Research Areas

Curriculum and Supervision

The program in Curriculum and Supervision is intended for students who have a
passion for student, teacher, and school development. Our students explore
contemporary educational issues through scholarly experiences in curriculum,
supervision, teacher education, professional development, teacher leadership,
instructional coaching, and mentorship. Graduates go on to academic positions at
colleges and universities throughout the world in teacher education, curriculum, and
related fields, as well as positions in schools, districts, governments, and other entities
concerned with the development of expertise in teaching and learning.

Early Childhood Education

Early Childhood Education is devoted to educating persons for careers in basic and
higher education in areas of research, scholarship, policy, and practice. The core
knowledge includes child growth and development, environment, curriculum and
content planning and implementation, instruction and communication, assessment,
professionalism and leadership, and families, communities, and cultures.

Language, Culture, and Society

Language, Culture, and Society features theoretically rigorous, self-reflective, and
contextual work in the broad fields of language, culture, and pedagogy. This work is
frequently transdisciplinary in scope. Research and courses span a range of theoretical
and methodological approaches and are often guided by commitments to critical inquiry
and educationally and socially transformative practices.

Faculty and doctoral students in Language, Culture, and Society work in a set of
overlapping thematic areas:

 Teaching and Curriculum

 Languages and Literacies
 Children's Literature Studies, Children and Youth Culture
 (Dis)abilities
 Culture, Society, and History
Literacies and English Language Arts
We offer three degree-seeking paths for our graduate students:
The Master's of Science in C&I with an emphasis in Literacies and English Language
Arts (LELA) is an academic degree designed to initiate candidates into the theory,
research and practice within chosen fields of study.
The Master's of Education in Curriculum & Instruction with an emphasis in Literacies
and English Language Arts is a practitioner's degree for candidates seeking to
improve their understandings of and work in classrooms, libraries, and other institutions
for children and youth.

The PhD in CI with an LELA emphasis aims to prepare candidates for teaching and
research careers in higher education. The program features theoretically rigorous, self-
reflective, and contextual work in the broad fields of Literacies and English/Language
Arts.

Mathematics Education
Mathematics Education is an exciting, growing, and changing field. Graduate degrees in
mathematics education prepare school leaders, curriculum developers, teacher
educators, educational researchers, and college and university math education faculty.
In addition to interests in the use of technology in secondary mathematics and theories
about the learning of mathematics, our faculty also have interests in curriculum
development and evaluation, understandings related to teaching, and the professional
development of teachers.

Science Education
Faculty and students are currently researching teacher knowledge and learning,
scientific argumentation and inquiry, philosophy of science and science teaching,
environmental education, classroom discourse, science teacher education, and the
uses of technology in science teaching and learning. These research interests include
work in a nationally renowned Professional Development School and through
projects in the Center for Science and the Schools.
Second Language Education
The Second Language Education Emphasis is concerned with issues of theory and
practice in the teaching and learning of languages beyond the first or native language.
Faculty and graduate students have interests in both widely taught languages, such as
English, Spanish, French, Mandarin, and German, as well as in those that are less
commonly taught. An area of particular engagement involves the education of English-
as-an-additional language students in the U.S. and abroad. Second Language
Education faculty also engage in close collaboration with the Department of Applied
Linguistics, with students in both programs benefiting from the collective theoretical and
research expertise of scholars from both departments. Faculty and students approach
second language education through sociocultural and critical theoretical frameworks
and employ qualitative and discourse analytic approaches in their work. Specific lines of
research include analysis of classroom interaction, technology-supported second
language learning, classroom-based second language assessment, dialogic learning
and teaching, language and identity, teacher preparation for the instruction of emergent
bilingual learners, and the development of teacher interculturality and global
competence.
Social Studies Education
Master’s (M.Ed.) and Doctoral (Ph.D.) Degrees in Curriculum and Instruction (C&I) with
an emphasis in Social Studies Education build expertise in this K-12 school subject area
and in the professional development of teachers for it. Social Studies Education at the
graduate level allows flexibility in choosing intellectually rich academic experiences that
support specialization in social studies topics as well as interdisciplinary connections to
related fields