a central topic in the general study of social stratification and hence in pursuit of the Ph.D. in the Educational Theory and Policy and the Sociology program. The format of the course is a didactic seminar with extensive written assignments as the usual form of evaluation.

Educational theory and practice in relation to contemporary movements in philosophy. CI ED 541 CI ED (EDTHP) 541 Contemporary Philosophies of Education (3) This graduate seminar explores a range of contemporary philosophies of education viewed from the perspective of different varieties of postmodernism. The study of modern and postmodern western thought is combined with explorations of eastern thought including viewpoints that are emerging today in both the northern and southern hemispheres. While focusing on contemporary educational ideas, it traces their roots in classical and non-modern philosophical sources. This look at the present in terms of the past reveals the paradigm shift presented by contemporary postmodern educational thought. In doing so, considerations for the issues of race, class, gender, ecology, multiculturalism and the regeneration of diverse incommensurable cosmovisions, severed or overlooked by some educational philosophers, are explored in their reintegration by contemporary postmodern philosophers of education.

Examination of civil rights policies and educational equity in the U.S. from the perspectives of law, social science, accountability policy. Civil Rights and Education will examine civil rights policies and educational equity in the United States from the perspectives of social science, education policy, and law. The aims of the course are to build students' understanding of the key principles of civil rights policies and the sources of contention in civil rights, and to enhance students' capacity for participating in issues of civil rights and education through project-based work. We will begin by considering what it means to have an opportunity to learn and how it has been defined. The course will then consider legal and policy developments since the "Brown" decision that have both expanded and constrained the opportunity for certain groups of students. The course is primarily focused on national developments, but does include a focus specifically on educational opportunity in Pennsylvania. The course concludes by considering recent civil rights developments and prospects for the future. Cross Listings: EDLDR 542 will be added as a cross-listed course.

Examines the educational policy process world-wide and the influence on schooling of children, youth, and adults in national education systems. CI ED (EDTHP) 550 Comparative Education Policy Seminar (3) In this course students will learn how educational policy is made around the world and what influence this policy has on the schooling of children, youth, and adults in national systems of education. Students will examine recent trends in educational policy that have originated at the international level. Methods of policy research and evaluation will also be examined. The main goal of the course is to give students an understanding of international processes in policy formation and detailed knowledge of current education policy trends worldwide.

Role of education in social mobility, using quantitative, qualitative, and historical methods; focuses comparatively on Britain, East Asia, and South America. CI ED 553/SOC 553/EDTHP 553/HI ED 553 CI ED 553. (SOC 553, EDTHP 553, HI ED 553) Educational Mobility in Comparative Perspective (3)Sociologists interested in higher education have attended to the relationships between postsecondary institutions and other institutions, as well as the impact on higher education of general social and demographic processes. Many of the classical ideas in sociological theory, including those of Max Weber and Emile Durkheim, have surfaced in recent debates over the nature of higher education. Sociologists in the U.S. have explored such questions as: the gatekeeping function of higher education; the impact of universities on stratification; and the socializing environment for women and minorities. This seminar introduces some of the classical theorists and contemporary researchers of the sociology of higher education. All seminar participants will be required to write a sample research proposal, based on the readings from the seminar.

The research theories and policies useful for understanding the schooling processes and outcomes of immigrants' children. EDTHP 555 Migration and Children's Education (3) This course focuses on the theories and policies pertaining to the educational achievement, attainment, and engagement of immigrants' children. Immigrants' children include foreign-born children (first generation) and native-born children of foreign-born parents (second generation). The course includes a survey of empirical research on the educational differences (the generational gap) between three groups: first-generation, second-generation, and higher generations. The course aims at helping education researchers and school leaders understand the mechanisms through which generational gaps are created and maintained by examining a host of family, community, and particularly school factors. Key school factors include: bilingual policies, tracking, ability grouping, special education placement, and segregation. Although the focus is primarily on children of contemporary legal and undocumented immigrants in the United States, this course also addresses the schooling of children in countries that send immigrants to the United States, as well as immigrants' children in other receiving countries of the world, such as East Asian and Western European countries.

