About the Program

The Curriculum Studies Program supports a philosophy of personal, inquiry-driven education. Students develop the ability to critically analyze current and historical developments in the theory and practice of curriculum. A foundational understanding of the curriculum field helps students to choose a focus area within Curriculum Studies that fulfills their unique intellectual and professional needs. All students must satisfy general graduate competencies. Students can develop expertise as specialists or generalists within curriculum theory and practice.

Graduate programs in Curriculum Studies are designed to offer curriculum expertise to students anticipating careers in a range of settings.

• Pre K-12 education: Graduate Curriculum Studies offers preparation for instructional leadership in schools, and curriculum development and research at the school, school system, educational agency or state level.
  
  
• Academia: Graduate Curriculum Studies at the Ph.D. level offers a strong grounding in theory and research in preparation for university teaching and research.
  
  
• Agencies, Business and Government: Graduate Curriculum Studies students may also prepare for careers in curriculum and consulting for governmental and non-governmental agencies and business.

Curriculum Studies considers much more than technical questions of how to construct curriculum. Curriculum Studies aims to provide a broad understanding of the social, ethical, philosophical and sociological dimensions in which curriculum is created and enacted. Curriculum Studies asks questions such as:

• What does it mean to teach and learn?
• What knowledge is of most worth?
• What is the dynamic relationship between curriculum and society?
• Who does or should have the power to construct curriculum?
• What social, cultural, and economic visions are produced and reproduced through curriculum?

Curriculum is understood broadly to refer to both formal institutionally based learning and to informal culturally, socially, and politically based contexts of learning. In exploring these kinds of questions, Curriculum Studies draws on a range of knowledge from the humanities and social sciences.
Advanced degrees that may be earned:

• Master of Science in Education
• Doctor of Philosophy