Concentration in Public Policy and Education

Students who study policy in the Department of Educational Policy Studies include those aspiring to be policy scholars and researchers in academic, governmental, and research institute settings. They apply multidisciplinary perspectives, theories, and methodologies to the study of contemporary issues in education policy. Their primary goal is to inform public discourse and educational practice by investigating the origin, design, implementation, and effects of policy responses to important education problems. They examine current education policy problems in relation to political, economic, historical and social contexts, with particular concern for fundamental problems of equity, diversity and power. They seek to understand both the content and technical aspects of policy, and the institutional and political contexts in which policy is developed, carried out, and supported. In examining the effects of education policy, they are concerned with broad societal consequences of policy, as well as with proximate effects. They learn methodological approaches to policy research, both quantitative and qualitative, and are expected to become expert in one methodology and critical readers of others.

Degree Concentrations

Doctoral Concentration in Anthropology of Education
Doctoral Concentration in Comparative and International Education
Doctoral Concentration in History of Education
Doctoral Concentration in Public Policy and Education
Doctoral Concentration in Sociology of Education

CONTACT:

Associate Professor Doug Harris
1000 Bascom Mall
Department of Educational Policy Studies
Univeristy of Wisconsin-Madison
(608) 263-4827
dnharris3@wisc.edu

Assistant Professor Sara Y. Goldrick-Rab
1000 Bascom Mall
Department of Educational Policy Studies
Univeristy of Wisconsin-Madison
(608) 265-2141
srab@education.wisc.edu

 

LINKS:

Institute for Research on Poverty
La Follette School of Public Affairs
Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER)