Courses
Urban Education
5401. Introduction to
Urban Schools (3 s.h.)
This course explores major issues in urban education and the programs and practices that address them. Topics include effective policies and practices for urban schools, such as parent and community involvement, school violence, and small learning communities. Offered every term, including summer.
This course is designed to help students understand the social, political, and economic factors that shape urban schools. The focus is on both perennial and emerging issues affecting the urban environment and schools and on major policies relating to those issues (e.g., equity, accountability, and school finance). The class requires several critiques of educational literature, as well as an extensive review of the literature on a substantive topic related to urban education.
Offered every Fall term.
5515. Service Learning and Community Development (3 s.h.)
This course presents models for service learning with particular emphasis on those that contribute to urban community development and community building. Students conduct a participatory community study and design a service learning project that meets authentic community needs. Offered every Fall term.
5516. School-Community Partnerships in Urban Settings (3 s.h.)
This course introduces models, practices, and theories for developing partnerships between schools, universities, community-based groups/agencies, and neighborhoods. Among the models studied are various types of partnerships, community organizations, family centers, and community schools. The course emphasizes the manifold issues that emerge when partnerships involve participants who cross the boundaries of class, race, gender, professions, culture, and language. Field visits and fieldwork are included. Offered Spring term.
5620. Special Topics in Urban Education (3 s.h.)
5630. Special Seminar in Urban Education (3 s.h.)
5565. The Origins of Urban Education (3 s.h.)
This reading and discussion class is based on the most important secondary literature in urban history and the history of urban education. Philadelphia is used as a case study. Topics in urban history include the geography and functional differentiation of urban space; the political economy of cities; urban demographics with a special emphasis on racial and ethnic minorities; urban political and social institutions; and the site as educator, including regional and site planning and urban material culture. Topics in urban educational history include race and ethnicity in the history of urban education; the politics of urban education; the history of social class; and the opportunity structure in urban education.
8602. Theory Seminar in Urban Schools (3 s.h.)
This course introduces some important theoretical frameworks and theorists that inform research in urban education. Emphasis in on the contributions of the social sciences. Theories are discussed in the context of urban education and are applied to major issues of interest to the class. Each student selects an issue, which s/he may have begun to explore in URBAN ED 5501, around which written and oral presentations are based. Teams of students also lead class discussions on the work of selected theorists.
9982. Independent Research in Urban Education (3 s.h.)
Because the Urban Education Program is interdisciplinary and draws on faculty from across the University, it is critical that students become acquainted with faculty whose research styles and interests will contribute to their course of study by, for example, serving on their dissertation committees. This course requires students to design and complete a project with a faculty member outside the program. In consultation with their advisors, students identify an affiliated member with whom to work and then create and complete an independent study. This research can take several forms, e.g., collecting and analyzing data, conducting an extensive literature review, or utilizing secondary data.
9991. Research Practicum (3
s.h.)
This doctoral-level course provides each student with the experience of completing an
independent study research project. Students are required
to formulate a research question; conduct a thorough review
of the relevant literature on the topic; design a small study
to be carried out throughout the year; and write up the results.
While this project may be directly related to the student's
dissertation research, it does not serve as a replacement of
that research endeavor. Each student is expected to present
her/his work in a public setting.
9999. Doctoral Dissertation (3-9 s.h.)
Prerequisite: Open only to doctoral candidates who have successfully
completed the minimum hours
of coursework required for the degree, the preliminary examination, and the dissertation proposal.
Continuous registration during the Fall and Spring semesters is required until the dissertation is completed and accepted by the Graduate School.
Updated 8.12.09