Course information contained within the Bulletin is accurate at the time of publication in June 2025 but is subject to change. For the most up-to-date course information, please refer to the Course Catalog.
URBE 5401. Policy and Practice in Urban Education. 3 Credit Hours.
This course introduces students to key issues in urban education. It helps students situate urban schools in their broader social, political, and economic contexts, providing a deeper understanding of the ways larger social processes shape cities and their schools. In addition, it provides students with multiple lenses to understand dynamics within urban schools and classrooms.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
URBE 5417. The Urban Environment. 3 Credit Hours.
"The Urban Environment" will provide students with an introduction to the historical, social, and political factors shaping cities. The course is primarily, but not exclusively, intended for education students and is designed to help students to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the contexts in which urban education occurs. More specifically, the course will focus on the history of cities, including 20th and 21st century urban transformation, the development and persistence of residential segregation, urban politics and poverty, and trends in theory and practice around urban redevelopment. Students will, of course, be encouraged to make connections between course material and other issues in urban education or their own areas of specialization.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Course Attributes: SI
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
URBE 5501. Urban Schools. 3 Credit Hours.
This course is designed to help students understand the social, political, and economic factors that shape urban schools. The focus is on both perennial and emerging issues affecting the urban environment and schools and on major policies relating to those issues (e.g., equity, accountability, and school finance). The class requires several critiques of educational literature, as well as an extensive review of the literature on a substantive topic related to urban education. Offered every Fall term.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
URBE 5515. Service Learning and Community Development. 3 Credit Hours.
This course presents models for service learning with particular emphasis on those that contribute to urban community development and community building. Students conduct a participatory community study and design a service learning project that meets authentic community needs. Offered every Fall term.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
URBE 5516. School-Community Partnerships in Urban Settings. 3 Credit Hours.
This course introduces models, practices, and theories for developing partnerships between schools, universities, community-based groups/agencies, and neighborhoods. Among the models studied are various types of partnerships, community organizations, family centers, and community schools. The course emphasizes the manifold issues that emerge when partnerships involve participants who cross the boundaries of class, race, gender, professions, culture, and language. Field visits and fieldwork are included. Offered Spring term.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
URBE 5565. The Origins of Urban Education. 3 Credit Hours.
This reading and discussion class is based on the most important secondary literature in urban history and the history of urban education. Philadelphia is used as a case study. Topics in urban history include the geography and functional differentiation of urban space; the political economy of cities; urban demographics with a special emphasis on racial and ethnic minorities; urban political and social institutions; and the site as educator, including regional and site planning and urban material culture. Topics in urban educational history include race and ethnicity in the history of urban education; the politics of urban education; the history of social class; and the opportunity structure in urban education.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
URBE 5611. Reforming City Schools. 3 Credit Hours.
This course will examine educational policy reform ideas and strategies. The course content will focus on understanding the impact of educational policymaking on big city school districts and their local school contexts. Special attention will be paid to the urban social and political environments in which policies are made and applied, along with the challenges of racial and social class inequalities. Students will consider different types of current and past reforms, utilizing published research literature, popular media, and Internet-based resources to increase the likelihood that current debates in the field are covered. The intended and unintended consequences of educational and social policy will be examined as well.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
URBE 5620. Special Topics in Urban Education. 2 to 6 Credit Hours.
Topics vary.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
URBE 5630. Special Seminar in Urban Education. 3 Credit Hours.
Topics vary.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
URBE 8401. Urban Education and Policy Doctoral Proseminar. 3 Credit Hours.
This proseminar is intended to prepare students for doctoral study in urban education and beyond through readings, discussions, guest speakers, and workshops related to the "hidden curriculum" of academia and teaching and pedagogy in higher education. The seminar is also intended to support first-year doctoral students in the development of their research focus and individual goals for their academic program. Doctoral students will also develop their mentoring network and connections to faculty and their peers in the program, as each member of the Urban Education faculty will introduce students to their areas of scholarship and practice in the proseminar. The proseminar will also include multiple opportunities for cohort-building through collaborative activities and peer review. While only students in the program will take the proseminar course for course credit, the graduate student professional development workshops and guest speakers will be open to graduate students in the broader CEHD and will connect to the college's focus on student success.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
URBE 8403. Urban School Reform: Policies, Politics and Practices. 3 Credit Hours.
