Ed.S. and Ed.D. Teaching and Learning: Curriculum, Advocacy and Policy

About the Ed.S. and Ed.D. Teaching and Learning: Curriculum, Advocacy and Policy

Are you passionate about making a difference in curricula policies that will positively affect change for equity?

The Teaching and Learning Ed.S. and Ed.D. program invites individuals who are experts in their field to become agents of change. The program deconstructs disciplines through critical, interdisciplinary study, so students can understand what informs their practice. Curriculum, Advocacy, and Policy is one of three majors within the program, founded on the belief that: 

• Curriculum is best understood, not simply in terms of classrooms and schools, but as connected to larger social, cultural, political, and historical contexts
• Advocacy for students, teachers, and educators leads to progressive change 
• Policy may be leveraged for the broader, common good. 

Curriculum studies is a concentration within curriculum and instruction concerned with understanding curricula as an active force of human educational experience. Additionally, Policy studies includes the analysis of both the process of policymaking and the contents of policy. Advocacy is a disposition for building a bridge between the two fields. Curriculum, Advocacy, and Policy therefore strives to be cross-disciplinary and is of increasing importance, not only to educational research, but to the philosophy of education more generally.

Curriculum, Advocacy, and Policy is designed to prepare high-level scholar-practitioners to lead and create more equitable policies within a multitude of educational settings. Coursework includes critical reflection about issues of curriculum in relation to school communities and society as well as developing scholarship necessary to be change agents, scholars, and leaders. 

The major leads to an understanding of how theory and practice are necessary for critical reflection within curriculum praxis. Our doctoral students are engaged in social inquiry and understand the importance of contextualizing curriculum study within social justice, and are prepared to take on leadership roles, such as curriculum specialists, administrators, and school board members. On completion of the Teaching and Learning Ed.S. or Ed.D. program, our graduates pursue diverse roles as educators and advocates in academia, government agencies, think tanks, policy organizations, community organizations, schools, school systems, and/or higher education institutions.

*This program is offered in our Low Residency format.

The National Louis University Low Residency approach provides learners in select programs with the convenience of online learning and the opportunity to meet occasionally with their classmates and professors, as well as with community members to engage in networking, team building, and high-impact instruction. Low Residency programs are essentially fully online programs paired with integral, intentional, and structured in-person learning events (residencies). 

Those residencies are used to help learners build their professional identities, expand their networks, and to engage in peer-based learning in flexible and creative ways, all built around their online course offering.  Programs offered in this unique format are designed for working professionals and/or those learners whose schedules might not permit them the option of meeting face-to-face for the entire program and/or those that value the flexibility of online courses, but also place importance on in-person learning. 

Residency frequency and location vary by program, please click the curriculum link below for details.

Questions?

Contact Marci Mazza, Director of Enrollment: MMazza@nl.edu 

Student Spotlight

Cheryl DeRoo, (Ed.D. '21), Principal, Glenbrook Elementary School, Elgin U-46

"Equity and inclusion are key ideas in my dissertation research, and I examined ways to include teacher and student voices in planning meaningful social studies curriculum. My findings showed that creating opportunities for students to bring personal experience into the classroom creates engagement and forms deeper learning connections. As a result, I am working with teachers at my school to look across our curriculum to see how well we represent our students, identify gaps, and determine ways to represent their families, values, communities, and all perspectives within the curriculum.”