Child Development Major theories and current empirical research concerning cognitive and social/emotional development of children. Interaction of internal maturational factors with effects of families, peers and schools.
Adult Development and Aging Concepts, theories and research on development and adaptation from early adulthood through aging: age periods, transitions, cognitive, moral and faith development; psychosocial and ego development; defense mechanisms; death and dying.
An intensive introduction to some of the most influential theories of human development articulated in the Western tradition of social science, with an emphasis upon especially broad frameworks that speak to development of human cognition and learning, social and emotional development, and the individual person’s integration into society.The course considers theories that address the emotional foundations of human development, stage models of cognitive development, life-course approaches to understanding the developing person’s integration into family and society, and recent narrative theories of self and culture.
Sociology of Education How does educational research affect social policy? This course examines theories of the relationship between schools and society, research on educational outcomes and the mechanisms by which schooling accomplishes these outcomes, and policy responses to research findings. How does social research clarify the operation of schooling and policy options? What kinds of research are most useful to policy? How can qualitative and quantitative studies be designed to address theoretical and policy concerns? How can studies of institutions be integrated with studies using national surveys?
Economics of Social Policy This course introduces students to the fundamentals of economic analysis in the evaluation of education and social policy. Each week the class concentrates on a different important public policy question, and then uses economic reasoning to explain the economic rationales for policies as well as the potential consequences, expected and unexpected, of the policy. The policy questions considered depend on what issues are currently being publicly debated. Economic concepts covered include constrained choice, market forces and price theory, market failures (such as externalities/spillovers and public goods), and welfare analysis.
Field Methods This course is designed to introduce students to qualitative research, including field work, interviewing, and document analysis. Students will explore qualitative research approaches by undertaking their own research study as well as reading and discussing relevant writing on the subject.
The Politics of Public Policy This course examines the politics underlying policy development and the policy process. We begin with a time-ordered sequence of steps. Then, we use this framework to show the many constraints of all kinds that limit the utility of the rational actor model as a way of understanding policy development and the policy process but do not destroy it. The theoretical and empirical literature on the politics of public policy is explored to understand the determinants of how issues emerge on policy agendas and the political opportunities and constraints within the policy process. It should be a useful course for students who want (1) to work in the policymaking world, (2) to do research to inform policy, or (3) to conduct research on the politics of public policy.
The Politics of Public Policy Framework for understanding the structure and process of development. How existing social policies can be analyzed and new policies developed.
Educational Policy: Design, Implementation and Effects School reform has become a regular fixture in public, professional, and academic deliberations about our nation's schools. In the past couple of decades, educational reform proposals have grown significantly as both state and federal governments have become increasingly interested in developing education policies. This course will provide students with an introduction to key issues in K-12 educational policy. The course is designed to develop students’ abilities to examine, analyze and critique education policies, education policy-making, and education policy implementation. Further, students will develop an appreciation for issues relating to policy effects.
Given the vastness of the terrain, the course will be grounded in three education policy/reform initiatives that have gained considerable currency over the past decade: (1) Standards and Accountability (2) Teacher Quality& (3) School Choice - Vouchers and Charter Schools
Topics in Organizations, Institutions and Society: Persistence and Change Among Public, Private, and Non-Profit Sectors This new graduate seminar will introduce theories of institutional persistence and change in the context of public, private, and nonprofit settings. The course is organized as a seminar and will blend foundational studies in institutional theory with contemporary work, from sociology, organization sciences, education and nonprofit studies. An overarching theme of the course addresses how new practices and organizational forms spread (diffusion), how they stick (institutionalization) and how they take the form that they do (emergence). Topics covered will include accountability and performance; organizational learning; contemporary debates about social mechanisms, and micro-foundations of institutional theory. Ideally, this course will provide a platform for students to develop and advance their own research projects, in the form of a research proposal, for beginning doctoral students, or an empirical analysis for more advanced students.
Introduction to Quantitative Research Methods and Design This course is designed to teach students the fundamental concepts of quantitative research design, how to develop scientific hypotheses, and how to design experimental, quasi-experimental or correlational studies to test hypotheses. The course will also introduce students to basic statistical concepts such as the logic of hypothesis testing, t-tests, ANOVAs, correlation and regression. Research examples from education, human development and social policy will be highlighted.
Advanced Qualitative Methods This course in advanced qualitative research is designed for students who have taken an introductory graduate course in qualitative research methods and are in the process of analyzing qualitative data for their trial research, dissertation, or some other research project. The course will focus chiefly on: a) Analyzing qualitative data to develop and justify assertions.
b) Epistemological underpinnings of various qualitative approaches.
c) Issues of reliability, validity, and making generalizations.
The course will be conducted as a seminar with class work organized around prescribed readings on a particular issue as well as data and other materials from researchers’ and students’ qualitative studies.
Regression Analys Hum Dev Res This course provides an introduction to many of the important tools of estimating causal models, including experimental analysis, difference-in-difference, regression discontinuity designs, propensity score matching, event study, interrupted time series, and other regression-based models. Emphasis is placed on understanding the rationales behind the empirical techniques chosen, and the interpretation of the analysis. Students develop hands-on technical skills as well as critical research-reading skills in this course.
