School of Education

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In the United States and Canada, a School of Education (also College of Education, Ed-School) is a division within a university that is devoted to scholarship in the field of Education, which is an interdisciplinary branch of the social sciences encompassing sociology, psychology, linguistics, economics, political science, public policy, and others, all applied to the topic of elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education.

In the United Kingdom, following the recommendation in the 1963 Robbins Report into higher education, teacher training colleges were renamed colleges of education in the UK. For information about academic divisions devoted to this field outside of the United States and Canada, see Postgraduate Training in Education.

Contents

[edit] Types of programs

Typically, a school of education offers research-based programs leading to Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Education (M.Ed.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) or Doctor of Education (Ed.D) degrees, as well as professional teacher-education programs leading to Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Education (M.Ed.), or Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) degrees. Schools of education also offer teacher certification or licensure programs to undergraduate students. Generally schools of education have graduate programs related to teacher preparation, curriculum and instruction (or curriculum and teaching), public policy and education, and educational administration. In addition, some schools of education offer programs in school counseling and counseling psychology.

[edit] Faculty

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Unlike most other academic departments, schools of education often draw much of their faculty from areas outside of the Education field itself. It is not uncommon for Education professors to have earned their doctorates in conventional social-science or natural-science fields, mathematics, or in the Humanities. This fluidity sometimes goes both ways, with scholars from the Education field taking positions in social-science departments and other academic divisions

[edit] Common areas of interest

The issue of equitable access to education, particularly for low-income, minority, and immigrant communities, is central to many areas of research within the Education field.[1][2]

[edit] Notable schools of education

The annual rankings of U.S. News and World Report placed the following schools of education in the top twenty of all graduate education institutions in the United States. They follow in order of one through twenty: Stanford University; Vanderbilt University; University of California at Los Angeles; Teachers College, Columbia University; University of Oregon; Harvard University; University of California at Berkeley; University of Washington; University of Michigan at Ann Arbor; University of Pennsylvania; University of Texas-Austin; Northwestern University; University of Wisconsin at Madison; Michigan State University; New York University; Ohio State University; University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Boston College; Indiana University-Bloomington; Johns Hopkins University.[3]

[edit] Notable education scholars

Further information: Education theory

[edit] Criticism

Given the vital importance of educating a nation's youth, people from all over the political spectrum have opinions about the nature of quality education. A contrarian movement, known by some as the Education Anti-Establishment, has been critical of the status quo within most schools of education. Prominent figures contributing to this school of though include Lisa Delpit, E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Diane Ravitch, Chester Finn, Thomas Sowell, and Lynne Cheney.[4] Common assertions made by Anti-Establishment critics include that the typical school of education has a Left-wing political bias, favoring Socialist philosophies such as Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy and the "Teaching for Social Justice" movement. Many Ed-Schools are academically, professionally, and socially inhospitable toward students whose political views do not conform to the predominant Left-leaning ideology.[5][6][7][8] One concern is that the field's interest in educational equity sometimes crosses over the line between academic research and political activism.[9] Another concern is that research methodologies are not as rigorous as with other social sciences, leading to conclusions that are less reliable and more susceptible to idealogical bias.[10]

The pedagogy in teacher-education programs promotes the belief in a false binary opposition between "traditional" and "reform" teaching methods, negatively caricaturing the former, excessively praising the latter, and implying that several qualities are mutually exclusive between the two. For example, the literature commonly read by student-teachers creates the imaginary dilemma of choosing between "teaching for understanding" and having students learn "rote facts" and perform "drill-and-kill" exercises, denying the vital role that factual knowledge and persistent practice play in the learning process.[citation needed]

Another common criticism of schools of education stems from a perception of lower academic standards. Students in graduate schools of education typically have lower average GRE scores than students in most other programs at the same university. The research of many "stars" of the field, such as Stanford's Linda Darling-Hammond and Jo Boaler, has been criticized for lacking academic rigor and for promoting political or professional agendas.

[edit] References

  1. ^ David F. Labaree (Vol. 41, Nos. 1&2, February 2005). Progressivism, Schools and Schools of Education: An American Romance. Paedagogica Historica. Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
  2. ^ Deborah J. Stipek (2007). Message from the Dean. Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
  3. ^ "America's Best Education Graduate Schools 2009", US News and World Report. Retrieved 5/14/08.
  4. ^ Martin A. Kozloff (October, 2002). Ed Schools in Crisis. Watson College of Education, University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
  5. ^ Heather Mac Donald (Spring 1998). Why Johnny’s Teacher Can’t Teach. City Journal. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
  6. ^ Sol Stern (Summer 2006). The Ed Schools’ Latest—and Worst—Humbug. City Journal. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
  7. ^ George F. Will (2006-01-16). Ed Schools vs. Education. Newsweek. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
  8. ^ Greg Lukianoff (Volume 53, Issue 30). Social Justice and Political Orthodoxy. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
  9. ^ David F. Labaree (Vol. 41, Nos. 1&2, February 2005). Progressivism, Schools and Schools of Education: An American Romance. Paedagogica Historica. Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
  10. ^ Martin A. Kozloff (November, 2002). Fad, Fraud, and Folly in Education. Watson College of Education, University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Retrieved on 2007-03-30.

[edit] See also