SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON

EDUCATIONAL POLICY AND REFORM

SYLLABUS

SPRING, 2005

Instructor: David Bills

Office: N446 Lindquist Center

Office Phone:  (319) 335-5366

Office Hours: TBA

david-bills@uiowa.edu

Syllabus Navigator:

Course Objectives:

This course will examine four popular alternatives to traditional K-12 and postsecondary education in the United States.  These are homeschooling, boarding schools, charter schools, and magnet schools. We shall spend a couple of weeks constructing a conceptual framework for understanding these alternatives, and then spend a couple of weeks on each area. I have designed the course to be useful to both those with a focus on K-12 schooling and those more concerned with postsecondary education.  

Class activities will vary from day to day, ranging from lectures to discussions to student presentations. Students will be active participants in the course. You need to ask questions, raise issues, and otherwise contribute to an informed and substantive classroom discussion. I expect you to do all of the reading on time.  For the course to work, you need to read and think seriously about what you’ve been reading. 

Your grade will be based on several short (3-5 pages) written assignments, a more extended research paper, and your presentation of the research paper to the class.  I shall also take into account the quality of your overall participation.  I am not obligated to accept late assignments. I shall accept serious attempts to rewrite papers with no penalty. 

In the shorter papers, you should demonstrate that you understand the major issues at stake in the particular area.  Your paper should be significantly more than simply a summary of the reading. The papers should be critical and analytical, searching for points of contention or agreement among different authors, identifying crucial theoretical and empirical points, and discussing the broader implications. I shall talk more about this in class.

Your research paper should be presented in a style suitable for submission to a scholarly journal.  It should follow the general format and structure of a research paper in your field, including a title page, abstract, and bibliography.  You should turn it in on both disk and as hard copy.  A one‑page proposal of your research paper is due on February 21, 2005. I shall talk about all of this more in class.

Back to Syllabus Navigator | Back to Top of Page

Required Textbooks:

You should purchase the following books from either the Iowa Memorial Union Bookstore or online (e.g., through www.amazon.com):

Cookson, Peter and Caroline Hodges Persell.  1985. Preparing for Power: America’s Elite Boarding Schools.  New York: Basic Books.

Fuller, Bruce. 2002. Inside Charter Schools: The Paradox of Radical Decentralization. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Metz, Mary Haywood. 2003. Different by Design: The Context and Character of Three Magnet Schools. New York: Teachers College Press.

Stevens, Mitchell L. 2001. Kingdom of Children: Culture and Controversy in the Homeschooling Movement.  Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Back to Syllabus Navigator | Back to Top of Page

Required Readings:

Readings:   Most of the readings are available on electronic reserve through the University of Iowa's Psychology Library. If readings are not on electronic reserve, then they are either directly linked to an Adobe PDF file or to an online journal article.

The following instructions explain how to access readings that are posted electronically via the University of Iowa's Psychology Library (NOTE: you must have your student Hawk ID to access these):

• Go to: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/psych

  • This URL takes you to the Psychology Library’s home page.

• Click on RESERVE.

• Click on ELECTRONIC RESERVE.

• Click on desired class (Bills' 07B:240).

• Download and print out readings.

Back to Syllabus Navigator | Back to Top of Page

Other Recommended Readings:

I have listed several recommended readings on the syllabus schedule (see below and the recommended readings link here). This is an extremely selective list and only scratches the surface of what is available.  I think many of these will be useful to you as you prepare your research projects, and I encourage you to pursue some of them.

Back to Syllabus Navigator | Back to Top of Page

Listserv:

So that I can set up a listserv and stay in contact with you over the semester, please e-mail me immediately following the first class session, so that I can capture your e-mail address. You will receive many of your assignments and other course information via this listserv and are responsible for all material that is communicated over the listserv.

Back to Syllabus Navigator | Back to Top of Page

Accommodations:

I would like to hear from anyone who has a disability that may require some modification of the seating, testing, or other class requirements so that appropriate arrangements may be made.  Please see me after class or during my office hours.

From this online syllabus, I have linked two short documents.  These are "Policy on Student Academic Misconduct" and "Student Complaint Procedures."  Please take a few minutes to read these.

This course is given by the College of Education.  This means that class policies on matters such as requirements, grading, and sanctions for academic dishonesty are governed by the College of Education. Students wishing to add or drop this course after the official deadline must receive the approval of the Dean of the College of Education. Details of the University policy of cross enrollments may be found at: http://www.uiowa.edu/~provost/deos/crossenroll.doc.

Finally, please feel free to stop in or call anytime throughout the semester if you need additional assistance or instruction.

Back to Syllabus Navigator | Back to Top of Page

Syllabus Schedule: