Program of Study

Course requirements for the Master's in Urban Education program

The Master's in Urban Education program is designed to be completed in two  years.

You can enter the master's program during any term and still complete the required coursework in the allotted time.

However, we recommend that take them in the appropriate sequence. In other words, complete all of your first year requirements before you begin the second year classes.

Program of study for beginning graduate students

If you are starting the Master's of Urban Education program without any other graduate credits, these are the courses you will need to complete.

Year one courses

EDUC-J 500 Instruction in the Context of Curriculum

Curriculum and instruction have a profound impact on social contexts, learning theories, and schooling practices. While they serve essentially the same function in most educational environments, the concepts and definitions may vary based on the context. Students will enhance their understanding of the roles which curriculum and instruction serve by studying elementary and secondary contexts.

Course Type: Typically face-to-face

EDUC-K 505 Introduction to Special Education

This course is designed to provide an overview of the many complex issues related to special education policy and practice in the United States. Content will include an introduction to the definitions and characteristics of various exceptionalities; an exploration of the options available for instructing exceptional children public school settings; and discussions of the many important topics and issues related to planning and implementing special education in American public schools.

Course Type: Typically online

EDUC-L 500 Instructional Issues in Language Learning

The course is an introduction at the graduate level to the field of language teaching and learning which focuses on the perspectives of reading/literacy, second/foreign language, and critical pedagogy. Students engage in discussions of issues of pedagogy that emerge from the three perspectives in the field, reflect on their own learning-teaching philosophies, and explore in greater depth an issue of particular interest. Students engage in individual and collaborative inquiry in a seminar/workshop format, taking turns serving as consultants, experts, critics, idea generators, and discussion leaders.

Course Type: Typically face-to-face

EDUC-P 507 Assessment in Schools

Students will learn to use an array of assessment tools in diverse learning contexts. To better develop skills in application and evaluation, learners will incorporate formal and informal assessment instruments including multiple choice, essay, performance and portfolio tools. Contexts will include traditional classrooms, e-learning, educational games, and educational social networks. The purpose of this course is to learn how quality educational assessment can be used to ensure achievement gains.

Course Type: Typically online

EDUC-T 550 Cultural/Community Forces in Schools

This course will explore the power and potential of learning within community settings such as libraries, churches, community centers, museums, etc. Students will compare and contrast different viewpoints on learning traditions, conceptions of community, and models of learning from historic, cultural, and social perspectives. In addition students will explore methods and strategies for assessing learning in non-formal and informal learning settings.

Course Type: Typically face-to-face

EDUC-Y 520 Strategies for Educational Inquiry

People often read published reports of educational research without understanding the process or design used to conduct the inquiry. This course introduces the educational research process, and explores and compares various forms of design. Students will practice generally accepted procedures for generating, analyzing and interpreting data to develop greater comfort in reading, reviewing, and critiquing research results

Course Type: Typically face-to-face

Year two courses

EDUC-Y 510 Action Research

Prerequisite: EDUC-Y 520

Action research strives to improve classroom instruction through a philosophy of inquiry and corresponding research methods. Students will learn to select an area of focus, collect, organize, analyze and interpret data, and take action based on empirical findings. Putting theory into practice, they will design an action research project and write a formal proposal for that study.

Course Type: Typically face-to-face

EDUC-A 560 Political Perspectives in Education

This course focuses on theoretical and conceptual approaches useful in describing, explaining, and predicting political behavior related to schools. Forces for continuity and change at local, state, and federal levels are explored.

Course Type: Typically face-to-face

EDUC-T 531 Organizational Change in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Schools

Factors which impede and facilitate change in education at the community, district, school, and classroom levels are constantly evolving. This course approaches organizational development and reform from a legal perspective. Students will investigate administrative strategies, evaluation techniques and staff development models as they relate to schools’ ability to define and fulfill their purpose in a democratic society.

Course Type: Typically online

EDUC-T 590 Research Practicum–Action Research Learning Community

Prerequisite: EDUC-Y 510

In this third course, the class becomes a community of inquirers to support one another as students initiate their inquiry projects, carry-out their data-collection and analysis, and report on their own inquiries.

Course Type: Typically online

EDUC-A 500 Introduction to Educational Leadership

This course entails an introduction to the history, philosophy, and social aspects of educational leadership. It reviews relevant theories of administration; the historical role of administration in schools; and the political, social, economic, and philosophical frameworks that have informed administrations.

Course Type: Typically face-to-face

EDUC-H 530 Philosophy of Education

A study of representative topics in the philosophy of education, indoctrination, the nature of teaching and learning, and moral issues in education. An emphasis is placed on urban education and social justice issues within philosophical frameworks and on how these frameworks inform practice. This course will be in a hybrid format.

Course Type: Typically hybrid of online and face-to-face