Courses
EDPS 4000 Education and Public Policy
Examination of the federal role in K-12 education policy over the course of the 20th century and its impact on states and districts.
EDPS 4021 Sociology of Education
A broad analysis of education using basic sociological concepts, including schools as organizations, socialization, stratification, and ethnic relations.
EDPS 4022 Sociology of Urban Education
This course encourages students to think critically about the social, economic and political context of urban education. Topics include housing policies, gentrification, racial and socio-economic segregation, school closures, privatization and school choice
EDPS 4024 Social Stratification and Education
An examination of the link between education and social inequality in Western societies, questioning whether schools are a mechanism of social mobility, enabling poor and disadvantaged children to get ahead in life, or whether schools perpetuate the hardships faced by poor and minority populations. Topics include the importance of quantity and quality of schooling for adult success; the ways in which race/ethnicity, sex, and social class background structure students educational experiences; the role of tracking and ability grouping within schools; and the link between schooling and the economy.
EDPS 4027 Sociology of Classrooms
An examination of sociological research on the structure and operation of classrooms. Particular attention to the processes of stratification, socialization, legitimation, and social organization.
EDPS 4028 Sociology of the Life Course
This course provides an introduction to the sociological study of lives. Life course studies are interdisciplinary, and a sociological approach is complemented by life span developmental psychology, history, anthropology, and other disciplinary orientations. Nevertheless, there are several themes that are emphasized in the sociology of the life course. The central themes we will consider are: (a) lives are embedded in historical and cultural contexts; (b) individuals as producers of their own life course in a structure of opportunities and constraints; (c) lives are linked via kinship relations within and across generations; and (d) continuity and change in individual lives over time. We will also examine the life history method as a tool to understand the life course, with students conducting and analyzing a life history interview.
EDPS 4029 Sociology of Schools
This course addresses the sociology of schools. It complements the sociological study of classrooms and of educational systems, treating the school as the fundamental unit of analysis. Topics include: (a) how students are matched with schools; (b) variations in how schools are organized, and their consequences for students and teachers; (c) the distribution of valuable resources across schools; and (d) why school reform rarely has the desired dramatic effects either on what goes on in school or on student achievement.
EDPS 4030 Sociology of Organizations
Introduction to concepts, theories, and research in the sociology of organizations and the related interdisciplinary field of organization studies, as they apply to schools and other organizational settings in education. Topics covered will include internal organizational dynamics, organizations and their environments, organizations as contexts for human identity and agency, and organizational learning and improvement.
EDPS 4034 Organizing Schools for Diversity
This course provides a basic introduction to the sociology of organizations and then places organization theory in conversation with the sociological literature on race, diversity, and equity to address the question of how schools can be organized to be humane, effective, equitable, and just contexts for adults (teachers, administrators, etc.) and students who are diverse, and often marginalized, along characteristics such as race/ethnicity, social class, gender identity and sexual orientation, culture and religion, language, indigenous or immigration status, residential mobility and homelessness, and dis/ability.
EDPS 4620 Introductory Colloquium in Sociology of Education
Intensive readings and discussions of basic literature in sociology of education, with attention to common issues and research strategies.
EDPS 4903 Research and Independent Study
Permission required.
EDPS 5005 Sociology of Teaching and Learning in Education
This course applies sociological perspectives to understand teaching and learning in schools and classrooms. The emphasis is on K-12 teaching and learning, but many of the ideas and texts we examine will also apply to postsecondary education. The course explores teaching as an occupation, teachers' roles and responsibilities, and the social organization of teaching in schools, both in the U.S. and around the world. It also develops an understanding of classroom learning as a social phenomenon, and forges links between what is learned in school and the cognitive demands of work and citizenship.
EDPS 5020 Survey Research Methods
Relationship between research problem and study design, choice of population, sampling methods, instrument construction, interviewing, data processing, and analysis.
EDPS 5022 Sociology of Education Systems
Analysis of local and national education systems through application of sociological perspectives and organization theory, with special attention to problems of equity, effectiveness, and the embeddedness of education systems in their larger contexts.
