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Introduction
The Urban Schooling division is committed to advancing the scholarship, research and practice of urban schools. In partnership with other divisions, departments, institutions, and communities, we strive to challenge oversimplified “deficit” frameworks that fail to explore the complexity of issues facing urban schools and their communities. Our program also seeks to examine the consequences of current practices and policies as well as to develop alternatives to the present system that result in systemic change.
Through a multi-perspective and interdisciplinary approach to investigating the issues and policies of urban settings, our students engage in a course of study that allows them to explore the full range of phenomena that impact education in urban settings. Thus, the work of the faculty draws from and integrates many disciplines including, but not limited to, political science, sociology, economics, linguistics, psychology and history. The context for our empirical work is the urban school and surrounding community. In their coursework, then, students, using various methodologies and theoretical frameworks will develop both macro and micro, or situated, views of urban schooling and its policy implications.
Areas of research in urban schooling that involve our faculty and students include equal educational opportunity, diversity, language education, issues of poverty, social stratification in schools/classrooms, decentralization, alternative models of schooling and educational structures, urban teacher preparation and retention, community involvement, and school leadership.
Application & Admission
Applications to the US program are accepted once a year. The deadline to apply to US Fall 2007 cohort is December 1, 2006. Please note you may only apply to ONE graduate program per year at UCLA. For more information on the application process and admissions requirements, please visit the Office of Student Services website: www.gseis.ucla.edu/oss.
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James S. Catterall, Professor (Ph.D., Education, Stanford University)
jamesc@gseis.ucla.edu - 310.825.5572
Areas of Interest: Learning in the arts in human development;
Artistic expression, creativity, and brain function; Evaluation and research in school and community-based arts programs;
School practices and cultures related to children at risk
Robert Cooper, Assistant Professor (M.A., Bradeis University)
cooper@gseis.ucla.edu - 310.267.2494
Areas of Interest: research on the implementation and scale up of school reform models. His research focuses on the politics and policies of school reform, particularly as they relate to issues of race and equity for at risk students.
Megan Franke, Associate Professor & Director of Center X
(Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison)
mfranke@ucla.edu - 310.206.3511
Areas of Interest:
current research interests focus on understanding the role of teacher knowledge in the teaching of elementary school mathematics. Specifically of interest is understanding the relationship between teacher knowledge and classroom practice for teachers attempting to change their mathematics teaching.
Tyrone Howard, Associate Professor (Ph.D., University of Washington)
thoward@gseis.ucla.edu - 310.267.4824
Areas of Interest: His background includes K-12 teaching experience in Los Angeles, California and Seattle, Washington. His current research focus includes multicultural education, equity and diversity in schools, social studies, and urban education. He has published in numerous educational journals, and books in which he addresses programs, practices, and people that are effectively educating today’s students in a diverse society. He has worked with teachers, administrators, and policy makers on the importance of creative inclusive school environments that grants all students an equitable opportunity for school success. Professor Howard’s work has also included work with in-service and pre-service teachers over the past six years. These efforts have been concerned with helping current and future teachers develop the necessary skills, knowledge, and beliefs necessary to become effective teachers at the elementary and secondary levels within urban contexts.
Maryilyn Kourilsky, Professor
kourilsky@gseis.ucla.edu - 310.825.2727
Areas of Interest: Dr. Kourilsky currently is Faculty Chair of the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and founding Director of UCLA’s Institute for the Study of Educational Entrepreneurship (ISEE). Through ISEE scholars and practitioners collaborate to investigate and analyze the current and potential impact of educational entrepreneurship — for profit, not for profit, and intra-organizational — as driving forces for promoting educational reform and equitable access in the public school sector.Kourilsky’s scholarly interests include research on charter schools, constructivist-based curriculum theory and development, learning and instruction, economics and urban school reform, and organizational development and policy. She is the creator of extensively implemented educational reforms such as the Mini-Society and KinderEconomy - whose dissemination spans all 50 states and has impacted over 2 million participating students to date. Awards and honors include UCLA’s Campus-Wide Distinguished Teaching Award (Eby), the EUCLAN Award for Innovation in Teacher Education, the John C. Schramm National Leadership Award, and the Henry H. Villard National Research Award.
Peter McLaren, Professor (Ph.D., University of Toronto, Canada)
mclaren@gseis.ucla.edu - 310.825.8348
Areas of Interest: Current research interests include the globalization of capitalism and educational policy; critical perspectives in the sociology of education, Marxist theories applied to curriculum development and instruction; revolutionary social movements; and the development of pedagogical theory and practice from an historical materialist perspective.
Ernest Morrell, Assistant Professor (Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley)
morrell@gseis.ucla.edu - 310.825.7548
Areas of Interest: His work examines the possible intersections between indigenous urban adolescent literacies and the “sanctioned” literacies of dominant institutions such as schools. Particularly, he is interested in the discourse of popular culture; adolescent literacy practices in non-school settings; critical literacy education; and urban teacher development. Morrell teaches courses on literacy theory and research, critical pedagogy, cultural studies, urban education, and ethnic studies.Morrell is the author of two books, Linking Literacy and Popular Culture: Finding Connections for Lifelong Learning (Christopher-Gordon) and Becoming Critical Researchers: Literacy and Empowerment for Urban Youth (Peter Lang). Morrell is also the author of two books in press, Critical Literacy and Urban Youth (Lawrence Earlbaum) and Critical Pedagogy in Urban Contexts: Toward a Grounded Theory of Praxis (Peter Lang).
