Teaching
Teaching
Brown University
The Undergraduate Research Fellows for Social Science and Public Policy (Undergraduate Summer Fellowship)
The Undergraduate Research Fellows for Social Science and Public Policy program is an eight-week, paid summer internship that prepares current Brown undergraduates to work as research assistants on empirical social science and public policy projects, including those related to public health, the education system, social inequality, and population well-being. The program is supported jointly by the Annenberg Institute, the Brown University Economics Department, and the Population Studies and Training Center.
The program is structured in two phases. The first phase is a two-week “bootcamp” that covers skills in coding, data management, research design, and statistical analysis. Students will engage in hands-on learning opportunities using Stata, a statistical software package that is widely used in social science research. The second phase is a six-week research internship that pairs fellows with a Brown faculty member in one of the social sciences: Education, Economics, Sociology, Political Science, or a related field. Students will gain firsthand experience with the process of conducting empirical research and operating as an effective research team member.
Our approach emphasizes mentorship and peer learning, encouraging fellows to develop student and faculty relationships that may continue through the rest of their time at Brown. During the program, fellows also attend workshops and panels that introduce them to cutting edge research techniques and highlight research career paths both inside and outside of academia.
EDUC 1475 - The Big IDEA: The Complexities of Gifted and Special Education (Undergraduate & Masters, Elective)
This course introduces students to the historical foundations, policy framework, efficacy research, and ongoing controversies in gifted and special education. Gifted and special education are hot-button policy issues and affect the experiences of all students in U.S. schools. In the U.S., 15% of students receive special education services, and 6% receive gifted education services. Some of these students are educated with their peers, and some are educated in school settings that can cost over $500,000 relative to an average spending of $17,000 per pupil nationally. There are many complex issues related to gifted and special education. At the end of this course, students will have a deep understanding of gifted and special education and be positioned to continue engaging on these issues in future studies. The course requires no prior knowledge.
EDUC 2360 - Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation for Education (Urban Education Policy Masters, Required Course)
Informed education policymaking requires reliable information about the causal effects of government programs and other factors shaping educational outcomes. This course offers an overview of education policy analysis with an emphasis on econometric strategies for measuring program impacts. It aims to make students critical consumers of policy evaluations and to equip them with tools to conduct their own research. Topics covered include the political context for policy research, social experiments, alternative strategies for making causal inferences, and cost-benefit analysis.
Harvard Graduate School of Education
A029 - An Introduction to Education Finance and Budgeting (Masters, Elective)
This course will introduce you to the public education financing and budgeting systems in place in the United States. We begin from the premise that how much and how money is spent on education reflects our actual, as opposed to theoretical, policy priorities. Specific topics covered will include budget processes and the politics of budgeting, district cost-drivers, school-level budgeting, activity-based costing, cost-benefit analysis, revenue generation options, and equity and adequacy frameworks for evaluating school finance systems. At the end of this course you should have an understanding of the American school finance framework, be able to analyze school and district budgets with a critical eye, and be able to think fluently about the financial implications of policies or proposals.