Winter 2008 Learning Opportunities

PA 8081 Capstone Workshop: Education Issues
Mondays, 2:30-5:00 pm BlegH 415 TCWestBank
3 credit course
Joe Nathan, Senior Fellow

An Education Capstone beginning in January, 2008 will deal with two major issues. Humphrey Institute students participating in this capstone will have the opportunity to select among these two projects. For more information, please contact Joe Nathan. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it 1. The impact of a college scholarship program for low income students, in cooperation with the Optimist Club in St. Paul, and 2. Policies and procedure related to educating English language learners, and awarding of course credit for students learning English, in cooperation with a number of high school students and Children/Family Services College Scholarship Project: Preliminary discussions with the Optimist Club have produced these tentative questions for examination via surveys of students who received college scholarships. (These questions will be refined by HHH students) 1)Do you remember receiving a scholarship from the Optimist Club of St Paul's "Youth Appreciation" program? If so can you tell us about what this meant to you? 2) How has your pursuit of education helped you and your family? If so how? 3) If you had not received scholarship awards from groups like the Optimist Club would you have been able to pursue your education? Can you talk about how these awards made a difference? 4) What are you most proud of when you think about your education achievements and where do you hope your education takes you? English Language learning project: Do several area school districts have written plans for the education of English language learners? What are the implications of their plans (or lack of) for students and schools (i.e. segregation, meeting graduation requirements, school success, anddisparities in success when compared to other students)? Are their plans (or lack of) legal? Have other options for educating English language learners been proven successful by other districts/schools? New immigrant students involved in our School Change Action Committee want to receive credit for proficiency in their first language, which may include taking classes or testing for credit. Have any schools developed successful models for this? What are the benefits (or pitfalls if any) to the students when such models are incorporated into their education?

If interested, please contact jnathan@umn.edu This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Fall 2007 Learning Opportunities

Topics in Social Policy: Education Policy - a fall 2007 class taught by Joe Nathan
Public Affairs 5441

The central question for the class is this:

What should a person do over the next 18 months to help convince state legislators to do something specific to improve public education in the 2009 (yes, 2009) state legislature? Class participants will meet with legislators, lobbyists, and journalists. Each student will interview a person actively involved in efforts to change state legislative policy, and prepare a brief report that will be shared (with student permission) with other students. We also will carry out mock legislative committees and visit the state capitol. Class participants have come from a variety of backgrounds throughout the university and broader community.

Part of the class will be devoted to assessing the value of various state education policy innovations. Students will have a chance to read deeply about one key innovation, and make a presentation briefing class members on the strengths and weaknesses of the approach.
Previous evaluations of the class (which has been offered for more than 15 years) found participants praising the practical nature of the class, and explaining that they had learned a good deal about how they could have an impact on policy.

This class is appropriate for people interested primarily in legislative process, not in education policy. But the focus clearly is on education policy. For further information, please contact Joe Nathan, jnathan@umn.edu

Course Overview

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can
Change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead

"Not much happens without a dream. And for something great to happen, there must be a great dream. Behind every great achievement is a dreamer of great dreams. Much more than a dreamer is required to bring it to reality; but the dream must be there first."
Robert K. Greenleaf

This course has the following goals
L. Help participants understand the major strategies other individuals and groups have used to help influence Minnesota's state education policy
2. Help participants improve the skills they will need to have an impact on state policies
3. Help participants consider what state level school reform strategies might be priorities
4. Produce a document that will be useful to others in helping explain strategies used to influence state education policy
5. Help participants gain greater insight into Internet resources on education policy
6. Produce research helpful to legislators

This course seeks to help participants understand how the Minnesota legislature makes decisions about preK-16 education issues. The course also aims to help participants understand how they can increase their influence in this process. The course does not focus on what education policies should be, although we will discuss this.

A variety of strategies will be used. These included discussions with people seeking to have an impact on statewide educational policy, a simulation, preparation of written materials, class presentations, a field trip and readings.

Required texts: Alinsky, Saul, Rules for Radicals, New York: Vintage Books
Political Dynamics of American Education, by Frederick Wirt and Michael Kirst

Assigned readings - Other reading material will be distributed in class. Reading daily newspapers is strongly encouraged.

