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The Graduate School at the University of Missouri–Columbia (Mizzou)

Education Policy Graduate Certificate

Official Graduate Catalog Entry: To the Index
Contact Information
Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
  • 202 Hill Hall
  • 573-882-8221

The importance of education policy in U.S. society is evident in the attention it receives from scholars, politicians, media pundits, and citizens. Because nearly all citizens attend school for some part of their lives, they have ideas about what schools should accomplish and how they should be run. Politically, education policy receives a great deal of attention from policy makers at all levels and in all branches of government. Economically, public education (pre-K through higher education) constitutes a major part of the states' budgets, and a significant local investment as well. In addition, researchers gain new perspectives by comparing U.S. public schools with the private sector, which provides education to a significant number of students in many locales, as well as with schools in other nations. In academe, the study of education policy is an interdisciplinary endeavor, involving scholars from philosophy, political science, economics, sociology, history, public administration, journalism, and other fields.

The graduate certificate in Education Policy gives students access to a coherent set of courses that will enable them to understand this complexity. The certificate provides students with:

  • Knowledge they can apply to the study of education policy within their major discipline or to their work in policy settings.
  • Skills in analyzing education policy issues, i.e., understanding differing values, political and economic arguments, costs/benefits, and policy processes.
  • Conceptual tools to use in understanding and resolving policy implementation problems.

Required Courses (Nine semester hours/three courses)

  • ED LPA 7458 Sociology of Education
  • ED LPA 9460 Philosophic Theories in Education
  • ED LPA 9462 History of U.S. Education Policy

Elective Course (Three semester hours/one course)

  • ED LPA 9434 Investigations in School Law
  • ED LPA 9459 International Education and National Development
  • ED LPA 9463 Politics of Education
  • ED LPA 9465 Policy Analysis Using Large Databases