Graduate Studies Reports Access
Graduate Course Proposal Form Submission Detail - EDF5607
Tracking Number - 2691
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Current Status:
Approved by SCNS - 2012-05-14
Campus: Tampa
Submission Type: Change
Course Change Information (for course changes only): 1) Change title to "Trends in Education Politics."
2) Change course description to the following:
"Contemporary education politics in the U.S. with interdisciplinary social-science perspectives."
Comments: for Teacher Ed Cert; to GC 4/2/12; to USF Syst 4/5/12; to GC 4/16/12; to SCNS 4/16/12. SCNS appd eff 6/1/12
Detail Information
- Date & Time Submitted: 2011-12-08
- Department: Psychological and Social Foundations
- College: ED
- Budget Account Number: 172500
- Contact Person: Sherman Dorn
- Phone: 49482
- Email: dorn@usf.edu
- Prefix: EDF
- Number: 5607
- Full Title: Trends in the Social-Political Foundations of Schooling in the
- Credit Hours: 3
- Section Type: D -
Discussion (Primarily)
- Is the course title variable?: N
- Is a permit required for registration?: N
- Are the credit hours variable?: N
- Is this course repeatable?:
- If repeatable, how many times?: 0
- Abbreviated Title (30 characters maximum): Trend Soc-Pol Found US Schools
- Course Online?: C -
Face-to-face (0% online)
- Percentage Online: 0
- Grading Option:
R - Regular
- Prerequisites:
- Corequisites:
- Course Description: Current debates re: purpose and practice of formal schooling in the U.S. with historical and sociological perspectives. Satisfies social foundations requirements for Fla. Teacher certification and ESL competency in knowledge of intercultural issues in edu
- Please briefly explain why it is necessary and/or desirable to add this course:
- What is the need or demand for this course? (Indicate if this course is part of a required sequence in the major.) What other programs would this course service? This is a title and description change. Both are more accurate descriptions of the content of the course.
- Has this course been offered as Selected Topics/Experimental Topics course? If yes, how many times?
- What qualifications for training and/or experience are necessary to teach this course? (List minimum qualifications for the instructor.) Terminal degree or 18 credit hours in social foundations, political science, or related areas.
- Objectives: Explore the long-standing tensions among the different purposes of schooling through contemporary debates
Explore the history and theories of school reform
Put education research in the context of social-science models of knowledge
- Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course, students will be able to perform the following:
Explain the dynamics of current debates by reference to the long-standing tensions among the different purposes of schooling
Show what assumptions lie behind current reform ideas
Assess the prospects of specific reform ideas based on the history and theories of school reform
Explain the use and abuse of research in the context of a specific policy debate
- Major Topics: 1. Debates over the purposes of education
When people in North America have argued about the purposes of education, what have they argued about?
When and how have people in North America created and distributed important ideas about the purposes of education?
When people have made claims about the most important purposes of education, what are the underlying assumptions about society?
How have people tied those underlying assumptions to models of politics, the economy, communities, and society more broadly?
When people make specific arguments today about education policy and practice, how do those arguments reveal their assumptions about the purposes of education?
What are the substantive, measurable changes we can identify in family structure, migration, and other demographic traits relevant to education?
Historically, how have people argued about was necessary to provide in education, whether educational opportunities should be equal, and what "equal educational opportunity" means?
2. Bureaucracy and reform
How did bureaucracies develop in U.S. schooling?
How does the existence of school bureaucracies shape the work of educators?
Nationally since World War 2, what have been the main themes, politics, and policies of education reform?
What have been the major policies of and debates over school reform in Florida?
What social-science models can explain the path of school bureaucracies?
3. Uses and abuses of research
How do people talk about "research" in education?
How is research tied to institutional status, both colleges/schools of education and how people view teaching as an occupation?
How is research used/abused in public policymaking?
- Textbooks:
- Course Readings, Online Resources, and Other Purchases: Examples of other, shorter readings:
Sample article:
Gloria Ladson-Billings, "Landing on the Wrong Note: The Price We Paid for Brown," Educational Researcher 33, 7 (2004).
