History and Education
Program Description
The Program in History and Education is one of the oldest at Teachers College, as the history of education was one of the first focal areas in the university study of education. Many of the earliest doctoral dissertations at Teachers College examined historical subjects, even whenstudents aspired to careers in curriculum, guidance, and administration. Today, students and faculty in the Program research the historic development and impact of a range of topics important to the life of schools and communities today, including school finance, discipline policy, school governance, curriculum, teacher education, higher education access, and parent and student activism for educational justice.
The Program addresses important educational questions first, by examining the ideas, individuals, communities, and institutions of the past to understand their influence on their own times and second, by bringing historical knowledge and perspective to bear on current educational issues. Course topics include the educational history of the United States, of US cities, of education policy, and more. Students take courses in historical research methods and refine their skills through supervised research projects focused on their areas of interest. In line with faculty strengths and interests, most students focus on topics in the history of education in the United States, but some work independently and with faculty in other areas of Teachers College and beyond to take up comparative or international historical research.
Graduates of the program work as research scholars in non-profit organizations, institutes, government agencies, and in many other spaces where a deep understanding of education in historical perspective is essential. Some continue in the K-12 classroom, where their practice and advocacy can be informed by their historical understanding. At the doctoral level, the Program prepares people to teach in graduate schools of education, undergraduate departments of education or education studies, departments of history, theological seminaries, or other academic institutions.
The Program is open to students of broad and diverse backgrounds who can give evidence of academic competence (particularly as careful readers and clear writers) and a deep interest in historical inquiry in education Each student in the Program is expected to take courses in the history of education, as well as in the broader fields of social, political, and cultural history. Students can also take courses in areas of education, including policy, curriculum, and more - that complement and support their specialized areas of interest within the history of education.
Students in the Program are encouraged, with their advisor’s guidance, to make full use of resources offered by other programs at Teachers College, Columbia University, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Union Theological Seminary, and through the InterUniversity Doctoral Consortium.
For more information, contact the Program Manager for the Program in History and Education. For information about applications and degree requirements, and for profiles of program faculty, students, and alumni, visit https://www.tc.columbia.edu/education-policy-and-social-analysis/history-and-education/.
Note: The Program in History and Education does not offer degree programs leading to public school teacher certification. For students interested in becoming certified public school teachers, please see the relevant teacher education programs, such as the Program in the Teaching of Social Studies in the Department of Arts and Humanities.
Program Degrees
Expand the accordion(s) to view the degree requirements:
-
The Master of Education requires 60 points, at least 30 of which must be completed under the auspices of Teachers College. Students must complete a formal master’s essay under the supervision of their academic advisor.
-
The Master of Arts degree program offers two approaches:
- 30 points and a formal master’s essay, or
- 32 points and a special project.
Topics and preparation of the essay or the special project are to be determined in consultation with the student’s advisor.
At least 15 of the points taken for the degree must be in the field of history and education.
-
The Doctor of Philosophy degree requires 75 points, of which 45 must be in history coursework, a certification examination, and the completion of a doctoral dissertation. Students must complete a one-year quantitative analysis course sequence and demonstrate reading proficiency in one language other than English.
Program Faculty
Faculty
- Ansley T. Erickson
Associate Professor of History and Education Policy
Visiting Professors
- Michael Charles Johanek
Visiting Assistant Professor of Teaching
Emeriti
- Thomas James
Professor Emeritus of History and Education
Adjunct Faculty
- Deidre Bennett Flowers
Adjunct Asst Prof - Rachel Klepper
Adjunct Asst Professor - Ajua Paule-Andree Kouadio
Adjunct Asst Professor
Program Courses
EDP5063 US Education Policy in Historical Perspective
This course takes a historically-informed approach to examining educational policy in the U.S. and will mix some limited presentations with seminar-style discussions. The course invites your sustained exploration of current educational policy through various historical perspectives. The course sessions break out thematically into three parts. First, we’ll look to frame ed policy in a wider educational landscape, via a comprehensive view of education, exploring what it means, what it includes, and the purposes it serves. We’ll then shift to some underlying dilemmas embedded in our history, primarily relating to civil religion, markets, law, place, ideology, and community. Finally, we’ll focus in on a handful of topic areas that reflect a messy mix of those dilemmas – homeschooling, school finance, community schooling, and social media. Your own experiences, expertise, and inquiries will add immeasurably to the content of the course, and your active participation will be invited. In all of this, there will be some special attention to Chicago as a context for our explorations. This should allow us to attend to the reality – and challenge -- of how distinct policy topics or dilemmas play out in intertwined ways on the ground across time.
EDP7501 Dissertation Seminar
Faculty. Permission by instructor required. Required of doctoral students in the semester following successful completion of certification examinations.
EDPH4060 History of Education in NYC
An examination of the city’s educational institutions from the perspective of the different school populations who attended them over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries.
EDPH4070 History of Education in the US
Considers the development of American education in the context of American social and intellectual history.
EDPH4076 History of Urban Education
Understanding the development of schooling in US cities, with an emphasis on social, economic, and spatial changes in the metropolitan environment and their interactions with schools.
EDPH4901 Research and Independent Study: History and Education
Permission of instructor required.
EDPH5070 History and Theory of Higher Education
What is the purpose of higher education, and how has its purpose changed over time? In this course, we will investigate this fundamental question by contextualizing how religious, cultural, political, and international dynamics have contoured American higher education since the origins of the first colonial colleges to its present-day policies and issues.
EDPH5076 History of African-American Education
This course introduces students to African American education history in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century through the twentieth century. The students and professor will explore African American education before and after emancipation, the growth of segregated education institutions following Reconstruction, and African Americans’ efforts to desegregate schools during the twentieth century. Education development for descendants of Africans enslaved in the United States began in the slave quarter community. It was carried on informally despite efforts to contain their ability to gain an education. Our study of this history starts near the end of legalized slavery in the United States and seeks answers to the following questions. · What type of education did enslaved persons receive before emancipation? · How did education for African Americans develop and change over time? · What forces shaped the curricula of schools educating African American Students? · How did racial ideology affect the education provided to African Americans? · Was desegregation a good thing? · Has desegregation or efforts towards achieving education equity been achieved? Assignments allow students to connect this historical knowledge to the work they will engage in as they pursue their professional careers. It is also intended to broaden students’ understanding of what James Anderson, in The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860 -1935, calls “schooling for both democratic citizenship and schooling for second-class citizenship” and notes that both types of schooling “have been basic traditions in American Education.” (Anderson, 1)
EDPH5190 Old and New Histories of Higher Education Institutions
This research seminar, open to students from any program, supports research on the history of Teachers College as an academic institution. The last history of TC was published in 1954. New histories are vitally needed now. Fresh evidence, more recently published scholarship, and alternative perspectives make this endeavor an excellent opportunity for students to engage in historical research.
EDPH5670 Colloquium in History & Educ
Discussion of research and teaching topics in history and education. Permission of instructor required.
EDPH6041 Historical Method
Methods, principles, and problems of historical research and interpretation. Designed for students throughout the College undertaking systematic inquiries on historical topics.
EDPH6901 Rsch Indp Study:History & Educ
Permission of instructor required.
EDPH8901 Diss Advsmnt:History & Educatn
Faculty. Individual advisement on doctoral dissertations. Fee to equal 3 points at current tuition rate for each term. For requirements, see section in catalog on Continuous Registration for Ed.D./Ph.D. degrees.