Education Policy, PhD

The education policy PhD program will provide students with foundational grounding in education policy analysis. Students will learn frameworks and methods for evaluating how policies and systems produce educational opportunities and systemic inequities. Students will gain a nuanced understanding of the education policy process including policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation, and the methodological approaches used to examine these processes and their effects. And students will explore how the (re)design of policies and systems create substantive improvements in learning opportunities for students of all ages. The program includes core content in: education policy systems and implementation, disciplinary grounding, the social contexts of education, policy analysis methods, and electives exploring specific policy topics and issues. The flexible curricular design enables students to choose courses that match their interests. Through apprenticed research experiences students will gain expertise in policy analysis necessary to prepare them to do independent research and pursue careers in policy research.