Undergraduate Programs
ED POL Course Offerings
ED POL Fall 2025 Courses
Certificate | Course # | Course Title | E.S. Focus | Time | Day(s) | Discussion Section | Unique Traits | Instructor | Description |
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107 | History of the University in the West | Both | 4:00-5:15pm | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Matthew Farrelly | Examines the development of higher education in Europe and the United States from the Middle Ages to the present. Asks how philosophy, pedagogy, people, politics, and places have shaped the intellectual and cultural history of the university. | ||
Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | 112-1 | Global Education Through Film | Global | Online | Asynchronous | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course counts as Humanities. | Yenny Chavarría García | Introduces global educational issues, policies, and practices through films. Considers education in context, thinking critically about the role of education in the world and how education compares across issues, places, policies, and practices. |
Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | 112-2 | Global Education Through Film | Global | Online | Asynchronous | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course counts as Humanities. | Pamela Reyes Galgani | Introduces global educational issues, policies, and practices through films. Considers education in context, thinking critically about the role of education in the world and how education compares across issues, places, policies, and practices. |
123 | Education, Technology, and Society | U.S. | 4:00-5:15pm | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Reynaldo Morales | Technology today reflects and reproduces society’s dynamics of power and inequality more than ever before. A vast number of people now consume news and entertainment via content platforms that use algorithms which influence their media consumption. How does education fit into the mold? Technology’s relationship with schooling has been revolutionized because of the pandemic, and now students must learn in an age where they have large quantities of information and misinformation at their fingertips. In this course, you will learn about the relationship between technology, schooling and society, and the dilemmas, controversies, and consequences that come with it. | ||
134 | Media Literacy and Misinformation in Education | Both | 9:30-10:45 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Jonathan Marino | Examines claims in education stories, the various forms of bias that surround them, and how our changing media landscape impacts what stories are told, who tells them and how they impact education policy and practice. | ||
140-1 | Introduction to Education | Both | 11:00-11:50 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course has discussion sections. | Emily Miller | Considers core educational dilemmas in historical and global perspective. What’s the purpose of schools? Is schooling a public good or a private good? Do schools ameliorate or entrench inequality? Who should determine what is taught in schools and how? How do we know if schools are “working”? | ||
140-2 | Introduction to Education | Both | 1:20-2:10 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course has discussion sections. | Erica Ramberg | Considers core educational dilemmas in historical and global perspective. What’s the purpose of schools? Is schooling a public good or a private good? Do schools ameliorate or entrench inequality? Who should determine what is taught in schools and how? How do we know if schools are “working”? | ||
140-3 | Introduction to Education | Both | 12.05-12:55 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course has discussion sections. | Emily Miller | Considers core educational dilemmas in historical and global perspective. What’s the purpose of schools? Is schooling a public good or a private good? Do schools ameliorate or entrench inequality? Who should determine what is taught in schools and how? How do we know if schools are “working”? | ||
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 143 | History of Race and Inequality in U.S. Education | U.S. | 9:55-10:45 | Mon.,Wed. & Fri. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Humanities, Ethnic Studies, and Communication B. | Dan Berman | Examine the historical relationships between metropolitan change, economic transformation, and the construction of race and how those processes have shaped mass incarceration, educational, housing, and income inequality, and the experiences of racial/ethnic minorities who have been marginalized or discriminated against. |
150-3 | Environmental and Sustainability Education in WI | U.S. | 2:30-3:45 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Mark Johnson | Study the history and legacies of environmental, sustainability and climate change research and education in Wisconsin. In this course, you’ll participate in the day-to-day work of community organizations that are active around those same issues. | ||
150-6 | Farm to Fork: Food Systems and Ed Policy | U.S. | 4:00-5:15 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Cathleen McCluskey | Provides an overview of local, regional, and national food systems from seed to students' plates. Centering on policy and advocacy, develops a critical approach to examining the intersection of food systems and educational policy. | ||
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 160-1 | Gender, Sexuality, and Education | Both | 9:30-10:45 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Bailey Smolarek | This course examines the relationships between gender, sexuality, and education. Through a critical feminist lens, this course will critically examine the ways in which education and schooling are inextricably linked to broader political, social and economic contexts and structuring relations of power, including race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, religion, nation, and geography. | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 160-3 | Gender, Sexuality, and Education | Both | 4:00-5:15 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Bailey Smolarek | This course examines the relationships between gender, sexuality, and education. Through a critical feminist lens, this course will critically examine the ways in which education and schooling are inextricably linked to broader political, social and economic contexts and structuring relations of power, including race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, religion, nation, and geography. | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective | 197 | Listening to the Land | Both | 2:25-5:25 | Tues. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course counts as Humanities. | Dan Cornelius | This course is only offered as a F.I.G. What if our best teacher is all around us, even under our feet? For Indigenous peoples, whose worldviews, languages, and lifeways emerge from, and sustain, reciprocal relations to place, land is always teaching. Reflect on "land as first teacher" by considering Indigenous approaches to learning, Indigenous languages in relation to land, and the current environmental health of land. Seeks to live the principles of Indigenous learning through Indigenous foodways and experiential, place-based learning activities. Together, develop a personal relationship to Teejop (Four Lakes, or the Madison region), and explore generational responsibilities to Teejop. What does the land teach? And how do people learn to listen? |
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 200-1 | Race, Ethnicity, and Inequality in American Education | U.S. | 1:00-2:15 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Bill Gibson | Explores the complex relationships among race, ethnicity and inequality in U.S. public education. Examines how inequality is produced, reproduced, and resisted through schools and the "everyday" practices of teachers, students, parents, and community members. Asks how race and ethnicity intersect with other identities (e.g. gender, social class, sexual orientation, etc.). Focuses on K-12 educational and multicultural contexts. | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 200-2 | Race, Ethnicity, and Inequality in American Education | U.S. | 4:00-5:15 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Emily Miller | Explores the complex relationships among race, ethnicity and inequality in U.S. public education. Examines how inequality is produced, reproduced, and resisted through schools and the "everyday" practices of teachers, students, parents, and community members. Asks how race and ethnicity intersect with other identities (e.g. gender, social class, sexual orientation, etc.). Focuses on K-12 educational and multicultural contexts. | |
202 | Careers in Education | U.S. | 8:00-9:15 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Communication B. | Kyoungjin Jang-Tucci | Explores the meaning, value, and potential of an education studies major for a variety of education-related careers in the contemporary workplace. Reviews the relationships among education, work, skills and society and analyses of contextual forces shaping education and the labor market (the Covid-19 pandemic, inequality and racism, and climate change). | |
203 | Internship in Education, Art, or Health | Both | Online | Asynchronous | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | SoE Career Center | This course is only one credit. Students will earn academic credit for your Spring 2023 Internship. Internships will help students build their professional network, explore career pathways, boost themselves in future career endeavors. Already have a Spring 2023 Internship or need help finding one? Well then go to go.wisc.edu/56b787 for assistance and to enroll in this exciting new course! | ||
209 | Introduction to Quantitative Methods for Education | Both | 1:00-2:15 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Quantitative B. | Amy Claessens | Sound education policy benefits from the use of reliable evidence, including good data and thorough analyses of both challenges and solutions. This course develops students’ understandings of existing data sets and their limitations, as well as how to perform different statistical analyses on those data sets in order to address specific policy questions. | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 210-1 | Youth, Education and Society | U.S. | 9:55-10:45 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course has discussion sections. | This course can count as Ethnic Studies. | Anthony Hernandez | Interrogates the concept of "youth" as a socially constructed category and examines how "youth" are positioned within educational, political, economic, and social contexts, with a particular focus on racially minoritized youth and those experiencing compounding layers of oppression. Explores themes such as: schooling; race; gender and sexuality; politics and activism; community-based learning; criminal justice; media; and popular culture. Draws on a variety of historical and contemporary "texts" and current events to study the lived experiences of young people situated within diverse racial, cultural, gendered, sexualized, and classed contexts. Students reflect on their own experiences as "youth," their relationship to education and other social institutions, and how it informs their understanding of society, educational theory and practice. |
