Can We Improve Schools?

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

The purpose of this course is to provide students with an overview of the origins, concerns, goals, and approaches of education reform past, present, and future. We will explore the breadth of tactics and policy mechanisms employed by reformers, examining the underlying assumptions and theories of action ascribed to each. We will analyze the extent to which various reform efforts have been successful while concurrently defining and redefining the benchmarks for success as we explore questions such as: Who and what are schools for? What should the goals of improvement be? How do we best improve schools and who should decide? What are the origins and implications of differing policy and reform strategies? What assumptions drive different policy levers (i.e. turnaround, incentives, mandates, capacity-building, high-stakes accountability) and how do those in turn shape implementation and outcomes?