EDPA+4013+Education+policy+and+the+management+of+instruction

Next Offered
Summer 2013

Professor
Carolyn Riehl (TC)

Syllabus
Note: Syllabus is from Spring 2012 and subject to change.

Course description
In this course, we will explore current ideas about desirable goals for student learning and development in K-12 education and will use a backward mapping approach to consider how curriculum and instruction, classroom and school environments, organizational strategies, and leadership practices can facilitate progress toward those goals, and how local, state, and federal education policies can and do intervene all along the pathway, with varying results. This will help us answer three important questions: In what ways, if any, can education policy make positive contributions to the management of instruction? How can the domains of policy and practice work together to support instructional improvement and student learning? How can we prevent policy from undermining the best efforts of practitioners?

The course is intended to help students develop, articulate, and evaluate ambitious theories of action for school improvement and the management of instruction through policy. Knowledge and skills developed through this course can be useful in future endeavors as education policy makers or analysts, academic researchers, or as school or district leaders.

In our work together, we will honor two different, but related, forms of knowledge: the wisdom of practice, and knowledge derived from theory-based empirical research. We will draw upon both kinds of knowledge as we explore ideas and consider real-life applications.

Review
Not available

Student contact information
Not available