COE Brand Sitemap Accessibility

Info

Department Information

The Policy Studies program philosophy is based on the principles of a pedagogy of empowerment that views all K-12 students from an educational benefits model. This model values and integrates the language, culture and social context of the student into the school curricula giving equal status to home, community and school experiences. In addition, the department philosophy is based on the belief that all students want to self-actualize, that students, if properly nurtured, have high expectations of themselves to realize their potential. Furthermore, the department values the transformation of schools that seek to produce students that are multiculturally, biliterately competent. The department is guided by the principles that all students have a right to:

This framework acts to produce department graduates who are equipped to be reflective practitioners and resource specialists in multicultural settings (Baker, 1997; Banks and Banks, 1997; Freire, 1972; Genesee, 1994; Gore, 1987; Nieto, 1996; Pearl & Knight, 1999; Skirt, 1995; Tollefson, 1995; Sleeter and Grant 1999, Wink, 1997). Furthermore, these educators will be prepared to work towards the transformation of schools that seek to produce students that are academically and socially competent.

Academic Goals

In assessing its goals over the past twenty-five years, the department has addressed the preparation of Bilingual Single and Multiple Subjects teachers seeking a credential and/or a graduate degree in Policy Studies in Language and Cross-cultural Education. In the next five years the department seeks to prepare teachers and educational leaders to provide relevant and effective instruction in K-12 settings for children who will enter a high-tech and ethno-linguistically diverse world. Furthermore, the department seeks to continue to be a leading producer of bilingual teachers in both the state and the nation. The academic goals of the department in the next five years are to:

  1. Provide the bilingual cross-cultural language and academic development credentials (MS & SS).
  2. Provide the cross-cultural language and academic certificate (with the Linguistics Department) to credentialed teachers.
  3. Provide a master's degree program with an emphasis in critical pedagogy and multicultural/cross-cultural and language education.
  4. Provide doctoral courses and guidance to doctoral candidates in the joint doctoral programs in policy studies in language, culture and action research.
  5. Provide support services to students, faculty, school districts, colleges, and universities in program planning, implementation, and evaluation in the area of multicultural policy studies in language and culture.
  6. Provide community leadership in addressing educational policy that empowers the academic achievement of linguistically and ethnically diverse students in California through faculty action research with school communities, policy advocacy, and in the preparation of educational leaders.
  7. Provide support to the College of Education in the development and mentoring of ethnically diverse faculty.

Department goals reinforce those of the COE and University. The department goals match the SDSU goals articulated through the Shared Vision process undertaken by President Weber that generated the following five academic goals:

  1. Extend and enhance San Diego State's deep and abiding commitment to academic excellence expressed through superior teaching, research, creative activity, and public service.
  2. Nurture a learning-centered university that supports the growth and development of the whole person.
  3. Create a community proud of its diversity and committed to furthering social justice on and off campus.
  4. Promote the growth, development, and wise use of our precious human and fiscal resources.
  5. Create a genuinely global university.

In seeking to actualize these five goals the department will seek to maintain and hire university faculty who demonstrate the following attributes: (a) faculty who are teacher/scholars -- valuing both quality teaching and quality scholarship; (b) faculty who are diverse--promoting academic discourse that is enriched and informed by a true diversity of ideas; (c) faculty who provide international perspectives--who have had international experience and can bring international perspectives to their work; (d) faculty with community-based interests--who are involved in addressing the needs of the region through teaching, research, and service, (e) faculty who provide interdisciplinary perspective--who possess disciplinary expertise in addressing major issues confronting society, e.g. racism and economic inequality.

The department also seeks to actualize and support the College of Education through its strategic planning initiatives over the past ten years. The department is committed to:

  1. Serve the needs of diverse learners.
  2. Strengthen partnerships and other ties to the community.
  3. Focus on inquiry and action research.
  4. Provide faculty with professional development opportunities to become competent in as well as critical creators and evaluators of educational applications of technology.

To address the demographic growth of ethno-linguistic students in the service area (projected to increase from 1.4 to 2.5 million); the need for Bilingual Credential teachers, and the demand to address the academic gap between ethnically diverse low income students and non-low income students the Department programs seek to maintain and expand its curriculum offerings in its: (1) Multiple Subjects and Single Subject Bilingual Credential programs; (2) MA degree options in critical pedagogy and curriculum development; (3) involvement with undergraduate programs to prepare prospective teachers to work in ethnically diverse school communities; (4) to maintain its involvement with the Claremont Graduate University/SDSU doctoral program in the preparation of leadership for school transformation; and (6) continue to seek grants and contracts that support the goals of the department.

To strengthen its bilingual-multicultural teacher education programs (Bilingual Credential emphasis), the department seeks to actualize a research agenda based on democratic schooling and the role of biliteracy in the curricula (language, cultural and academic content literacy) of the schools. In terms of service to the community, the department seeks to continue to work in actualizing the goals of the department, college and university to provide disciplinary expertise in addressing major issues confronting society such as racism, economic inequality, dehumanization of children, and global relations of exploitation.



Last Modified 09/6/10 11:24

How to Download Documents