Catherine Gavin

Transcription

[intro music] >> CATHERINE LOSS: The M.P.P. program in education policy at Peabody College is an innovative degree program and sits at the crossroads of education policy and public policy. It provides students with rigorous training in public policy analysis and data analysis. At the same time, it provides them a window onto the broader context of education policy. Several other features of the program that are unique include the practicum, which in many ways is the heart of the M.P.P. program. It's a place where students can apply what they have learned in the classroom to a field-based placement and engage in hands on policy work. Students at the M.P.P. program at Peabody have completed a practicum in a variety of educational and policy related organizations, state-level departments of education, education agencies in Washington, D.C., as well as foundations, think tanks and a variety of other kinds of policy organizations. Another unique feature is the faculty and the wide range of interests and research methodologies that inform their work. Faculty in the M.P.P. program are interested in engaging in research ranging from teacher policy to educational evaluation, to the politics of policy and educational governance, to the social and historical context of education, to the economics of education, so getting at fundamental questions of education policy from a variety of different vantage points which also makes the program quite unique. >> JASON GRISSOM: The students in our M.P.P. program have access not only to the faculty in Leadership, Policy, and Organizations, which is the department where the M.P.P. program is housed, but also to the Peabody faculty more broadly. The faculty at Peabody are active in all manner of education policy debates, research, conversations around the country. There are opportunities for the M.P.P. students to not only take classes, to take courses under the faculty that are working in this broad spectrum of education policy areas, but also to work with those faculty outside the classroom via research projects, presentations, seminars, colloquium series and so forth. Peabody really provides a context for the M.P.P. program that’s a really excellent one for learning about education related issues. The same time Peabody is embedded in the Nashville, Tennessee community. Nashville itself is currently a real hotbed of education reform, of education policymaking. There’s a lot of education activity related to Race to the Top for example and other state-run initiatives, federal initiatives that have really given our students really fantastic opportunities to gain practical experience in how education policy really works. [music] >> CATHERINE LOSS: The MPP program is a 36 credit hour, 2 year program of study. Those 36 credit hours are comprised of 12 hours of a policy core in which we provide students a broad foundation in Politics and Policymaking, Economics of Education, History of Education in Policy, and courses in leadership. It's also comprised of 9 credit hours of Research Methods and Data Analysis. Students also have the opportunity to take about 12 credit hours in elective classes and this is a place where students are able to build a concentration that aligns with their broader intellectual and professional interests so we have students that take elective courses in K-12 Policy. We have some students interested in Higher Education Policy and students are able to fulfill those interests through the M.P.P. program and a third concentration in Quantitative Methods in Education Policy for students that want to more deeply pursue courses in quantitative analysis and data analysis and have the opportunity to take Ph.D. level classes in those areas. What's interesting and unique about our program and our department is that colleagues in K-12, higher education and international education sit side by side and work side by side which opens up the possibility for students to complete a concentration that spans the K-16 spectrum for example or looks at the comparison between education in the United States and education in international settings. The structure of our department creates really wonderful intellectual opportunities for our students to cut across different domains that historically are separated in other institutions, which also sets Peabody apart. [music] >> CATHERINE LOSS: One of the best things about the M.P.P. program is the terrific people that make up the program, so really talented researchers and faculty colleagues that are incredibly committed to the M.P.P. program as well as fantastic students that come to our program, and students come to us with a variety of different backgrounds. Some students have several years of teaching experience and are interested in the broader policy and political context of their work and therefore come to the M.P.P. program. Some students come directly from undergraduate work and continue their studies in the M.P.P. program. Some students work in a variety of education related organizations and come to the M.P.P. program through that experience. [music] >> JASON GRISSOM: When I think about what it is that we are trying to equip students to do I really think about this in four areas. Actually, those four areas align pretty closely to how we structure the classes. We want people to have frameworks. We want people to have modes of how to think about policy problems. That’s what we do through the core curriculum, is we teach people frameworks from the perspective of economics, political science, sociology and so forth, ways of thinking, ways of how we, what’s the appropriate way to structure thinking about education policy problems so that we can address them. The second one is we want to give people rigorous modes of analysis. We want to give them the quantitative tools to be able to evaluate policy problems and be able to identify appropriate policy solutions. Education policy making is increasingly data driven and it’s important for our students to have command over data. The third one is substance. We really want people to understand education. We want people to understand what K-12, what higher education is about, how people who work within those systems think about those problems and the connections between K-12 and higher ed. Those pieces are really important. The fourth one is experience. We want to give, we give students an opportunity to gain experience through the practicum. Typically in the summer between their first and second year so that they go out, they have some real world opportunities to explore those frameworks, to explore those modes of analysis. To take those ideas that we’re trying to teach them in the classroom and apply them to the real world. >> CATHERINE LOSS: Graduates of our program have gone on to assume positions in state departments of education, some working at the federal level, the United States Department of Education, others working in think tanks, foundations, non-profits in education as well as a wide variety of other settings. Some of our graduates also go on to pursue advanced studies in law or the professions, while others pursue Ph.D. programs in education and the social sciences. [music]