Education Policy and Planning Program
Department of Educational Leadership and Policy
The Educational Policy and Planning (EPP) Program, ranked 10th by U.S. News & World Report, prepares the next generation of scholars, researchers, and analysts who will significantly and positively change public education. Our programs prepare students to be anti-racist education policy scholars and analysts with a critical focus on issues of equity.
Our master’s program (M.Ed.), designed for working professionals by offering late afternoon and evening courses, trains students in education policy analysis. Students gain a theoretical foundation in policy implementation, politics, school law, poverty and educational policy, and critical policy analysis. Students gain a theoretical foundation in educational policy implementation and policy analysis, both traditional and critical approaches, as well as politics, law, and poverty in educational systems. Our program prepares students for careers as policy analysts, researchers in the public and private sectors, and for entry into a doctoral program in educational policy.
The doctoral program (Ph.D.) prepares future faculty members, policy analysts, and researchers to be thoughtful scholars with a critical focus on issues of equity. Students receive rigorous training in education politics, policy implementation, organizations, race and ethnicity, gender, poverty, social and cultural contexts of education, and the economics of education. This is a full-time program of graduate study; we do not have the capacity to accept part-time students.
Our cohort model provides built-in peer support as students move through the program, while also providing opportunities for inter-generational learning and research collaborations with faculty. In addition, students work closely with faculty mentors to develop a research focus, culminating in the dissertation.
Our faculty members are nationally recognized experts in high-stakes testing, market-based reforms, equity-minded reforms, issues of linguistic and cultural diversity, and school improvement.
Both programs employ a cohort model and start in the fall semester.
The GRE is not required for those applying for admission to the Education Policy and Planning program. Please note that some university-wide fellowship programs may consider GRE scores. Applicants who want to be eligible for all possible fellowships and scholarships should take the GRE.
Faculty
Examines collaborative approaches involving community organizations and stakeholders that improve academic achievement and reduce opportunity gaps for students. Also studies chronic absenteeism, the role of high school athletics in school settings, a...
Focuses on school and district leadership, inclusive practices for students with disabilities, and school improvement with an emphasis on improving student achievement and addressing inequities in classrooms, schools, and communities.
Accepting new students
Develops school leaders with the knowledge, skill, and disposition to foster collaborative instructional systems to produce high levels of adult engagement in their unique school environments to assure every student learns well and thrives, with a fo...
Examines principals and school-community engagement/community development and issues of educational equity and opportunity.
Dr. Holme's work explores how structural and systemic factorsparticularly housing policy, and teacher labor marketsshape educational opportunity.
Accepting new students
Examines program evaluation, knowledge mobilizatio, and research use in public school districts. Her work investigates how school leaders navigate socio-political contexts to make evidence-informed decisions, with particular attention to the organiza...
Focuses on identifying factors that hinder or promote the success of children and families from vulnerable and underserved populations.
I study student success for children experiencing poverty. I analyze how school leadership and state policy facilitate student success across the education pipeline.
Specializes in urban education from a sociological and multicultural perspective, with a focus on minority youth in schools, particularly at the K-12 level.
Examines issues of power and voice in education policy making and implementation processes, with a focus on public school district superintendents and school boards.
Accepting new students
Uses lenses from organizational sociology to study how district leaders, principals, coaches, and teachers implement policy
Program Co-coordinator
Joshua Childs
Ph.D. Program Co-coordinator and M.Ed. Coordinator
Sofia Malik
Graduate Admissions Coordinator
Jacinda Herrera