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 210-2 | Youth, Education and Society | U.S. | 11:00-11:50 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course has discussion sections. | This course can count as Ethnic Studies. | Anthony Hernandez | Interrogates the concept of "youth" as a socially constructed category and examines how "youth" are positioned within educational, political, economic, and social contexts, with a particular focus on racially minoritized youth and those experiencing compounding layers of oppression. Explores themes such as: schooling; race; gender and sexuality; politics and activism; community-based learning; criminal justice; media; and popular culture. Draws on a variety of historical and contemporary "texts" and current events to study the lived experiences of young people situated within diverse racial, cultural, gendered, sexualized, and classed contexts. Students reflect on their own experiences as "youth," their relationship to education and other social institutions, and how it informs their understanding of society, educational theory and practice. |
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 210-3 | Youth, Education and Society | U.S. | 1:20-2:10 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course has discussion sections. | This course can count as Ethnic Studies. | Naomi Mae | Interrogates the concept of "youth" as a socially constructed category and examines how "youth" are positioned within educational, political, economic, and social contexts, with a particular focus on racially minoritized youth and those experiencing compounding layers of oppression. Explores themes such as: schooling; race; gender and sexuality; politics and activism; community-based learning; criminal justice; media; and popular culture. Draws on a variety of historical and contemporary "texts" and current events to study the lived experiences of young people situated within diverse racial, cultural, gendered, sexualized, and classed contexts. Students reflect on their own experiences as "youth," their relationship to education and other social institutions, and how it informs their understanding of society, educational theory and practice. |
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 210-4 | Youth, Education and Society | U.S. | 2:30-3:45 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Ethnic Studies. | Anthony Hernandez | Interrogates the concept of "youth" as a socially constructed category and examines how "youth" are positioned within educational, political, economic, and social contexts, with a particular focus on racially minoritized youth and those experiencing compounding layers of oppression. Explores themes such as: schooling; race; gender and sexuality; politics and activism; community-based learning; criminal justice; media; and popular culture. Draws on a variety of historical and contemporary "texts" and current events to study the lived experiences of young people situated within diverse racial, cultural, gendered, sexualized, and classed contexts. Students reflect on their own experiences as "youth," their relationship to education and other social institutions, and how it informs their understanding of society, educational theory and practice. |
Social Justice and Education - Main Course | 212-1 | Education for Social Justice | Both | 8:00-9:15 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Anthony Hernandez | What is education for social justice? In what circumstances has schooling been used for social change, and how? This course explores theories and practices of education for social justice, a pedagogical-political approach based on participatory methodologies that is committed to positive social change. This includes popular education, peace and human rights education, critical pedagogy, and related approaches. We will consider theoretical debates, focusing on the ideas of transformative educators such as Paulo Freire and bell hooks, even as we examine radical educator collectives and transformative education efforts in districts, schools, classrooms, community associations, and NGOs from around the world. | |
Social Justice and Education - Main Course | 212-2 | Education for Social Justice | Both | 8:00-9:15 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Reynaldo Morales | What is education for social justice? In what circumstances has schooling been used for social change, and how? This course explores theories and practices of education for social justice, a pedagogical-political approach based on participatory methodologies that is committed to positive social change. This includes popular education, peace and human rights education, critical pedagogy, and related approaches. We will consider theoretical debates, focusing on the ideas of transformative educators such as Paulo Freire and bell hooks, even as we examine radical educator collectives and transformative education efforts in districts, schools, classrooms, community associations, and NGOs from around the world. | |
Social Justice and Education - Main Course | 212-3 | Education for Social Justice | Both | 2:30-3:45 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Reynaldo Morales | What is education for social justice? In what circumstances has schooling been used for social change, and how? This course explores theories and practices of education for social justice, a pedagogical-political approach based on participatory methodologies that is committed to positive social change. This includes popular education, peace and human rights education, critical pedagogy, and related approaches. We will consider theoretical debates, focusing on the ideas of transformative educators such as Paulo Freire and bell hooks, even as we examine radical educator collectives and transformative education efforts in districts, schools, classrooms, community associations, and NGOs from around the world. | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | 220-1 | Human Rights and Education | Both | 2:30-3:45 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Humanities. | Explores questions related to human rights and education, from the individual to the global level and from the abstract to the practical: What does it mean to be human? How do we learn to be human? What are human rights, and in what sense are they universal? What is the right to education, and what does it entail? What is human rights education? Focuses on educational case studies, including child rights, the war on drugs, and climate change. | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | 220-2 | Human Rights and Education | Both | 8:00-9:15 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Humanities. | Explores questions related to human rights and education, from the individual to the global level and from the abstract to the practical: What does it mean to be human? How do we learn to be human? What are human rights, and in what sense are they universal? What is the right to education, and what does it entail? What is human rights education? Focuses on educational case studies, including child rights, the war on drugs, and climate change. | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | 220-3 | Human Rights and Education | Both | 9:30-10:45 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Humanities. | Wallace Grace | Explores questions related to human rights and education, from the individual to the global level and from the abstract to the practical: What does it mean to be human? How do we learn to be human? What are human rights, and in what sense are they universal? What is the right to education, and what does it entail? What is human rights education? Focuses on educational case studies, including child rights, the war on drugs, and climate change. |
Social Justice and Education - Elective Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | 237-1 | Wealth, Poverty, and Inequality | Both | 1:00-2:15 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Kelsey Dalrymple | How are wealth, poverty, and inequality defined and understood? How are they informed by histories of colonization, genocide, white supremacy, slavery, and dispossession? How do power relations of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, citizenship, nation, religion, language, and geography influence them? What are the historical and current theoretical and practical debates on poverty and ending poverty in the U.S. and globally? How do wealth, poverty, and inequality influence education, and how does education influence wealth, poverty, and inequality? What is the history of educational interventions purportedly charged with ameliorating poverty? What is our own relationship to poverty, wealth, and inequality? Ed Pol 237 will address these questions from a theoretical, historical, and practical perspective by providing an introduction to historical and contemporary debates on wealth, poverty and inequality. In doing so, the course will interrogate these debates in relation to the polities, practices, and institutions of education, and examine their articulations with relations of power like white supremacy, anti-blackness, patriarchy, heteronormativity, and classism. | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective Global Cultures Languages and Education - Main Course | 240-1 | Comparative Education | N/A | 9:55-10:45 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course has discussion sections. | Jennifer Otting | Examines the socio-cultural, political and economic forces that shape education around the world, including in the US. Explores a series of questions, including the purposes of schooling in different locations; the role of schooling in producing inequality or supporting social change, particularly in relation to class, race, gender, migration, language, and abilities; global educational reform; global educational assessments; student movements; and remote learning. | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective Global Cultures Languages and Education - Main Course | 240-2 | Comparative Education | N/A | 12:05-12:55 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course has discussion sections. | Jennifer Otting | Examines the socio-cultural, political and economic forces that shape education around the world, including in the US. Explores a series of questions, including the purposes of schooling in different locations; the role of schooling in producing inequality or supporting social change, particularly in relation to class, race, gender, migration, language, and abilities; global educational reform; global educational assessments; student movements; and remote learning. | |
Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | 245 | Education in East Asia (FIG) | Global | 11:00-12:15 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Ran Liu | Learn about the values, histories, systems, policies, problems, and reforms of education in East Asian societies. You'll examine extended issues in comparative education, including education and its relation to economic development, social inequality and stratification, gender and family, ethnicity and migration, identity formation, and student movements. | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 250 | Incarceration and Education | U.S. | 1:00-2:15 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Simone Schweber | Investigates how the systems of incarceration and education operate alongside, within, around and through one another. Provides a historical examination of how education and incarceration have interacted. Examines how prisons operate as 'teaching institutions,' what it teaches all of us impacted by it, and what interventions have been designed to facilitate particular kinds of learning. Presents firsthand accounts of those who work and live in the carceral system currently. | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 300-1 | School and Society | N/A | 11:00-11:50 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course has discussion sections. | Jennifer Otting | Asks how society shapes schooling, and conversely, the ways in which schools shape society. Examines political, social and cultural influences on school processes, policies, practices, and pedagogy. Examines how assumptions regarding the purposes of schooling interact with debates over how we teach, what we teach, and how we evaluate schools, teachers, and students. Considers various contemporary debates about public schooling. Critically examines how educational practices and policies impact the lives of students. | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 300-2 | School and Society | N/A | 12:05-12:55 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course has discussion sections. | Edgar Valles | Asks how society shapes schooling, and conversely, the ways in which schools shape society. Examines political, social and cultural influences on school processes, policies, practices, and pedagogy. Examines how assumptions regarding the purposes of schooling interact with debates over how we teach, what we teach, and how we evaluate schools, teachers, and students. Considers various contemporary debates about public schooling. Critically examines how educational practices and policies impact the lives of students. | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 300-3 | School and Society | N/A | 1:20-2:10 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course has discussion sections. | Edgar Valles | Asks how society shapes schooling, and conversely, the ways in which schools shape society. Examines political, social and cultural influences on school processes, policies, practices, and pedagogy. Examines how assumptions regarding the purposes of schooling interact with debates over how we teach, what we teach, and how we evaluate schools, teachers, and students. Considers various contemporary debates about public schooling. Critically examines how educational practices and policies impact the lives of students. | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 300-4 | School and Society | N/A | 8:50-9:40 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course has discussion sections. | Abby Beneke | Asks how society shapes schooling, and conversely, the ways in which schools shape society. Examines political, social and cultural influences on school processes, policies, practices, and pedagogy. Examines how assumptions regarding the purposes of schooling interact with debates over how we teach, what we teach, and how we evaluate schools, teachers, and students. Considers various contemporary debates about public schooling. Critically examines how educational practices and policies impact the lives of students. | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 300-5 | School and Society | N/A | 4:00-5:15 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Erica Ramberg | Asks how society shapes schooling, and conversely, the ways in which schools shape society. Examines political, social and cultural influences on school processes, policies, practices, and pedagogy. Examines how assumptions regarding the purposes of schooling interact with debates over how we teach, what we teach, and how we evaluate schools, teachers, and students. Considers various contemporary debates about public schooling. Critically examines how educational practices and policies impact the lives of students. | |
305-2 | Democracy and Education | U.S. | 4:00-5:15 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Communication B. | Antonella Pappolla | Examines the values embedded in notions of “democracy” and their relationship with education, the role of education in a democracy, how the context of America’s capitalist democracy shapes debates about the role of education in democratic life, and the possibilities for deepening the relationship between democracy and education. | |
305-3 | Democracy and Education | U.S. | 4-5:15 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Communication B. | Antonella Pappolla | Examines the values embedded in notions of “democracy” and their relationship with education, the role of education in a democracy, how the context of America’s capitalist democracy shapes debates about the role of education in democratic life, and the possibilities for deepening the relationship between democracy and education. | |
308 | Intro to Qualitative Research Methods for Education | Both | 11:00-12:15 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Kelsey Dalrymple | In this course you will learn how to develop a research question, conduct interviews and observations, and other qualitative research approaches by doing a hands-on research project. | ||
International Development and Education - Elective | 320-1 | Climate Change, Sustainability & Education | Both | 11:00-11:50 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course has discussion sections. | This course can count as Natural Science. | Matthew Wolfgram | Provides an overview of theories and models of human-earth relations, and the causes and consequences of climate and environmental change. Develops a critical, global approach to examining the role of education, in school and out, in addressing crucial climate and environmental challenges. Includes a wide range of educational theories, projects, programs, levels, institutions, strategies, and policies. Asks how concepts of human-earth relations influence climate change and explores approaches that promise for a more sustaining global future. |
International Development and Education - Elective | 320-2 | Climate Change, Sustainability & Education | Both | 12:05-12:55 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course has discussion sections. | This course can count as Natural Science. | Matthew Wolfgram | Provides an overview of theories and models of human-earth relations, and the causes and consequences of climate and environmental change. Develops a critical, global approach to examining the role of education, in school and out, in addressing crucial climate and environmental challenges. Includes a wide range of educational theories, projects, programs, levels, institutions, strategies, and policies. Asks how concepts of human-earth relations influence climate change and explores approaches that promise for a more sustaining global future. |
International Development and Education - Elective | 320-3 | Climate Change, Sustainability & Education | Both | 11:00-11:50 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course has discussion sections. | This course can count as Natural Science. | Reynaldo Morales | Provides an overview of theories and models of human-earth relations, and the causes and consequences of climate and environmental change. Develops a critical, global approach to examining the role of education, in school and out, in addressing crucial climate and environmental challenges. Includes a wide range of educational theories, projects, programs, levels, institutions, strategies, and policies. Asks how concepts of human-earth relations influence climate change and explores approaches that promise for a more sustaining global future. |
International Development and Education - Elective | 320-6 | Climate Change, Sustainability & Education | Both | 1:20-2:10 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course has discussion sections. | This course can count as Natural Science. | Sheryl Hayes Hursh | Provides an overview of theories and models of human-earth relations, and the causes and consequences of climate and environmental change. Develops a critical, global approach to examining the role of education, in school and out, in addressing crucial climate and environmental challenges. Includes a wide range of educational theories, projects, programs, levels, institutions, strategies, and policies. Asks how concepts of human-earth relations influence climate change and explores approaches that promise for a more sustaining global future. |
Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | 335-1 | Globalization and Education | Global | 4:00-5:15 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Elena Aydarova | Explores a range of questions, including: What is globalization? What are the political, economic, and cultural dimensions of globalization? How is globalization linked to colonialism and the historically uneven process of capitalist development? Does globalization expand economic growth, democracy, human rights, or does it exacerbate poverty, inequality, the exploitation of natural resources, and the suppression of human rights? | |
350-1 | Teaching and Learning in Diverse Settings | Both | 9:30-10:45 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Susan Gevelber | In this course students will explore and discuss research and perspectives on learner-centered teaching. Students will also learn teaching practices that are effective across diverse learning environments such as afterschool programs, non-profit organizations like museums and the Peace Corps, teaching assistant positions in graduate school, and K-12 school environments. These practices revolve around the careful alignment of learning objectives, instructional methods, and assessment activities. Principles of equity, social justice, and empowerment are central to these practices. | ||
350-5 | Health, Nutrition and Ed Policy | Both | 9:30-10:45 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | The Health, Nutrition, and Education Policy course offers a comprehensive look at how policy decisions in these vital areas impact public well-being. By examining the interconnectedness of health, nutrition, and education systems, you will gain valuable insights into creating equitable, sustainable policies that foster healthier communities. Through a mix of theory, case studies, and hands-on policy design, this course empowers you to critically assess current policies and propose innovative solutions for pressing global challenges in public health and education. Whether you're interested in public health, education reform, or nutrition advocacy, this course equips you with the knowledge and skills to make a meaningful impact. | |||
350-7 | Education & Advocacy for Sustainability | U.S. | 4:00-5:15 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Mark Johnson | This experimental course will be valuable for students interested in careers in teaching and community partnerships, with a focus on outreach and public engagement around sustainability and climate change. We will examine earlier historical innovations in educational communications and the use of arts for advocacy, as well as how these tools have been evolving within the contemporary climate and related justice movements. We will analyze instruments for educational communications such as public radio and television, social and digital media, and extension programs. We will also explore the role of museums, libraries, conservancies and nature preserves. We will explore ideas about climate dystopias and utopias through contemporary poetry, fiction, performing and visual arts, and film. | ||
