MSE: Teacher Effectiveness & Prof. Development

Social Justice in Urban Education Concentration

Program Details

Mission Statement

Drake University’s Social Justice in Urban Education (SJUE) program seeks to educate culturally responsive teachers to work effectively with all students in urban settings—particularly students of color, working-class students, immigrant students, and students from historically marginalized populations. Aligned with the School of Education’s commitment to academic reflection, collaborative learning, and social justice, the program seeks to help teachers critically examine urban contexts, so that they may develop pedagogical knowledge and tools to work with students in these contexts.

Program Outcomes

Students graduating from the Social Justice in Urban Education program will:

Analyze the historical, political, social and cultural contexts of the notion of “urban”
Utilize “difference” as an educational asset in their pedagogical strategies for students of color, working-class students, immigrant students, and other historically marginalized populations
Utilize research and data for pedagogical improvement
Engage in collaborative learning
Engage in continuous self-reflection
Become culturally responsive educators who work in collaboration with students, parents, teachers and local communities

Program Options

Undergraduate students can receive their degree in Elementary Education (K-6) or Secondary Education (7-12) with a Social Justice in Urban Education Concentration. At the graduate level, the concentration is a strand within the Master of Science in Education in Teacher Effectiveness and Professional Development (TEPD) program.

Note: A “Social Justice in Urban Education” Concentration designation will appear on your official Drake University transcript.

Course Requirements

The Social Justice in Urban Education Concentration is a 15 credit-hour concentration.

Coursework

Required Courses

EDUC 164/264: Perspectives on Race, Ethnicity, and Gender (3 credit hours)

EDUC 183/283: Social Context of Urban Schools (3 credit hours)

Elective Courses

EDUC 184/284: Applications for Teaching in Urban Schools (3 credit hours)

EDUC 186/286: Youth, Culture, and Society (3 credit hours)

EDUC 187/287: Urban Education and Immigration (3 credit hours)

EDUC 277: Urban Trends in Literacy (3 credit hours - graduate students only; undergraduate students can take the course via petition during senior year)