Designed to engage students in systems thinking, specifically about how education policies at the federal and state levels impact teaching and learning in elementary and secondary schools. Students have an opportunity to learn the fundamentals of how policy is created and implemented and to analyze the ways in which competing visions of the purpose of public education frame policy debates and outcomes.

Readings and activities will focus on a variety of contemporary policy initiatives. This course offers students an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of specific policies that relate closely to their professional roles and seek to identify and practice the skills educators need in order to assume leadership roles in directly and indirectly influencing policy.