This course will examine educational policy reform ideas and strategies. The course content will focus on understanding the impact of educational policy making on big city school districts and their local school contexts. Special attention will be paid to the urban social and political environments in which policies are made and applied, along with the challenges of racial and social class inequalities. Students will consider different types of current and past reforms, utilizing published research literature, popular media, and internet-based resources to increase the likelihood that current debates in the field are covered. The intended and unintended consequences of educational and social policy will be examined as well.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
URBE 8404. Race, Class and Space in Urban Contexts. 3 Credit Hours.
The course is designed to help doctoral students develop a more sophisticated conception of the contexts in which urban education occurs, the promise of urban life, and the potential for creating healthier, more vibrant urban schools and communities. We will engage with current theory and research situating urban schools in broader urban processes and will focus on key issues shaping urban communities, including housing, social policy, and criminal justice. For each, we will examine the structural factors underlying them, how they impact the lives and experiences of community members, and how they intersect with individual and community-level resources. In addition to studying the challenges inherent to each domain, we will also use Philadelphia as a laboratory to introduce activism, policy, or practice focused on increasing individual and collective well-being. Students will write a proposal for an original research project on an issue related to their own scholarly interests but connected to course topics and drawing on course insights (as well as additional resources). The proposal will include a rationale for the study, a literature review drawing on insights from course material and additional relevant sources, research questions, and a plan for data collection and analysis. Students will also write a review of a recent book focusing on urban issues that could be submitted for publication.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
URBE 8602. Theory Seminar in Urban Schools. 3 Credit Hours.
This course introduces some important theoretical frameworks and theorists that inform research in urban education. Emphasis in on the contributions of the social sciences. Theories are discussed in the context of urban education and are applied to major issues of interest to the class. Each student selects an issue, which s/he may have begun to explore in URBAN ED 5501, around which written and oral presentations are based. Teams of students also lead class discussions on the work of selected theorists.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may not be repeated for additional credits.
URBE 8603. Urban Education Doctoral Capstone. 3 Credit Hours.
This is the first semester of a two semester (Fall/Spring) course that is required for all urban Education doctoral students. It is designed to support students as they carry out their own independent research projects and to serve as a capstone to their doctoral education. Ideally, all students will work on developing projects related to their future dissertation research.
Field of Study Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Fields of study: Urban Education.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
College Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Colleges: Education & Human Development.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
URBE 9982. Independent Research in Urban Education. 3 Credit Hours.
Because the Urban Education Program is interdisciplinary and draws on faculty from across the University, it is critical that students become acquainted with faculty whose research styles and interests will contribute to their course of study by, for example, serving on their dissertation committees. This course requires students to design and complete a project with a faculty member outside the program. In consultation with their advisors, students identify an affiliated member with whom to work and then create and complete an independent study. This research can take several forms, e.g., collecting and analyzing data, conducting an extensive literature review, or utilizing secondary data.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
URBE 9991. Research Practicum. 3 Credit Hours.
This doctoral-level course provides each student with the experience of completing an independent study research project. Students are required to formulate a research question; conduct a thorough review of the relevant literature on the topic; design a small study to be carried out throughout the year; and write up the results. While this project may be directly related to the student's dissertation research, it does not serve as a replacement of that research endeavor. Each student is expected to present her/his work in a public setting.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
URBE 9996. Masters Thesis. 3 Credit Hours.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
URBE 9999. Doctoral Dissertation. 1 to 6 Credit Hour.
Open only to doctoral candidates who have successfully completed the minimum hours of coursework required for the degree, passed the preliminary examination, and have an approved proposal on file with the Graduate School. Continuous registration during the Fall and Spring semesters is required until the dissertation is completed and accepted by the Graduate School.
Level Registration Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Graduate.
Student Attribute Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Student Attributes: Dissertation Writing Student.
Repeatability: This course may be repeated for additional credit.
