Course Descriptions
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Law PP 506 / EDLD 579: Law and Politics of Educational Policy Development (Spring 2008)
Educational policy development at the local and state level is a complex and convoluted process. To give a limited number of law students and graduate education students an inside look on how educational policy is formulated, the USD School of Law and the School of Leadership and Education Sciences are co-sponsoring this seminar under the auspices of the Center for Education Policy and Law. The course encompasses readings, cases, and deliberations with the instructors as well as interaction in the Bay Area and Sacramento with researchers, interest groups and labor unions, advocacy-based think-tanks, and key elected and appointed governmental officials. The seminar will focus on three key areas of law and policy: (1) school choice, charter schools, and voucher programs; (2) school finance reform; (3) growing racial and income isolation in California schools. Two field trips will be conducted during the semester. The two-day Bay Area field trip will include discussions with educational policy researchers and commentators at Stanford University and the UC-Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). The class also will meet with key leaders of the California Teachers Association in Burlingame. The one-day Sacramento field trip will feature discussions with key policymakers. Student travel and lodging expenses, but not meals, will be paid by a grant secured by the instructors. A research paper on a topic of the student’s choice related to educational policy development and a class presentation based on the paper are required.
Note: Enrollment is limited to ten law students and eight graduate students in education. Class sessions will be held on eight selected Thursdays to be announced at the first class meeting on Thursday, January 10 from 5:30 to 8:20. Of the eight sessions, three will be devoted to student presentations and one to a debriefing session following the field trips.
Faculty: Frank Kemerer and Scott Himelstein