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 412 | History of American Education | N/A | 9:55-10:45 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course has discussion sections. | Walter Stern | Examines the history of education in America from the colonization of North America to the present to consider education in its broadest sense - as a process of individual development and cultural transmission. Explores such topics as the rise of common schools in the urban North; the education of Native Americans, immigrants, slaves, and free blacks; the evolution of teacher training (primarily for women); various philosophies of "progressive" school reform; the politics of desegregation, bilingual education, and special education; the articulation between high school and college work; and the evolving federal role in American education. | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 435 | Education in Emergencies | Global | 2:30-3:45 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Diana Rodriguez-Gomez | The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that more than 82.4 million individuals have been forcibly displaced from their homes. More than a third of them are refugees, and more than 13 million are under the age of 18. In contrast to the portrayals of children wandering among the iconic UNHCR white tents in refugee camps, new images of refugee boys and girls attending public schools raise questions about the role of humanitarianism and education across the world. What are the causes of forced migration? Who counts as a refugee today? What do camp refugees and urban refugees have in common? How do we guarantee access to school for these populations? What would a high-quality curriculum look like for these students? | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | 460 | Immigration, Education and Equity | Both | 8:00-9:15 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Ethnic Studies. | Edgar Valles | Examines policy issues surrounding the education of children from immigrant families in K-16 educational settings in the U.S. Through readings, discussions, and assignments, participants examine the economic, social, political, and ideological contexts of immigration and education, as well as school factors and home-school relations. We also consider the impact of various policy and pedagogical approaches. Course readings draw from relevant literature in educational anthropology, sociology of education, educational policy, sociolinguistics, and language pedagogy. |
500 | Critical Theory in Education | Both | 2:30-3:45 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | John Baldacchino | Apart from surveying major themes associated with Critical Theory as it emerged from the 18th century to the present, in this class we will travel through notions of criticality over the horizon of education. The aim is to take an approach to ideas of equity,social justice, and conviviality from a wider intersectional perspective of difference and identity. | ||
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 540 | Egalitarianism and Educational Justice | Both | 1:00-2:15 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course counts as Humanities. | David O'Brien | Examines significant disagreements about educational justice-about the very concept of educational justice; about the most plausible substantive account of educational justice and the way that an ideal of equality bears on it; and about what kinds of policies the most plausible account of educational justice would require in circumstances like our own. Introduces tools that contemporary moral and political philosophers use to investigate those questions. Understand and evaluate efforts to resolve those questions. |
570-2 | Anthropology and Education | U.S. | 2:30-3:45 | Mon. & Wednes. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Edgar Valles | Explores foundational concepts and methods of educational anthropology. Examines anthropological inquiry on educational research with particular reference to cultural perspectives on education and educational systems, learning as cultural transmission, and application of anthropological knowledge to curriculum. | ||
575 | Education Policy and Practice | U.S. | 11:00-12:15 | Tues. & Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Erica Turner | Examines research on teachers and teaching as an occupation, the everyday realities of classrooms, and a variety of frameworks for understanding the relationship between policy and educators' daily work. Considers teachers and administrators as implementers of local, state, and federal policies, while simultaneously designing and creating policies and practices themselves. | ||
580 | Participatory and Community-Based Research and Evaluation | Both | 9:00-12:00 | Mon. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Naomi Mae | This course teaches the goals, purposes and methods associated with community-engaged, participatory research and evaluation, including the following: 1) the political and philosophical underpinnings of the approach, and specifically of participatory action research (PAR); 2) qualitative research methods; 3) examples of community-engaged, participatory studies. | ||
601 | Research and Evaluation for Equity | Both | 2-25-5:25 | Fri. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Nancy Kendall | How can research and evaluation serve as mechanisms for advancing equity and justice? Gain a foundational understanding of educational research and program evaluation. Learn about the common types of program evaluation and examine how equity-oriented frameworks can inform research and evaluation projects. In this course, you'll consider how politics shape who evaluates, for what reasons, and with what consequences. Gain experience in evaluation research methods, including data collection, analysis, and interpretation. | ||
Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | 675 | Introduction to Comparative and International Education | Global | 2:25-5:25 | Thurs. | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Ran Liu | Introduction to the origins and development of the field of comparative and international education (CIE) and to explore how scholars engage some of the theoretical, ideological, methodological, and topical debates that characterize research in the field of CIE policy. | |
Certificate | Course # | Course Title | E.S. Focus | Day(s) | Discussion Section | Unique Traits | Instructor |
ED POL Summer 2025 Courses
Certificate | Course # | Course Title | E.S. Focus | Time | Days | Session | Discussion Section | Unique Traits | Instructor | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
107 | History of the University in the West | Both | Online | Asynchronous | BHH (06/02/2025-07/27/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Examines the development of higher education in Europe and the United States from the Middle Ages to the present. Asks how philosophy, pedagogy, people, politics, and places have shaped the intellectual and cultural history of the university. | |||
Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | 112 | Global Education Through Film | Global | Online | Asynchronous | AHH (05/27/2025-07/20/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course counts as Humanities. | Introduces global educational issues, policies, and practices through films. Considers education in context, thinking critically about the role of education in the world and how education compares across issues, places, policies, and practices. | |
140 | Introduction to Education | Both | Online | Asynchronous | DHH (06/16/2025-08/10/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Considers core educational dilemmas in historical and global perspective. What’s the purpose of schools? Is schooling a public good or a private good? Do schools ameliorate or entrench inequality? Who should determine what is taught in schools and how? How do we know if schools are “working”? | |||
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 160 | Gender, Sexuality, and Education | Both | Online | Asynchronous | DHH (06/16/2025-08/10/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course examines the relationships between gender, sexuality, and education. Through a critical feminist lens, this course will critically examine the ways in which education and schooling are inextricably linked to broader political, social and economic contexts and structuring relations of power, including race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, religion, nation, and geography. | ||
202 | Careers in Education | U.S. | Online | Asynchronous | AHH (05/27/2025-07/20/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Communication B. | Explores the meaning, value, and potential of an education studies major for a variety of education-related careers in the contemporary workplace. Reviews the relationships among education, work, skills and society and analyses of contextual forces shaping education and the labor market (the Covid-19 pandemic, inequality and racism, and climate change). | ||
203 | Internship in Education, Art, or Health | Both | Online | Asynchronous | DHH (06/16/2025-08/10/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course is only one credit. Students will earn academic credit for your Spring 2023 Internship. Internships will help students build their professional network, explore career pathways, boost themselves in future career endeavors. Already have a Spring 2023 Internship or need help finding one? Well then go to go.wisc.edu/56b787 for assistance and to enroll in this exciting new course! | |||
209 | Introduction to Quantitative Methods for Education | Both | Online | Asynchronous | DHH (06/16/2025-08/10/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Quantitative B. | Sound education policy benefits from the use of reliable evidence, including good data and thorough analyses of both challenges and solutions. This course develops students’ understandings of existing data sets and their limitations, as well as how to perform different statistical analyses on those data sets in order to address specific policy questions. | ||
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 210 | Youth, Education and Society | U.S. | Online | Asynchronous | DHH (06/16/2025-08/10/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Ethnic Studies. | Interrogates the concept of "youth" as a socially constructed category and examines how "youth" are positioned within educational, political, economic, and social contexts, with a particular focus on racially minoritized youth and those experiencing compounding layers of oppression. Explores themes such as: schooling; race; gender and sexuality; politics and activism; community-based learning; criminal justice; media; and popular culture. Draws on a variety of historical and contemporary "texts" and current events to study the lived experiences of young people situated within diverse racial, cultural, gendered, sexualized, and classed contexts. Students reflect on their own experiences as "youth," their relationship to education and other social institutions, and how it informs their understanding of society, educational theory and practice. | |
