Research Group on Policy Implementation

3 credits · Graduate

This year-long research and writing group is intended for graduate students who plan to specialize in studying educational policy implementation. In the course, we will investigate what happens from the time a policy is enacted until the policy is actually implemented in classrooms, schools, and districts. The centerpiece of the research group is reviewing and providing feedback to members on their works-in-progress related to policy implementation. The goal is to strengthen participants' preparation for research in this area through a combination of consultation and feedback on specific problems related to conceptualizing and enacting high quality research, including but not limited to the formulation of research questions, theory development, research design, data collection, analysis, writing, and publication. We will supplement this activity by reading research together to help build a shared understanding of the different theoretical perspectives that can potentially imform the study of policy implementation, including institutional theory, social movements analysis, conflict perspectives, and organizational learning theroy.