Reviews theory and current sociology research on student access, achievement, and governance in postsecondary education, with applications to policy analysis. EDTHP (HI ED, SOC) 557 Sociology of Higher Education (3) Sociologists interested in higher education have attended to the relationships between postsecondary institutions and other institutions, as well as the impact on higher education of general social and demographic processes. Many of the classical ideas in sociological theory, including those of Max Weber and Emile Durkheim, have surfaced in recent debates over the nature of higher education. Sociologists in the U.S. have explored such questions as: the gatekeeping function of higher education; the impact of universities on stratification; and the socializing environment for women and minorities. This seminar introduces some of the classical theorists and contemporary researchers of the sociology of higher education. All seminar participants will be required to write a sample research proposal, based on the readings from the seminar.

This course is designed to help students develop a broad familiarity with the kinds of research designs (e.g., cluster randomized trials) and statistical methods (e.g., propensity score matching, instrumental variables, regression discountinuity) that are helpful in drawing causal inferences in educational policy research.

Focus on components of high quality academic writing for educational research, with a special emphasis on improving the writing process.

Introduction to education policy journals and the review and editing process; discussion of emerging issues within the academic publishing industry.

A capstone course on research design and analytical approaches to support decision-making in administration and policy-making. EDLDR 585 / EDTHP 585 / HIED 585 Research Design: Implications for Decisions in Higher Education (3) By the end of this course you should be able to: (1) Define and explain the following concepts/tools of social science research: The scientific method-Theory and its role, Constructs and variables, Hypotheses and relations, Experimental designs, Quasi-experimental designs and Ex post facto designs. Sampling theory and designs-Survey designs and methods, Approaches to data collection, Measurement reliability and validity, Quantitative analytical designs, and Ethical practices. (2) Apply these concepts/tools in designing a study relating to educational research. (3) Effectively critique both the theoretical bases and methods of a journal article or report of research or policy analysis. (4) Prepare a sound research proposal.

Exploration of the theoretical framework undergirding qualitative research and its attendant practices and techniques. EDLDR (EDTHP, HI ED) 586 Qualitative Methods in Educational Research (3) This course is the introductory course in the EPS qualitative research methods sequence. This is the first course in a three-course sequence departmental sequence intended to take students from basic knowledge of qualitative methods through mastery of advanced topics. This course was designed specifically to 1) orient students to the various types of qualitative methods most widely used in educational policy research and their theoretical underpinnings; 2) provide training in basic qualitative research techniques; 3) introduce students to basic research design; 4) provide systematic practice (and feedback) in evaluating qualitative research that would allow students to become sophisticated consumers of qualitative studies; 5) prepare students for the Level 11 course. The course will begin with a brief review the development of qualitative methods in related fields (anthropology, sociology, linguistics) and quickly move on to an overview of qualitative methods in education. Students must have read the material prior to class in order to take part in in-class exercises and discussions. We will focus on key issues such as validity, interpretation and representation. Students will be asked to read studies, assess the general quality of the work, and provide a critical evaluation. Students will study specific methods of qualitative field research, and most weeks we will practice and discuss a particular research technique (e.g. participant observation, focus group interviews). These practice sessions will be informed by relevant readings. Students will practice developing coding schemas as well as get a quick overview of qualitative data analysis (QDA) packages. Finally, in small groups, students will design a basic qualitative study to be presented as a final product in the course.

The political economy and bureaucratic politics of educational organizations, with special attention to the policy making, implementation, and evaluation processes.

Advanced study of methods involved in executing and analyzing qualitative research in education. EDLDR (EDTHP, HI ED) 588 Qualitative Methods in Educational Research II (3) The course will provide practical experience with methods of qualitative data collection, data management, and preliminary data analysis that extends and deepens students' understanding of qualitative research in education. The class, limited to 15 students, will take as the focus with inquiry a common "site" around which projects of individual and group interest will be designed. Sessions will take place in "workshop" blocks during which students will present and critique the work of the project. Readings will be interspersed with the practicing of methods. The final project for the course will be the compilation of a synthesized data set that could serve as the basis of further analysis.

Supervised, research-oriented, off-campus, nongroup instruction, including field experiences, practicums, or internships. Written and oral critique of activity required.

Creative projects including non-thesis research, supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.

Formal courses given on a topical or special interest subject which may be offered infrequently.

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This class enables doctoral students to gain experience in college teaching under the supervision of a course instructor.

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Formal courses given on a topical or special interest subject with a professional orientation that may be offered infrequently.