Social Justice and Education - Main Course | 212-2 | Education for Social Justice | Both | Online | Asynchronous | DHH (06/16/2025-08/10/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | What is education for social justice? In what circumstances has schooling been used for social change, and how? This course explores theories and practices of education for social justice, a pedagogical-political approach based on participatory methodologies that is committed to positive social change. This includes popular education, peace and human rights education, critical pedagogy, and related approaches. We will consider theoretical debates, focusing on the ideas of transformative educators such as Paulo Freire and bell hooks, even as we examine radical educator collectives and transformative education efforts in districts, schools, classrooms, community associations, and NGOs from around the world. | ||
Social Justice and Education - Elective Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | 220 | Human Rights and Education | Both | Online | Asynchronous | DHH (06/16/2025-08/10/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Humanities. | Explores questions related to human rights and education, from the individual to the global level and from the abstract to the practical: What does it mean to be human? How do we learn to be human? What are human rights, and in what sense are they universal? What is the right to education, and what does it entail? What is human rights education? Focuses on educational case studies, including child rights, the war on drugs, and climate change. | |
Social Justice and Education - Elective Global Cultures Languages and Education - Main Course | 240 | Comparative Education | N/A | Online | Asynchronous | AHH (05/27/2025-07/20/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Examines the socio-cultural, political and economic forces that shape education around the world, including in the US. Explores a series of questions, including the purposes of schooling in different locations; the role of schooling in producing inequality or supporting social change, particularly in relation to class, race, gender, migration, language, and abilities; global educational reform; global educational assessments; student movements; and remote learning. | ||
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 300 | School and Society | N/A | Online | Asynchronous | AHH (05/27/2025-07/20/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Asks how society shapes schooling, and conversely, the ways in which schools shape society. Examines political, social and cultural influences on school processes, policies, practices, and pedagogy. Examines how assumptions regarding the purposes of schooling interact with debates over how we teach, what we teach, and how we evaluate schools, teachers, and students. Considers various contemporary debates about public schooling. Critically examines how educational practices and policies impact the lives of students. | ||
305-1 | Democracy and Education | U.S. | Online | Asynchronous | BHH (06/02/2025-07/27/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Communication B. | Examines the values embedded in notions of “democracy” and their relationship with education, the role of education in a democracy, how the context of America’s capitalist democracy shapes debates about the role of education in democratic life, and the possibilities for deepening the relationship between democracy and education. | ||
305-2 | Democracy and Education | U.S. | Online | Asynchronous | DHH (06/16/2025-08/10/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Communication B. | Examines the values embedded in notions of “democracy” and their relationship with education, the role of education in a democracy, how the context of America’s capitalist democracy shapes debates about the role of education in democratic life, and the possibilities for deepening the relationship between democracy and education. | ||
International Development and Education - Elective | 320-1 | Climate Change, Sustainability & Education | Both | Online | Asynchronous | DHH (06/16/2025-08/10/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Natural Science. | Provides an overview of theories and models of human-earth relations, and the causes and consequences of climate and environmental change. Develops a critical, global approach to examining the role of education, in school and out, in addressing crucial climate and environmental challenges. Includes a wide range of educational theories, projects, programs, levels, institutions, strategies, and policies. Asks how concepts of human-earth relations influence climate change and explores approaches that promise for a more sustaining global future. | |
International Development and Education - Elective | 320-2 | Climate Change, Sustainability & Education | Both | Online | Asynchronous | AHH (05/27/2025-07/20/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | This course can count as Natural Science. | Provides an overview of theories and models of human-earth relations, and the causes and consequences of climate and environmental change. Develops a critical, global approach to examining the role of education, in school and out, in addressing crucial climate and environmental challenges. Includes a wide range of educational theories, projects, programs, levels, institutions, strategies, and policies. Asks how concepts of human-earth relations influence climate change and explores approaches that promise for a more sustaining global future. | |
Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | 335 | Globalization and Education | Global | Online | Asynchronous | AHH (05/27/2025-07/20/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Explores a range of questions, including: What is globalization? What are the political, economic, and cultural dimensions of globalization? How is globalization linked to colonialism and the historically uneven process of capitalist development? Does globalization expand economic growth, democracy, human rights, or does it exacerbate poverty, inequality, the exploitation of natural resources, and the suppression of human rights? | ||
Social Justice and Education - Elective | 412 | History of American Education | N/A | Online | Asynchronous | BHH (06/02/2025-07/27/2025) | This course doesn't have discussion sections. | Examines the history of education in America from the colonization of North America to the present to consider education in its broadest sense - as a process of individual development and cultural transmission. Explores such topics as the rise of common schools in the urban North; the education of Native Americans, immigrants, slaves, and free blacks; the evolution of teacher training (primarily for women); various philosophies of "progressive" school reform; the politics of desegregation, bilingual education, and special education; the articulation between high school and college work; and the evolving federal role in American education. | ||
Certificate | Course # | Course Title | E.S. Focus | Session | Unique Traits |
Full List of Courses
Course # | Course Title | E.S. Focus | Level | Breadth | Description | Certificate | Unique Trait(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
107 | History of the University in the West | Both | Elementary | Social Sciences | Examines the development of higher education in Europe and the United States from the Middle Ages to the present. Asks how philosophy, pedagogy, people, politics, and places have shaped the intellectual and cultural history of the university. | ||
112 | Global Education Through Film | Global | Elementary | Humanities | Introduces global educational issues, policies, and practices through films. Considers education in context, thinking critically about the role of education in the world and how education compares across issues, places, policies, and practices. | Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | This course counts as Humanities. |
123 | Education, Technology, and Society | U.S. | Elementary | Social Sciences | Technology today reflects and reproduces society’s dynamics of power and inequality more than ever before. A vast number of people now consume news and entertainment via content platforms that use algorithms which influence their media consumption. How does education fit into the mold? Technology’s relationship with schooling has been revolutionized because of the pandemic, and now students must learn in an age where they have large quantities of information and misinformation at their fingertips. In this course, you will learn about the relationship between technology, schooling and society, and the dilemmas, controversies, and consequences that come with it. | ||
134 | Media Literacy and Misinformation in Education | Both | Elementary | Social Sciences | Examines claims in education stories, the various forms of bias that surround them, and how our changing media landscape impacts what stories are told, who tells them and how they impact education policy and practice. | ||
140 | Introduction to Education | Both | Elementary | Social Sciences | Considers core educational dilemmas in historical and global perspective. What’s the purpose of schools? Is schooling a public good or a private good? Do schools ameliorate or entrench inequality? Who should determine what is taught in schools and how? How do we know if schools are “working”? | ||
143 | History of Race and Inequality in U.S. Education | U.S. | Elementary | Social Sciences | Examine the historical relationships between metropolitan change, economic transformation, and the construction of race and how those processes have shaped mass incarceration, educational, housing, and income inequality, and the experiences of racial/ethnic minorities who have been marginalized or discriminated against. | Social Justice and Education - Elective | This course can count as Humanities, Ethnic Studies, and Communication B. |
145 | Introduction to Education Policy | U.S. | Elementary | Social Sciences | Introduction to K-12 education policy, policy processes, and school governance in the United States. This course examines the multiple and sometimes conflicting goals that animate education debates; the discourses and representations of schools, students, and education policies that shape policy and politics; research on education and education policy; and the various lenses and conceptual tools that can help us understand education policy. Includes original policy texts, empirical and conceptual research, current events, and film. | Social Justice and Education - Elective | |
147 | Ethics and Education | Both | Elementary | Humanities | What justifies educating people, in the first place? What does equity in education require? Who has the proper authority to make decisions about education? Learn about analytic tools that educational ethicists use to investigate foundational and applied questions. Understand and evaluate major views on a range of such foundational and applied issues in educational ethics. | This course can count as Humanities and Communication B. | |
150 | Education and Public Policy | Varies | Elementary | Social Sciences | Topics course which examines a variety of topics related to educational policies, practices, and issues in social, cultural, historical, and political economic contexts in the U.S. and around the world. | ||
