Curriculum & Instruction

Student Learning Outcomes for All Concentrations

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Graduates will be able to:

1. Demonstrate critical stance through inquiry and analysis of past and current educational practices and policies.
2. Demonstrate teaching practices that are equity-oriented and anti-oppressive in nature.
3. Demonstrate understanding of the larger systemic context within which students, communities, and schools operate.
4. Describe strategies to disrupt "common sense" notions of schooling to reveal implicit biases and assumptions.
5. Demonstrate the competencies necessary for examining professional practice using formal and informal methods of inquiry.

Descriptions of Key Assessments of Student Learning

FNDS 5660 History of Schooling in the United States - Litigation Exploration

Students research a case related to K-12 schooling of interest to them that was litigated by the Supreme Court. They locate the actual legal brief, research scholarly articles connected to the court case and topic to provide historical and present-day context for the case, related to the social and political climate, educational conditions at that time, and identify the multiple perspectives of conditions related to the case (privileges, marginalized, and unrecognized groups). Students provide a concluding response that addresses the essential question for the course: "In what forms do power and subjugation emerge throughout the development and enactment of school in the United States?" (Outcomes 1 and 4)

FNDS 5660 History of Schooling in the United States - Book Study & Critical Response Paper

Students select a book to read for an in-depth study of the history of education in the United States from the perspective of an educational context (e.g. special education, rural schools, urban schools, etc.) or cultural group (e.g. Blacks, Native Americans, Latino/Mexican American, etc.). In this two part project: 1) students provide a personal narrative response with present day connections grounded in a current article that connects to the context of the book; 2) Students critique the history of the group they read through a critical pedagogy lens responding to other guiding questions: "What has been the impact on social groups and the experiences of students and the development of schooling?" and "Bridging the past with present: in what was has the history of the U.S. schooling informed practices and processes of contemporary schooling?" (Outcome 3)

EDFN 5240 Culture of Education Policy - Policy Analysis Toolkit

Students develop a Policy Analysis Conceptual Toolkit throughout the course that demonstrates: 1) a general understanding of the policy process, from the creation to evaluation of education policy; 2) critical awareness of the values and goals underlying the choices that policy-makers and analysts make; and 3) analysis skills that account for the normative, political, social, and economic factors that shape education policy. (Outcomes 1, 3, and 4)

EDFN 5240 Culture of Education Policy - Policy Study Exploration

Students selects a policy arena to study (e.g. Charter school, policy organization, etc.) and design a project that utilizes course concepts and goals to make an argument about education policy and/or attempt to solve a social problem with policy. Final product is visual presentation of learning to class and stakeholders and policy memo that provides information, guidance or recommendations about an issue or problem to a decision-maker. Students make a case for an education policy, honing in on a particular policy problem they want to address in schools. (Outcome 5)

EDFN 5070 Curriculum Theories in Education - Midterm Exam

The midterm examination requires students to apply their current understandings of hidden/null curriculum, as well as Eisner and Schiro curricular orientatons by responding to prompts in the exam. (Outcomes 1, 2, and 4)

EDFN 5070 Curriculum Theories in Education - Curriculum Analysis

Students apply their understanding of explicit/hidden/null curricula, and Schiro's four curricular orientations, toward the analysis of their own classroom curriculum. This evidenced-based analysis includes classroom artifacts, lesson recordings, annotated unit/lesson plans, and/or student work, that support their academic connections to Eisner, Schiro, and other scholarly sources. (Outcomes 1, 3, and 5)

RSEM 5080 Research in Schools - Action Research Study

Students design and enact a collaborative research study with one or two peers investigating a question of shared interest. The study includes designing a research proposal, collecting and analyzing data, preparing a research report, writing personal reflections regarding the action research process, and a final presentation of learning to the class. (Outcome 5)