Spring 2010 Course Description
Politics and Process
This course fulfills requirements for the following specialization(s):
- International Affairs
- Social and Economic Policy
Description: Education policy is characterized by frequent innovation, diffusion, and evaluation. New ideas are shared around the world, often with little evidence that they will be successful. This course focuses on the global diffusion of education policy ideas and the balance between theoretically sound ideas and the context of local implementation.
Students will learn skills of comparative policy analysis and apply them to the education sector. Students will learn to examine the context and goals of education reforms, and to use evaluation data to assess the potential for replication or adaptation in other settings. Throughout the semester, students will develop a report on a policy innovation in a single country and implications for scale-up. Course requirements include participating in class discussion and in-class projects, meeting deadlines for term paper assignments, and an oral presentation on your selected country. This course is appropriate for students interested in international or domestic education policy, but all students will be expected to explore policies outside the US.
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