Perspectives on Contemporary School Reform

Catalog description

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.