160 | Gender, Sexuality, and Education | Both | Elementary | Social Sciences | This course examines the relationships between gender, sexuality, and education. Through a critical feminist lens, this course will critically examine the ways in which education and schooling are inextricably linked to broader political, social and economic contexts and structuring relations of power, including race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, religion, nation, and geography. | Social Justice and Education - Elective | |
197 | Listening to the Land | Both | Elementary | Humanities or Social Sciences | This course is only offered as a F.I.G. What if our best teacher is all around us, even under our feet? For Indigenous peoples, whose worldviews, languages, and lifeways emerge from, and sustain, reciprocal relations to place, land is always teaching. Reflect on "land as first teacher" by considering Indigenous approaches to learning, Indigenous languages in relation to land, and the current environmental health of land. Seeks to live the principles of Indigenous learning through Indigenous foodways and experiential, place-based learning activities. Together, develop a personal relationship to Teejop (Four Lakes, or the Madison region), and explore generational responsibilities to Teejop. What does the land teach? And how do people learn to listen? | Social Justice and Education - Elective Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective | This course counts as Humanities. |
200 | Race, Ethnicity, and Inequality in American Education | U.S. | Elementary | Social Sciences | Explores the complex relationships among race, ethnicity and inequality in U.S. public education. Examines how inequality is produced, reproduced, and resisted through schools and the "everyday" practices of teachers, students, parents, and community members. Asks how race and ethnicity intersect with other identities (e.g. gender, social class, sexual orientation, etc.). Focuses on K-12 educational and multicultural contexts. | Social Justice and Education - Elective | |
202 | Careers in Education | U.S. | Elementary | Social Sciences | Explores the meaning, value, and potential of an education studies major for a variety of education-related careers in the contemporary workplace. Reviews the relationships among education, work, skills and society and analyses of contextual forces shaping education and the labor market (the Covid-19 pandemic, inequality and racism, and climate change). | This course can count as Communication B. | |
203 | Internship in Education, Art, or Health | Both | Elementary | Social Sciences | This course is only one credit. Students will earn academic credit for your Spring 2023 Internship. Internships will help students build their professional network, explore career pathways, boost themselves in future career endeavors. Already have a Spring 2023 Internship or need help finding one? Well then go to go.wisc.edu/56b787 for assistance and to enroll in this exciting new course! | ||
205 | Language and Social Inequality | Both | Elementary | Social Sciences | Examine cultural and language politics, policies, and practices in education. Read in the fields of anthropology, sociolinguistics, and language policy to consider how language policies, politics, and practices either reinforce or reduce educational and social inequality in the U.S. Participate in a community-based learning site in order to put concepts from the course into practice and learn about possible careers in education. | Social Justice and Education - Elective Global Cultures Languages and Education - Main Course | |
209 | Introduction to Quantitative Methods for Education | Both | Elementary | Social Sciences | Sound education policy benefits from the use of reliable evidence, including good data and thorough analyses of both challenges and solutions. This course develops students’ understandings of existing data sets and their limitations, as well as how to perform different statistical analyses on those data sets in order to address specific policy questions. | This course can count as Quantitative B. | |
210 | Youth, Education and Society | U.S. | Elementary | Social Sciences | Interrogates the concept of "youth" as a socially constructed category and examines how "youth" are positioned within educational, political, economic, and social contexts, with a particular focus on racially minoritized youth and those experiencing compounding layers of oppression. Explores themes such as: schooling; race; gender and sexuality; politics and activism; community-based learning; criminal justice; media; and popular culture. Draws on a variety of historical and contemporary "texts" and current events to study the lived experiences of young people situated within diverse racial, cultural, gendered, sexualized, and classed contexts. Students reflect on their own experiences as "youth," their relationship to education and other social institutions, and how it informs their understanding of society, educational theory and practice. | Social Justice and Education - Elective | This course can count as Ethnic Studies. |
212 | Education for Social Justice | Both | Elementary | Social Sciences | What is education for social justice? In what circumstances has schooling been used for social change, and how? This course explores theories and practices of education for social justice, a pedagogical-political approach based on participatory methodologies that is committed to positive social change. This includes popular education, peace and human rights education, critical pedagogy, and related approaches. We will consider theoretical debates, focusing on the ideas of transformative educators such as Paulo Freire and bell hooks, even as we examine radical educator collectives and transformative education efforts in districts, schools, classrooms, community associations, and NGOs from around the world. | Social Justice and Education - Main Course | |
215 | Disability and Education Policy | U.S. | Elementary | Social Sciences | Examines how policies shape the educational experiences of students with disabilities in education and the broader educational landscape. | ||
220 | Human Rights and Education | Both | Elementary | Humanities | Explores questions related to human rights and education, from the individual to the global level and from the abstract to the practical: What does it mean to be human? How do we learn to be human? What are human rights, and in what sense are they universal? What is the right to education, and what does it entail? What is human rights education? Focuses on educational case studies, including child rights, the war on drugs, and climate change. | Social Justice and Education - Elective Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | This course can count as Humanities. |
222 | Indigenous Education Policy & Practice | Both | Elementary | Social Sciences | Examines concepts of sovereignty and educational policy formation for First Nations Peoples in the U.S. and key educational policies, practices, and contexts that have shaped American Indian education. Explores the 11 federally recognized tribes of Wisconsin, their sovereignty, and educational issues facing them and other tribal nations. | ||
237 | Wealth, Poverty, and Inequality | Both | Elementary | Social Sciences | How are wealth, poverty, and inequality defined and understood? How are they informed by histories of colonization, genocide, white supremacy, slavery, and dispossession? How do power relations of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, citizenship, nation, religion, language, and geography influence them? What are the historical and current theoretical and practical debates on poverty and ending poverty in the U.S. and globally? How do wealth, poverty, and inequality influence education, and how does education influence wealth, poverty, and inequality? What is the history of educational interventions purportedly charged with ameliorating poverty? What is our own relationship to poverty, wealth, and inequality? Ed Pol 237 will address these questions from a theoretical, historical, and practical perspective by providing an introduction to historical and contemporary debates on wealth, poverty and inequality. In doing so, the course will interrogate these debates in relation to the polities, practices, and institutions of education, and examine their articulations with relations of power like white supremacy, anti-blackness, patriarchy, heteronormativity, and classism. | Social Justice and Education - Elective Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | |
240 | Comparative Education | N/A | Elementary | Social Sciences | Examines the socio-cultural, political and economic forces that shape education around the world, including in the US. Explores a series of questions, including the purposes of schooling in different locations; the role of schooling in producing inequality or supporting social change, particularly in relation to class, race, gender, migration, language, and abilities; global educational reform; global educational assessments; student movements; and remote learning. | Social Justice and Education - Elective Global Cultures Languages and Education - Main Course | |
245 | Education in East Asia (FIG) | Global | Elementary | Social Sciences | Learn about the values, histories, systems, policies, problems, and reforms of education in East Asian societies. You'll examine extended issues in comparative education, including education and its relation to economic development, social inequality and stratification, gender and family, ethnicity and migration, identity formation, and student movements. | Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | |
250 | Incarceration and Education | U.S. | Elementary | Social Sciences | Investigates how the systems of incarceration and education operate alongside, within, around and through one another. Provides a historical examination of how education and incarceration have interacted. Examines how prisons operate as 'teaching institutions,' what it teaches all of us impacted by it, and what interventions have been designed to facilitate particular kinds of learning. Presents firsthand accounts of those who work and live in the carceral system currently. | Social Justice and Education - Elective | |
260 | Intro to International Education Development | Global | Elementary | Social Sciences | This course reviews theories regarding the relationship between education and development, discusses institutions in international educational development, and considers key issues and approaches to international development. | International Development and Education - Main Course Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective | |
300 | School and Society | N/A | Intermediate | Social Sciences | Asks how society shapes schooling, and conversely, the ways in which schools shape society. Examines political, social and cultural influences on school processes, policies, practices, and pedagogy. Examines how assumptions regarding the purposes of schooling interact with debates over how we teach, what we teach, and how we evaluate schools, teachers, and students. Considers various contemporary debates about public schooling. Critically examines how educational practices and policies impact the lives of students. | Social Justice and Education - Elective | |