Sample court cases:
Gratz v. Bollinger (2003)
Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)
Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (2007)
- Student Expectations/Requirements and Grading Policy: 2 perspective/position papers, each 25%
8-10 reading response papers, collectively 50%
- Assignments, Exams and Tests: Rubric for perspective/position papers:
A: Outstanding work addresses the issues by integrating material from the course and presenting an original synthesis or evaluation.
B: Good work addresses the issues at hand by applying course materials fairly to the topic. Good work may fail to put issues in a broader context or present well-reasoned, independent judgment of the material. It may show minor misunderstandings of course materials.
C: Fair work will use some course materials in discussion of the topic. Fair papers may not use the most obvious or relevant course materials and may fail to put issues in a clearly course-related context. Fair work often takes the contemporary materials at face value, without exploring the deeper assumptions that is the true subject matter of social foundations. Fair work may also show gross misunderstandings of the material.
F: Failing responses do not show evidence of course enrollment. The mark of failing written work is that one could have produced it without enrolling in the course. A plagiarized paper is a failure and risks failing the course and a FF designation on the transcript.
Rubric for reading response papers:
A: An outstanding response competently summarizes the reading and explains the strengths and weaknesses clearly. After the fifth week in the course, the strengths and weaknesses include a comparison with other readings in the course.
B: A good response competently summarizes the reading and explains the strengths and weaknesses clearly. Good work may fail to put issues in a broader context or present well-reasoned, independent judgment of the material. It may show minor misunderstandings of course materials.
C: A fair response will contain two of the three substantive required elements of the assignment. Fair work may also show gross misunderstandings of the material or may not fairly (in the justice sense) evaluate the reading.
F: Failing responses do not show evidence of course enrollment. The mark of failing written work is that one could have produced it without enrolling in the course. A plagiarized paper is a failure and risks failing the course and a FF designation on the transcript.
- Attendance Policy: This course includes the expectation that students will participate weekly by writing 4-7 thoughtful comments each week in Blackboard about the various topics related to the class. (Note: "Week" may be expanded to accommodate designated University holidays.) Students who miss more than one week of active participation in the semester without an excuse described explicitly in USF policy or in an individual section syllabus's accommodation guidelines will have their grade drop one full letter grade. Students who miss more than two weeks will have their grade drop two full letter grades. Students who miss more than three weeks will fail the class.
Course Attendance at First Class Meeting Policy for Graduate Students: For structured courses, 6000 and above, the College/Campus Dean will set the first-day class attendance requirement. Check with the College for specific information. This policy is not applicable to courses in the following categories: Educational Outreach, Open University (TV), FEEDS Program, Community Experiential Learning (CEL), Cooperative Education Training, and courses that do not have regularly scheduled meeting days/times (such as, directed reading/research or study, individual research, thesis, dissertation, internship, practica, etc.). Students are responsible for dropping undesired courses in these categories by the 5th day of classes to avoid fee liability and academic penalty. (See USF Regulation Registration - 4.0101,
http://usfweb2.usf.edu/usfgc/ogc%20web/currentreg.htm)
Attendance Policy for the Observance of Religious Days by Students: In accordance with Sections 1006.53 and 1001.74(10)(g) Florida Statutes and Board of Governors Regulation 6C-6.0115, the University of South Florida (University/USF) has established the following policy regarding religious observances: (http://usfweb2.usf.edu/usfgc/gc_pp/acadaf/gc10-045.htm)
In the event of an emergency, it may be necessary for USF to suspend normal operations. During this time, USF may opt to continue delivery of instruction through methods that include but are not limited to: Blackboard, Elluminate, Skype, and email messaging and/or an alternate schedule. Its the responsibility of the student to monitor Blackboard site for each class for course specific communication, and the main USF, College, and department websites, emails, and MoBull messages for important general information.
- Policy on Make-up Work:
- Program This Course Supports: 1. Proposed M.Ed. in Educational Studies. 2. Masters education programs that require social foundations courses either as part of the program or as a corequisite for some students in the program.
- Course Concurrence Information:
- if you have questions about any of these fields, please contact chinescobb@grad.usf.edu or joe@grad.usf.edu.