Curriculum

Our Sociology of Education MA program provides a strong disciplinary foundation in sociology and offers an opportunity for multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary study. Our sociological approach to education understands schools as cultural, social, and political institutions. Our program is 36 credits, and we welcome both full- and part-time students. Full-time students complete the program in 1.5 to 2 years. Our Masters degree prepares you to pursue doctoral work and for careers in education practice, research, policy, nonprofits, and advocacy.

Core Course Sequence

You will explore coursework in sociological theory, sociology of education, and a range of sociological methods. Courses can be taken throughout the school, the university, and even the city, and you  have a lot of flexibility in your choice of coursework. In our program we believe strongly in the disciplinary grounding in sociology, and we aim to give you a strong foundation on which you can build your future research and professional work. You will  learn to understand schools as social institutions and learn to ask and answer your own sociological questions about schooling using a broad methodological toolkit. There is a lot of room for opportunity for independent work, but that work is always well-supported by our accessible and engaged faculty.

Specialization Sequence 

Our program provides a common grounding in the field of sociology of education. We will help you specialize your degree, both through your elective coursework and your MA thesis project – though there is no formal designation of a specialization. Students who join our program tend to be interested in education for social change, in various capacities, and in understanding the way that schools both have the capacity to reproduce and to interrupt inequality. For instance, you could study the sociology of higher education, suburban schooling, or youth identities in schools – among many other specialization options.

Sample Elective Courses

You are free to take elective courses both in and outside of our Sociology of Education program. Inside the program, your studies could include higher education, race and education, social theory, and gender and education. Outside the program, among many other options, you could study education policy, international education, and educational leadership. Our program is proud to provide a lot of flexibility here, and we will work with you  to develop a plan of study that best fits your needs, interests, and commitments.

Culminating Experience

All of our students write an MA thesis, which is the culminating experience in our program. The thesis is an opportunity to work closely with one faculty mentor. The purpose of the thesis is to gain expertise in an area of the sociology of education that interests you, an opportunity to focus on some small area of this broad field. You will spend one or two semesters developing a project that can take shape in one of three ways. The thesis can be a primary piece of research, in which you collect and/or analyze  your own data. We generally recommend this type of project if you have more than one semester to devote to your thesis work and may be seeking to pursue research in the future professionally and/or as a doctoral student. The thesis can also be a policy analysis that would combine secondary research with primary, publicly-available data. Finally, the thesis can also be a critical literature review in some area of the sociology of education scholarship of interest to students. You will begin the thesis work in the Thesis Seminar course, usually in your third semester, and then continue with a faculty advisor of your choosing.