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Education Policy Studies Minor

Designed for future teachers, educational policymakers, school district partner organization professionals, community organizers, and nonprofit professionals, the Education Policy Studies Minor will give you cross-disciplinary, field-informed knowledge of education policy within American and international school systems.

Loyola's Educational Policy Studies Minor program will introduce you to the policies, ideas  and decision-making that has created and can create change in our educational system. This program is a great choice for students who want to study, critically analyze, and confront systemic equalities in our education systems. And for those who want to prepare for work in education in a non-classroom setting, this minor is especially useful.

Upon graduation with a minor in Educational Policy Studies, you will possess the following knowledge, skills, and professional values necessary to work as a social justice education policy professional in the classroom or non-classroom education policy settings.

Upon graduation with a minor in educational policy studies from Loyola, you will possess the following knowledge, skills, and professional values necessary to work in non-classroom educational settings, including after-school programs, nonprofit organizations, community-based organizations, or government offices.

Knowledge

You'll gain a robust, multifaceted understanding of the historical, cultural, philosophical and social contexts of education, both domestically and internationally.

Skills

You will examine education policy and practice from multidisciplinary perspectives, explore qualitative and quantitative education policy research, and will analyze educational aims as expressed over time. You will gain hands-on policy analysis and implementation skills through a supervised internship. All of your studies in the minor will have an overarching emphasis on the advancement of equity, inclusion, and social justice.

Professional Values

As advocates, leaders, researchers, activists, and future educators, you will demonstrate your commitment to social justice by engaging with your peers, professors, and community to understand and engage with education policy and practice. Throughout your coursework in the minor, you will discuss the role of pluralism in democracies and other political systems, the effects and intersections of race, nationality, immigration status, class, religion, gender identity and presentation, sexuality, disability, veteran status, and other identities on educational aims, and issues of global citizenship or cosmopolitanism. You will be expected to critically engage with one another, texts, and ideas in an effort to address systemic inequality and to advance social justice.  

Program Faculty

Our dedicated Cultural and Educational Policy Studies Faculty are experts in their fields who will support students throughout each stage of the program.

Curriculum

The undergraduate minor in Education Policy Studies is an 18 credit-hour program with five required courses offered by the School of Education’s Cultural and Educational Policy Studies program. The program includes a field-based internship course and an elective course in Teaching and Learning. The courses may be taken in any sequence; we only require that the ELPS 265: Cultural and Educational Policy Studies Internship be taken after a student has completed at least two other courses required for the minor.

More information about each course can be found on the Courses and Syllabi page.

 

Required Coursework

ELPS 302: Philosophy of Education
ELPS 219: American Education
ELPS 230: Globalization, Education, and Childhood (Offered Spring Semester Only)
ELPS 240: Urban Education: Policy and Practice (Offered Fall Semester Only)

Required Field-Based Internship

ELPS 265: Education Policy Studies Internship

The Education Policy Studies Internship experience helps students integrate and take action upon policy, theoretical and research coursework with a practical field-based experience. The internship requires 120 hours of field work. The internship course will meet periodically (but not weekly) throughout the semester to support students in their internship. Students are encouraged to begin researching internship sites the semester before they plan to take the internship course, and can work with the internship course instructor to identify prospective internship sites and develop a plan along with the site supervisor. Students are given permission to register for this course once they have confirmed an internship site in conversation with the internship course instructor.

It is recommended that students make use of resources available through Loyola’s Office of Experiential Education in locating an internship site. Possible sites for ELPS 265 internships include, but are not limited to, nonprofit organizations, school-based after school programs, community centers, education policy institutes, and religious organizations. Within these sites, student interns could work in the areas of educational programming, international development, humanitarian assistance, fundraising, grant writing, policy formation, program development, program evaluation, and advocacy. Student interns do not primarily work as direct service providers because this internship is intended to provide exposure to various dimensions of education policy work. Accommodations can be made for students who would like to do their internship while studying abroad.

Electives

Students are required to complete one course from the following list (or a substitution approved by the Program Director). Eligible electives include:

CIEP 206: Children’s Literature
CIEP 315: Language Development and Literacy
CIEP 336: Child Development and Implications for Education
CIEP 350: Adolescent Literature
CIEP 360: Interdisciplinary Workshop: Culture and Identity
COMM 372: Youth Journalism and the Education Gap
SOCL 245: Sociology of Education

Required TLLSC Sequence 1 (4 semester hours):

This is a 12-week sequence of three consecutive, field-based, introductory teacher education course modules; registration in 110, 120 and 130 in the same semester is required for this sequence.

TLSC 110: The Profession and our Program (1 credit hour)
TLSC 120: Bringing Learning and Developmental Theory into Practice (2 credit hours)
TLSC 130: Community Immersion (1 credit hour)

Admission Requirements

Visit Undergraduate Admission to start your online application today.

Contact

  • Dr. Tavis Jules is the Education Policy Studies Minor’s lead faculty member, and can assist interested students with questions or concerns.

Tuition, Financial Aid and Scholarships

The School of Education and Loyola's Financial Aid Office are committed to helping students secure the necessary financial resources to make their education at Loyola affordable. You can learn more on the Financial Assistance page.

Curriculum

The undergraduate minor in Education Policy Studies is an 18 credit-hour program with five required courses offered by the School of Education’s Cultural and Educational Policy Studies program. The program includes a field-based internship course and an elective course in Teaching and Learning. The courses may be taken in any sequence; we only require that the ELPS 265: Cultural and Educational Policy Studies Internship be taken after a student has completed at least two other courses required for the minor.

More information about each course can be found on the Courses and Syllabi page.

 

Admission Requirements

Visit Undergraduate Admission to start your online application today.

Contact

  • Dr. Tavis Jules is the Education Policy Studies Minor’s lead faculty member, and can assist interested students with questions or concerns.

Tuition, Financial Aid and Scholarships

The School of Education and Loyola's Financial Aid Office are committed to helping students secure the necessary financial resources to make their education at Loyola affordable. You can learn more on the Financial Assistance page.