Welcome Message from the Chair
It is my pleasure to welcome you to Educational Policy Studies in the College of Education & Human Development at Georgia State University. Now more than ever, we need brilliant minds who are passionate and will persevere at solving this nation’s problems in the field of education. The study of education requires critical thinking and attention to the ways history, economics, culture, politics, racism, sexism, and capitalism, among other factors, intersect to shape a person’s experiences with(in) education, broadly conceived. We use the term broadly conceived because education does not just happen in classrooms. We learn from social interactions, media/popular culture, extracurricular activities and so on. Education extends far beyond the classroom.
In Educational Policy Studies, we endeavor to cultivate educational leaders, researchers and policy analysts who are able to identify, articulate, understand and solve the problems facing our nation’s educational system. Given our university’s location in metro Atlanta, we pay particular attention to the issues facing urban schools and communities as many of our students have learned and/or taught in these communities.
Educational Policy Studies has four units: Educational Leadership, Research, Measurement and Statistics, Social Foundations of Education and Higher Education. Each of these units offers a variety of degrees including Masters, Specialist, Ph.D., Ed.D. and Graduate Certificates. In the units, we teach a variety of research methodologies including qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods and program evaluation. Graduates of our programs often have a direct impact on education in a variety of ways from leading schools/districts, supervising research, evaluating programs, writing policies and teaching students at all levels (including within higher education). Our faculty work closely with students and our small classes allow for one on one attention and mentoring. All of our programs allow flexibility for working students. Depending upon the program, we also encourage interdisciplinary study.
I invite you to peruse our website, especially the pages of our dynamic faculty who are actively engaged in research and scholarship. Check out our news section of the website where we feature alums and current students. You will see that we are doing the hard work of positively impacting education, broadly conceived. We invite you to help us.
Jennifer Esposito, Ph.D.
Department Chair and Professor
Educational Policy Studies