Course Requirements

L. Participation in class discussions (5% of grade)
2. Completion of one l0 page paper regarding the role a particular person had in changing state education policy (20% of grade)
3 Completion of a 2-3-page summary of the longer paper mentioned above: 15% of grade
4. One 4-minute presentation (15% of grade)
5. Completion of brief report assessing an Internet education policy site (10%)
6. One 5-minute review of a newspaper article re education policy (5%)
7. Final examination (30 % of grade)

PLEASE NOTE - NO "I" GRADE WILL BE SUBMITTED FOR ANY STUDENT UNLESS THAT GRADE IS ACCOMPANIED BY A SIGNED COPY OF THE INCOMPLETE CONTRACT FORM. The Contract for Completion of Incomplete Grades is available in Room 225 or in the appendix of the Student-Faculty Handbook. It is available on the Student Services website for downloading

INCOMPLETES
To receive an "I", the student must contact the instructor before the last day of class to request permission. The instructor and student should discuss specific guidelines, conditions, and/or time limits for course completion, and the consequences of failure to complete outstanding coursework. This understanding will be documented through the use of the "Contract for Completion of Incomplete Grades" form (available in Room 225). The student and instructor should each retain a copy, and a third copy will be placed in the student's file.

If the student does not meet the instructor's requirements for completing the course by the established time limit and fails to renegotiate the agreement, the instructor will issue a grade based on the coursework already completed. Instructors are under no obligation to grant additional time.

The maximum number of credits of incompletes allowable at the Humphrey Institute is six (6). When incompletes exceed this limit, a hold will be placed on the student's record. This hold will be removed by the DGS when total incomplete credits fall below six (6), or a satisfactory agreement for completion of the work is negotiated between the student and the DGS.

All coursework included on a student's degree program must be complete, with grades posted, to be eligible for degree clearance. However, incomplete courses not included on the degree program do not need to be completed for this purpose.

Graduate School students are not permitted, under any circumstances, to retroactively withdraw from a course, including any incomplete course that is not a degree requirement. Incompletes are not calculated into a Graduate School student's grade point average (GPA).

"In this class, our use of technology will sometimes make students' names and U of M Internet IDs visible within the course website, but only to other students in the same class. Since we are using a secure, password-protected course website, this will not increase the risk of identity theft or spamming for anyone in the class. If you have concerns about the visibility of your Internet ID, please contact me for further information."

Course Outline

September 10

Introduction to the Course – Characteristics of Powerful learning experiences
Distribute final exam questions.
Who/What Influences what schools do?
What you want from this course?

September 17

Brief overview of how ideas become bills become laws
Tentative - who do you want to interview? What issue?
Read first half of booklet prepared by last year’s students
Read Roberts/King article, “Policy Entrepreneurs, Catalysts for Policy Innovation.”
Read Wirt and Kirst, chapters 1 and 3

Sept. 24

Steve Kelley – former chair, Mn Senate
Read Wirt and Kirst, chapters 8 & 9
Read first half of booklet last year’s students wrote

October 1

Sue Abderholden - National Association of Mental Illness, Mn chapter – effective lobbying Read Roberts/King Pp. 67-101
Read Star Tribune article re Tax Payers League
Read and discuss second half of booklet by last year’s students
Read Alinsky, pp. 1-48

October 8

Jan Alswager – Education Minnesota
Read Star Tribune article re Education Minnesota
Loftus article re Wisconsin Ed Association
Read pages, 125-134, Roberts and King

October 15

Debate with John Brandl – Bryson/Crosby class
Wirst & Kirst, Chapter 13. Alinsky, pp 49-98

October 22

Denise Johnson – Star Tribune editorial page writer
Read Roberts & King, pages 125-134. Alinsky, 98-165

October 29

Tom Melcher, Mn Dept of Education re School Funding Policies
Wirst & Kirst, Chapter 14
Read article by Cooper re New Jersey school financing

November 5

Jim Koppel – Mn Childrens Defense Fund
Alinsky, pp. 167-194
10-page paper due
Examine websites – Read NCREL article re judging Internet sites


November 12

Shannon Patrick Role of Committee Administrator

November 19

Short presentations by class members
Key issues: Early childhood education policy
Read articles re early childhood education
2-page paper due

November 26

Short presentations by class members
Key issues: Higher Education funding policy
Read & discuss “Turbulence in American Secondary Schools: What Reforms Last?”

December 4

Simulation of 2005 legislature
Web papers due

December 11

Simulation of 2005 legislature

December 17

Final exam due – 6:00 PM CLICK HERE FOR THE FINAL EXAM:finalexam