305 | Democracy and Education | U.S. | Intermediate | Social Sciences | Examines the values embedded in notions of “democracy” and their relationship with education, the role of education in a democracy, how the context of America’s capitalist democracy shapes debates about the role of education in democratic life, and the possibilities for deepening the relationship between democracy and education. | This course can count as Communication B. | |
308 | Intro to Qualitative Research Methods for Education | Both | Intermediate | Social Sciences | In this course you will learn how to develop a research question, conduct interviews and observations, and other qualitative research approaches by doing a hands-on research project. | ||
309 | Applied Education Research | Both | Intermediate | Social Sciences | This course introduces how quantitative research methods are applied in empirical education research. It is organized as a series of lectures and hands-on workshops focusing on data exploration, manipulation, visualization, and simple analyses with secondary datasets and R or other programming language. Basic knowledge in statistics and regression models is necessary. | ||
310 | Latine Students in the U.S. Higher Education System | U.S. | Intermediate | Social Sciences | You'll develop a deeper understanding of U.S. higher education by examining connections between historical and present-day circumstances for a group of students often called the key to the sector's future. Latine students are the fastest growing population in postsecondary education today. Why did this growth happen? How has it impacted colleges and universities? How are Latine college students dealing with varying levels of institutional support? And what strengths do they bring to their education and future careers? | ||
320 | Climate Change, Sustainability & Education | Both | Intermediate | Natural Sciences | Provides an overview of theories and models of human-earth relations, and the causes and consequences of climate and environmental change. Develops a critical, global approach to examining the role of education, in school and out, in addressing crucial climate and environmental challenges. Includes a wide range of educational theories, projects, programs, levels, institutions, strategies, and policies. Asks how concepts of human-earth relations influence climate change and explores approaches that promise for a more sustaining global future. | International Development and Education - Elective | This course can count as Natural Science. |
335 | Globalization and Education | Global | Intermediate | Social Sciences | Explores a range of questions, including: What is globalization? What are the political, economic, and cultural dimensions of globalization? How is globalization linked to colonialism and the historically uneven process of capitalist development? Does globalization expand economic growth, democracy, human rights, or does it exacerbate poverty, inequality, the exploitation of natural resources, and the suppression of human rights? | Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | |
342 | Education Across the Americas: Empire, Capitalism, and Resistance | Both | Intermediate | Social Sciences | Examines educational inequality across the Americas through the lens of imperialism, different forms of colonialism, and capitalism. By exploring the logics and actions of different education stakeholders, critically examine how educational policy across the hemisphere has a shared history of oppression and contestation. | This course can count as Communication B. ED POL 300 School and Society is a prerequisite. | |
345 | Economics of Education | U.S. | Intermediate | Social Sciences | Engages with contemporary issues in the economics of education across the K-12 and postsecondary policy arenas in the US and beyond. With foundations in human capital and the education production function, covers a wide variety of topics, including teacher labor markets and teacher quality, school choice, K-12 and higher education finance, and the individual and collective returns to education. | ||
350 | Topics in Education | Varies | Intermediate | Social Sciences | Topics course which examines contemporary topics and debates in education studies; develops research, analytical, and other skills to work in education careers. | ||
355 | The Politics of Education Injustice in the US | U.S. | Intermediate | Social Sciences | Public education in the United States is an inherently political site that offers an important institution to understand politics, power, and injustice broadly. This course considers the politics of education in relation to broader social, spatial, historical, and political economic contexts. | This course can count as Ethnic Studies. | |
412 | History of American Education | N/A | Intermediate | Social Sciences | Examines the history of education in America from the colonization of North America to the present to consider education in its broadest sense - as a process of individual development and cultural transmission. Explores such topics as the rise of common schools in the urban North; the education of Native Americans, immigrants, slaves, and free blacks; the evolution of teacher training (primarily for women); various philosophies of "progressive" school reform; the politics of desegregation, bilingual education, and special education; the articulation between high school and college work; and the evolving federal role in American education. | Social Justice and Education - Elective | |
423 | Education for Global Change | Both | Intermediate | Social Sciences | Explores how people conceptualize and utilize education to (attempt to) create individual, familial, community, institutional, national, and global change | International Development and Education - Elective | |
435 | Education in Emergencies | Global | Intermediate | Social Sciences | The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that more than 82.4 million individuals have been forcibly displaced from their homes. More than a third of them are refugees, and more than 13 million are under the age of 18. In contrast to the portrayals of children wandering among the iconic UNHCR white tents in refugee camps, new images of refugee boys and girls attending public schools raise questions about the role of humanitarianism and education across the world. What are the causes of forced migration? Who counts as a refugee today? What do camp refugees and urban refugees have in common? How do we guarantee access to school for these populations? What would a high-quality curriculum look like for these students? | Social Justice and Education - Elective | |
450 | Rethinking After-School Education | U.S. | Intermediate | Social Sciences | Engage with and discuss historical, ideological, and contemporary issues within community-based after school programs at large and within the Madison context. Examine the social and political context of after school programs to better understand the ways in which they have the potential to meet important needs. | ||
460 | Immigration, Education and Equity | Both | Intermediate | Social Sciences | Examines policy issues surrounding the education of children from immigrant families in K-16 educational settings in the U.S. Through readings, discussions, and assignments, participants examine the economic, social, political, and ideological contexts of immigration and education, as well as school factors and home-school relations. We also consider the impact of various policy and pedagogical approaches. Course readings draw from relevant literature in educational anthropology, sociology of education, educational policy, sociolinguistics, and language pedagogy. | Social Justice and Education - Elective Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | This course can count as Ethnic Studies. |
478 | Comparative History of Childhood and Adolescence | Both | Intermediate | Social Sciences | Examines the growth of modern childhood and adolescent sub-cultures, class differences, literary and pictorial representations, legal and demographic developments, and the growth of educational theories and institutions. | ||
500 | Topics on Social Issues and Education | Varies | Advanced | Social Sciences | Topics course which explores contemporary social issues or problems and their significance for educational purposes and practices. Designed for various special topics on social issues and education. | ||
505 | Issues in Urban Education | U.S. | Advanced | Social Sciences | Explores urban education in the United States and its relationship to broader political, social, and economic contexts. Focuses on contemporary urban educational issues and students' experiences in school and community settings, the experiences of students and families of color and the relationship between race, class, gender, and inequality in urban education. | Social Justice and Education - Elective | |
515 | Holocaust: History, Memory and Education | Both | Advanced | Social Sciences | Explores the ways in which Holocaust history, memory and education are mutually entangled, politically charged and morally complex. | Social Justice and Education - Elective | This course can count as Humanities and Communication B. |
516 | Religion and Public Education | Both | Advanced | Social Sciences | This course examines theories and practices related to the role of religion in public schooling and its accompanying tensions: political and philosophical, practical and personal. | ||
518 | Introduction to Higher Education Policy | U.S. | Advanced | Social Sciences | This course explores the sociocultural tensions among key policy goals such as quality, equity, and efficiency, and the results (including unintended consequences) of those tensions. Examines the theory and research brought to bear on policy debates, and how they are used-or not used-to shape policy agendas. | ||
525 | Is College Possible? College Access and Admissions in the US | U.S. | Advanced | Social Sciences | Survey of the college access landscape in the US with particular attention to historical and contemporary social, economic, and political contexts from the individual to federal level. Specifically focus on students' transitions from K12 to higher education, including policy aspects of college-going affecting college preparation, search, application, choice, and enrollment. | ||
540 | Egalitarianism and Educational Justice | Both | Advanced | Humanities | Examines significant disagreements about educational justice-about the very concept of educational justice; about the most plausible substantive account of educational justice and the way that an ideal of equality bears on it; and about what kinds of policies the most plausible account of educational justice would require in circumstances like our own. Introduces tools that contemporary moral and political philosophers use to investigate those questions. Understand and evaluate efforts to resolve those questions. | Social Justice and Education - Elective | This course counts as Humanities. |
542 | Law and Public Education | N/A | Advanced | Humanities or Social Sciences | This course teaches you about the legal issues related to the policy decisions and delivery of public education (elementary and secondary) in the United States. Learn how law impacts both curriculum development and curricular delivery, explore current legal controversies, constitutional issues, and learn about legal reasoning and analysis. | This course can count as Humanities. | |
