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We Are...Curriculum & Supervision

The Curriculum and Supervision (C&S) emphasis area attracts graduate students and faculty interested in teaching and research related to teacher education and curriculum studies. People working together in C&S care deeply about teacher learning and practices across the career span (preservice teachers, inservice teachers, teacher educators). We focus on critical curriculum studies, anti-oppressive teaching practices, school-university partnerships, innovative (pre)professional learning models, and curriculum design.

What We Do

  • Examine the sociopoltical, philosophical, and cultural roles of schools in larger historical and contemporary social contexts  

  • Explore the theoretical and practical implications of teachers’ and students’ beliefs, values, and practices across the teaching career span 

  • Develop scholarly practices in the fields of teacher education and curriculum studies that are critically reflective, evidence-based, and theory-guided  

  • Support efforts to advance educational equity within school-university partnerships 

  • Develop equitable teaching practices by collaborating in communities comprised of teachers across the career span

Courses We Offer

  • Classroom Management for Equity 

  • Curriculum Design: Theory and Practice 

  • Decolonizing and Indigenous Pedagogies 

  • Development of Teacher Education Programs 

  • Methods of Classroom Supervision and Coaching 

  • Research in School-University Partnerships 

  • Teacher Education Research

  • Teacher Learning and Professional Development 

  • Theories of Racialization, Whiteness, & Antiblackness in Education

 

Programs of Study

M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction with an emphasis in Curriculum & Supervision, 30 Credits

 

M.Ed. programs are offered through residential instruction and through Penn State’s World Campus

 

All credits must be earned in courses at the graduate level (400 or higher), with at least 18 credits at the 500 or 600 level.

 

Core Requirements, 12 Credits 

  • One introductory colloquium course

  • One course in curriculum

  • One course in educational research

  • One course in the philosophical, social, psychological, or historical foundations of education

 

Emphasis Area Requirements, 15 Credits

  • Five courses offered in C&S or related areas

 

Electives, 3 Credits Minimum 

  • At least one course outside of core or emphasis area requirements

 

Additional Requirements

  • SARI certification

  • Master’s Paper or Project

 

Students pursuing an M.Ed. are required to complete a master's paper or project under the supervision of an adviser, in which they carefully explore a problem or issue in the field of education. The paper may be a report on a finished project, a literature review pertaining to a problem, a survey of practices, an essay, or any similar endeavor acceptable to the M.Ed. paper adviser. Projects may include curriculum design or reform, software development, pedagogical demonstrations, or any other type of creative work that is acceptable to an M.Ed. project adviser. All projects must be accompanied by a written analytical and theoretical commentary. If the paper or project will rely on data collected from human subjects, the student is required by university policy to obtain approval of the research plan and procedures from the Office of Research Protections prior to beginning the study.

M.S. in Curriculum & Instruction with an emphasis in Curriculum & Supervision, 36 Credits

 

All credits must be earned in courses at the graduate level (400 or higher), with at least 18 credits at the 500 or 600 level.

 

Core Requirements, 10 Credits 

  • A 1-credit introductory colloquium course

  • One course in curriculum

  • One course in educational research

  • One course in the philosophical, social, psychological, or historical foundations of education

 

Emphasis Area Requirements, 15 Credits

  • Five courses offered in C&S or related areas

 

Electives, 5 Credits Minimum 

  • Two courses outside of core or emphasis area requirements

 

Thesis Research, 6 Credits

  • Two courses of Thesis Research to plan, conduct, and present thesis research

 

Additional Requirements

  • SARI certification

  • Master’s Paper or Project

 

Students pursuing an M.S. are required to complete a research thesis under the supervision of an adviser. The thesis may be a presentation of empirical, theoretical, or philosophical work that has some direct relationship to some aspect of curriculum and instruction, broadly defined. If the thesis research relies on data collected from human subjects, the student is required by university policy to obtain approval of the research plan and procedures from the Office of Research Protections prior to beginning the study

Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction with an emphasis in Curriculum & Supervision, 47 Credits
 

Core Requirements, 2 Credits 

  • CI 590: This one-credit colloquium introduces students to the Ph.D. program in C&I.

  • CS 590: This one-credit colloquium introduces students to the C&S emphasis area.

 

Depth of Knowledge, 18 Credits

Demonstrated through the successful completion of a combination of courses, readings, and experiences called "rotations" or "apprenticeships" in C&S or related areas. The specifics of this category are left to the discretion of the emphasis area and the approval of the members of the doctoral committee.

 

Breadth of Study, 15 Credits 

Demonstrated by the student's efforts to broaden the scope of their inquiry into a chosen field by participating in academic, professional, and foundational work and studies offered by other emphasis areas, departments, and/or colleges across the university.

 

Research Knowledge and Capabilities, 12 Credits 

Demonstrated through the successful completion of course work and projects. Ph.D. candidates are expected to exhibit the ability to function effectively within at least two research traditions, the ability to read, understand, and critique published research, and the ability to create, conduct, evaluate, and report on their own original studies to scholarly audiences. The C&I faculty recognizes the legitimacy of a wide variety of research traditions, including, but not limited to, demographic, ethnographic, experimental, hermeneutic, historical, interpretive, linguistic, narrative, phenomenological, and theoretical.

 

Ph.D. Timeline and Milestones

  • Course work, including CI 590 and CS 590 in first year of doctoral study

  • Rotations (guided experiences) in a variety of activities related to teaching, supervision, research, leadership, and service

  • Candidacy examination (taken at or near the end of the first year of study)

  • A two-semester residency experience is required for all doctoral candidates

  • Comprehensive examination (taken at or near the end of course work)

  • Dissertation proposal

  • Dissertation defense

Career Opportunities 

C&S graduates have found success in a variety of academic and professional settings, including positions at:

  • Educational leadership organizations (e.g., professional development, assessment and curriculum design) 

  • K-12 schools 

  • Ministries of Education

  • Research-intensive universities 

  • Teaching-intensive universities 

Meet The Faculty