Jeannie Oakes, Professor
oakes@ucla.edu - 310.825.2494
Areas of Interest: She directs UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education & Access (IDEA) and the University of California’s All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity (UC ACCORD). Through IDEA and ACCORD, UC scholars investigate and seek solutions to the problems of schooling inequality and disparity in access to higher education that threaten democracy in a diverse society. Oakes also studies disparities in California students’ access to basic educational resources, the failure of California’s state policies to detect or correct those disparities, and the potential for equity-minded state policy reform. She has reported this work in scholarly journals as well as in her role as the principal expert witness for the plaintiffs in William v. California. Her most recent research focuses on activists, community-based organizations, and educators who are attempting build more socially just schools. Some of this work is reported in her book. Becoming Good American Schools: The struggle for Civic Virtue in Education Reform—winner of AERA’s Outstanding Book Award in 2001—and in an upcoming book, Learning Power: Social Inquiry, Grassroots Organizing, and Educational Justice.
Jennifer E. Obidah, Associate Professor (Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley)
obidah@gseis.ucla.edu - 310.206.8184
Areas of Interest: Her areas of research in education are the social and cultural contexts of urban schooling, focusing specifically on issues of school violence, multicultural education, racial and cultural differences between teachers and students, teachers as critical pedagogists, and teacher preparation.Dr. Obidah has presented papers at the annual meetings of the American Educational Research Association, the Youth-At-Risk Conference, Ethnography in Education Forum, the National Association of Multicultural education, the Association for Moral Education, the International Conference on Educational Change at the University of South Africa, Pretoria, and the International Association of Teacher Educators in Namibia. Her publications include Because of the Kids: Facing Racial and Cultural Differences in Schools (Teachers College Press, 2000) with Karen Teel; “On Living (and Dying) with Violence; Entering Young Voices into the Discourse,” a book chapter in Stephanie Spina (Ed.) Smoke and Mirrors: The Hidden Context of Violence in Schools and Society (Rowman & Littlefield, 2000)’ “Born to Roll: Graduate School from the Margins,” a book chapter in Carl Grant (Ed.) Multicultural Research: A Reflective Engagement, (Falmer Press, 1999); “Life after Death: Critical Pedagogy in an Urban Classroom” in Harvard Educational Review (1995); and “Mediating the Boundaries of Race, Class, and Professional Authority” in Teachers College Record (2000).
Marjorie Orellana, Associate Professor (Ph.D., USC)
orellana@gseis.ucla.edu - 310.206.0102
Areas of Interest: Sociocultural perspectives to examine language, literacy and learning practices in immigrant schools, homes and communities. She has been focusing especially on the work that the children of immigrants do as language brokers for their families - considering the cognitive, linguistic, social and cultural demands of such situations, and identifying how the skills that children develop from these experiences can be leveraged for school learning. Her work is also informed by the New Childhoods study, which frames children as actors and agents who actively contribute to social processes. She has published in journals of education, sociology, human development, and sociolinguistics, including The Harvard Educational Review, the Reading Research Quarterly, Social Problems, and Educational Researcher. Dr. Orellana serves as the Director of Faculty for the Teacher Education program. She teaches courses on language acquisition, sociocultural perspectives on language and literacy, and immigration and education.
John Rogers, Assistant Professor (Ph.D., Stanford University)
rogers@gseis.ucla.edu - 310.206.4620
Areas of Interest: He studies strategies for engaging urban youth, community members, and educators in equity-focused school reform. Rogers draws extensively on the work of John Dewey to explore the meaning of and possibilities for democratic education today. He teaches in the Principal Leadership Institute where his focus is on democratic leadership and the relationship between school leaders and community members. John Rogers is the co-author (with Jeannie Oakes) of the recently published Learning Power: Organizing for Education and Justice.
Concepción M. Valadez, Associate Professor and Division Head (Ph.D., Stanford University)
valadez@ucla.edu - 310.825.8382
Areas of Interest: Professor Valadez is Director of the UCLA Doctoral Fellowship Program on Bilingual Education, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, and teaches courses on curriculum theory, curriculum design, language development, bilingualism, and bilingual education.Dr. Valadez works extensively with the California State Department of Education and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing as well as with universities and Ministries of Education of Brazil, Paraguay, Chile and Spain. Current research interests include understanding the relationship between mathematics and language Development. She is heading a project for the University of California Office of the President studying the development of mathematics concepts among English Language Learners. A second area of research is the construct of “semilingualism,” ascribed to children with normal abilities who appear to be neither fluent in their first, nor their second language. An additional major project is the writing of a book on language policies in countries where formerly oppressed languages are assigned major rights and responsibilities. This book is based on her work with countries that have recently begun to move towards democratization.A sample of Dr. Valadez’ publications includes: “Redefinitions and Identity: Lessons from Critical Basic Literacy Programs;” “Towards a new view of low achieving bilinguals: A study of linguistic competence in designated ‘semilinguals;’” “The assessment of language proficiency and instructional placement of English language learners (ELLs);” and “La globalización y las políticas lingüísticas (Globalization and language policies).”
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Fall 2007-2008 |
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If you would like to speak to someone regarding our Urban Schooling program, please feel free to contact us.
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