EDS 825 - Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice in Education

3 Credit(s) As teachers, we often focus exclusively on the needs of the particular students in our classrooms. However, to fully meet the needs of these students, teachers must also understand the complex educational context within which they work. This course introduces students to the educational policies and reforms that inevitably shape their work in schools and classrooms. Participants in this course will become active consumers of educational research and policy documents, will learn how to read, write, and teach like an advocate, and will learn how to identify and begin to answer questions about classroom practice using research and policy as guides. Students will build an understanding of how classrooms and schools are situated within larger districts that, in turn, are influenced by state and federal policies. They will explore ways in which they can act as change agents within schools or larger educational contexts through the use or careful critique of policy and research, all on behalf of the students in their classrooms and schools. Three lecture hours per week.