EDPS 5050 Ideology, Racial Politics, and Public Policy: Sociology of Knowledge
The sociology of knowledge analyzes the process by which "reality" becomes constructed within a social context. With a focus on education and social welfare policies, this class will explore the "reality" of public policies with real material consequences and how this reality has been constructed around a set of assumptions defining the "problems" that need to be solved. This course helps students step back from a focus on "implementing" educational reform and examine instead how such a reform movement became the focus.
EDPS 5053 Race, Gender and Education
This course examines how racial discrimination in American education intersects with gender norms and stereotypes in ways that shape everyday school life, particularly how educational policies at the school, district, and federal level either perpetuate or transform these dynamic intersections. After exploring personal histories of race, gender, and schooling through memoir, the course begins with a theoretical and conceptual overview of race, gender, and sex, and the history of race and patriarchy in the U.S. context. Popular culture and discourse, as well as key issues and debates in the field are taken up thereafter, with a focus on race and gender equality/access in urban school settings, and gender dynamics in relation to racial bias, class privilege, and sexuality (e.g., LGBTQIA issues). The goal of the course is to reconsider what constitutes effective schooling for all students across social and cultural contexts.
EDPS 5057 Introduction to Qualitative Methods for Education Policy and Social Analysis
This 3-credit course is designed to introduce students to qualitative inquiry and data analysis. As a class we will aim to better understand the following: When is a qualitative methodology approach appropriate? What types of qualitative methods are out there and under what conditions is one analytic approach optimal over another? What are effective strategies for interview data collection? How do researchers code, analyze, and interpret qualitative data? What ethical dilemmas emerge in qualitative research? How do we know if qualitative research findings are valid, trustworthy, and reliable? Students will be guided to participate in the qualitative research process, encompassing: identification of a research question, development of an interview protocol and participant consent forms, (mock) approval of the Institutional Review Board, interview practice (e.g., conducting interviews and recording the interviews), interview data transcriptions, generation of qualitative codes and themes, synthesis of qualitative research findings, clarification of study significance and contribution to policy, practice, and/or theory.
EDPS 5199 Issues: Sociology and Higher Education
This 3-credit class explores current issues, debates, and challenges in higher education from a sociological perspective. As a class, we will examine questions such as: What is the role of higher education in American society? From where is the mission and vision of higher education derived? What social forces have shaped the landscape of higher education? How did society come to construct the so-called ivory towers and gatekeepers? How do institutions of higher education shape and influence society? And how do we, in turn, shape higher education?
EDPS 5503 Classical Social Theory
This class is an introduction to classical sociological theory. The epistemological foundations of sociological inquiry as well as its core concepts and methods will be examined. Problems and concepts to be covered will include alienation, class, legitimation, power, anomie, exploitation, culture, ideology, development, and individuation. The texts to be examined will be mainly from the three ‘founders’ of sociology: Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. In addition, theorists who worked within the classical sociological tradition and who have played a significant role in shaping contemporary social theory will also be studied; such theorists may include: Friedrich Engels, Marcel Mauss, George Simmel, Sigmund Freud, and Norbert Elias.
EDPS 5504 Contemporary Social Theory
This class will examine how the classical works of Weber, Durkheim and Marx have been augmented and revised by contemporary social thinkers. The readings will cover the American traditions of functionalism, pragmatism, and behaviorism as well as competing traditions such as neo-Marxism, structuralism, and discourse analysis. The readings will also address substantive issues such as globalization, digitization, consumerism, suburbanization, identity politics, racial formation theory and social control. The class will give students a broad overview of contemporary social theory as well as an understanding of how theory has addressed current social problems.
EDPS 5646 Evaluation of Educational and Social Programs
An introduction to the evaluation of social and educational programs. Topics include evaluation to inform program conceptualization and design; measuring program implementation; impact assessment, including randomized experiments; cost-effectiveness analysis; and the social and political context of program evaluation.
EDPS 6021 Master's Integrative Project in Sociology and Education
Students wishing to complete a master's integrative project instead of taking the master's exam will design a study, provide a relevant literature review of theory and research, collect and analyze data, and write a comprehensive report of their work.
EDPS 6903 Research and Independent Study
Permission required.
EDPS 8903 Dissertation Advisement: Sociology & Education
Individual advisement on doctoral dissertations. Fee to equal 3 points at current tuition rate for each term. For requirements, see section in catalog on Registration for Ed.D./Ph.D. degrees.