545 | Philosophical Conceptions of Teaching and Learning | U.S. | Advanced | Humanities or Social Sciences | Examination and analysis of conceptions of and approaches to teaching and learning. It provides a forum to examine teaching and learning, with special attention to pedagogy and practice. The course is especially geared for those interested in pursuing teaching as a career or dedicated to thinking critically about teaching and learning. | This course can count as Humanities. | |
550 | Philosophy of Moral Education | U.S. | Advanced | Social Sciences | Critical examination of classical and contemporary conceptions of moral education. | ||
560 | Gender and Education | Both | Advanced | Social Sciences | Examines the relationship between gender and education and explores notions of gender as socially constructed categories and identities. Identifies the ways schools (re)produce and mediate gender identities and explore the experiences of students. Draws on critical and feminist perspectives to analyze the ways gender intersects with understandings of identity performance and expression such as masculinity and femininity, as well as at the intersection of race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality in schooling processes. | Social Justice and Education - Elective | |
567 | History of African American Education | U.S. | Advanced | Social Sciences | The History of African American Education examines institutional schooling as a tool of both political freedom and cultural exclusion in the United States. Tracing social factors that influenced Black education from the early nineteenth to the late twentieth century, this course examines education as an instrument for developing racist ideology and structures of social domination, but also as politics of cultural and economic liberation. The course examines this tension within the historical contexts of slavery, Reconstruction, industrialization and urbanization, and Black Power politics of the 1960s. | ||
570 | Anthropology and Education | U.S. | Advanced | Social Sciences | Explores foundational concepts and methods of educational anthropology. Examines anthropological inquiry on educational research with particular reference to cultural perspectives on education and educational systems, learning as cultural transmission, and application of anthropological knowledge to curriculum. | ||
575 | Education Policy and Practice | U.S. | Advanced | Social Sciences | Examines research on teachers and teaching as an occupation, the everyday realities of classrooms, and a variety of frameworks for understanding the relationship between policy and educators' daily work. Considers teachers and administrators as implementers of local, state, and federal policies, while simultaneously designing and creating policies and practices themselves. | ||
580 | Participatory and Community-Based Research and Evaluation | Both | Advanced | Social Sciences | This course teaches the goals, purposes and methods associated with community-engaged, participatory research and evaluation, including the following: 1) the political and philosophical underpinnings of the approach, and specifically of participatory action research (PAR); 2) qualitative research methods; 3) examples of community-engaged, participatory studies. | ||
585 | Family and Community Engagement in Education | U.S. | Advanced | Social Sciences | Examines how and why different families and communities engage in education, with an emphasis on issues of power and equity. Focuses on social science approaches to understanding family and community engagement in K-12 schooling in the U.S. | ||
595 | Language Politics and Education | Both | Advanced | Social Sciences | Provides an overview of language politics, policies, and practices in global perspective; draws on the work of anthropologists, sociolinguists, and language policy scholars to examine how language choices in and regarding schooling interact with ethnic and linguistic diversity. Considers the following questions: How do language policies, practices, and pedagogies redress or exacerbate inequalities? How do people at the local level, including educators, negotiate language and literacy policies and politics? | ||
600 | Introduction to Survey Methods in Educational Research | Varies | Advanced | Social Sciences | Topics course which examines various debates in the field of education policy specific to special topic identified by instructor/faculty. Policy area and faculty will vary each semester. | ||
601 | Research and Evaluation for Equity | Both | How can research and evaluation serve as mechanisms for advancing equity and justice? Gain a foundational understanding of educational research and program evaluation. Learn about the common types of program evaluation and examine how equity-oriented frameworks can inform research and evaluation projects. In this course, you'll consider how politics shape who evaluates, for what reasons, and with what consequences. Gain experience in evaluation research methods, including data collection, analysis, and interpretation. | ||||
605 | Using Secondary Data: Applied Quantitative Analysis | Both | Advanced | Social Sciences | Learn the methods of managing secondary data or data not collected for specific research purposes and analyzing it to address educational policies. Focus on quantitative techniques. Use secondary data and statistical software to complete assignment | This course counts as an elective for the EPS Honors Program. | |
612 | History of Student Activism from the Popular Front to Black Lives Matter | U.S. | Advanced | Humanities | Explore the history of student activism in the United States, with an emphasis on the experiences racial/ethnic minority youths who have been marginalized or discriminated against. What motivated students to become politically active, and what forms did their activism take? How did student activism vary across time and space and from one group of activists to another? Why did some students become activists while others did not? What role did education and educational institutions play in their activism? | Social Justice and Education - Elective | This course counts as Ethnic Studies and Humanities. |
618 | Advanced Qualitative Research Methods in Education | Both | Advanced | Social Sciences | Learn advanced qualitative methods for educational research taught through an apprenticeship in the research process, from developing the idea and questions to collecting and analyzing data to disseminating results. Presents specialized qualitative approaches. | This course counts as an elective for the EPS Honors Program. | |
622 | History of Radical and Experimental Education in the US and UK | Both | Advanced | Humanities or Social Sciences | In this course, you'll examine the comparative history of radical and experimental education in the United States and United Kingdom since 1800. It focuses on the social, cultural, and intellectual history of diverse educational experiments, including experiments related to socialism, abolitionism, anarchism, and religious fundamentalism. | This course counts as Ethnic Studies and Humanities. | |
648 | Sociology of Education | U.S. | Advanced | Social Sciences | Uses a sociological lens to examine American schools and schooling, with a particular focus on social inequality in the U.S. and how class, race, and gender intersect in the experiences of students. In this class’s focus on inequality in public education, this class will examine how schools relate to broader structures, institutions, and practices. | ||
665 | History of the Federal Role in Education | U.S. | Advanced | Social Sciences | Examines the history of federal aid to education from 1776 to the present, with heavy emphasis on the post-World War II period. Explores the federal role in public education in the Early Republic and during Reconstruction; Traces the evolution of federal policies concerning racial desegregation, compensatory education for low-income students, bilingual education, and special education for the disabled. | ||
675 | Introduction to Comparative and International Education | Global | Advanced | Social Sciences | Introduction to the origins and development of the field of comparative and international education (CIE) and to explore how scholars engage some of the theoretical, ideological, methodological, and topical debates that characterize research in the field of CIE policy. | Global Cultures Languages and Education - Elective International Development and Education - Elective | |
680 | Educational Policy Studies Honors Capstone | N/A | Advanced | Social Sciences | This course requires declaration in Educational Policy Studies BS Honors in the Major. Develop a capstone project reflecting expertise in existing research on an issue or question of interest. Engage in interdisciplinary conversations, consider pressing issues in education, explore potential professional and academic trajectories, and prepare for future careers and graduate education. | EPS Capstone Honors course and is only offered in the Fall. | |
688 | Introduction to Survey Methods for Education Research | Both | Advanced | Social Sciences | Learn and engage with conceptual and practical tools for planning, designing, and conducting survey research on education-related issues. This course provides an overview of principles in survey methods and relevant issues, including data collection modes, sampling methods, questionnaires and measurement design, possible sources of bias and errors, non-response, and other extended topics. | This course counts as an elective for the EPS Honors Program. | |
Course # | Course Title | E.S. Focus | Level | Breadth | Certificate | Unique Trait(s) |
ED POL 203: Internship in Education
Are you a school of education student with an internship or job that connects with your field of study?
Then enroll in ED POL 203: Internship in Education! You can earn up to 3 academic credits for your internship experience.
Make an appointment with SoE Career Center Advisor Zack Minnier on Starfish to learn more or email zminnier@wisc.edu.
Internship Postings & Tips!
Visit the School of Education Career Center's website to see new internship postings and tips on applying for them!
EPS Fall 2025 F.I.G.S
Education in East Asia
Learn about some of the values, histories, systems, policies, problems, and reforms of education that are taking place in a range of East Asian societies.

Listening to the Land
Reflect on “land as first teacher” by considering Indigenous approaches to learning, Indigenous languages in relation to land, and the current environmental health of land.

Youthm Society and Education
Understand the social and political factors that shape the experiences and educational outcomes of youth in the United States — and how these experiences vary across race, ethnicity, class, ability, gender, sexuality and context.

Career Development/Advising Events
- August
- August 27
- September
- September 2
- September 2
- September 2
- September 4
Student Life Events
- August
- August 29Badgers on the BusTransit Know-How for UW-Madison Students12:00 PM, East Campus Mall, outside Student Activity Center
- August 29New Student Night at University Book StoreFREE food & prizes for all new and transfer students!5:30 PM, University Book Store, 711 State Street
- August 30
- August 30Welcome Class of 2030 to the Babcock Dairy!Free Ice Cream for Incoming Freshmen Saturday!2:00 PM, Babcock Dairy Store, Babcock Hall
- September
- September 3