Current research and theories in human development relating to motivation, personality, learning and socialization. Case studies and an analysis of various developmental problems.

Study of the learning-teaching process with specific emphasis on the person as a learner, human capacity and potential, learning theories and materials, motivation, concept formation, and behavior.

This course will focus on the developmental processes of school-age children, kindergarten through middle school, by beginning with the study of the young child's social, emotional, cognitive, and physical growth and change. The theoretical and observational study of child development will be framed by an examination of culture, gender, and socio-economic factors as they inform assumptions about normative processes. The relationship between development and learning in a social context will be examined with particular attention to children's developing concepts in math, science, and language arts. Attention will also be given to the role of teachers and schools and other institutions in fostering the healthy development and learning of young people.

This course focuses on the multiple factors that contribute to the period of adolescence, bridging childhood and adulthood. Particular attention is given to the intrapsychic, interpersonal, biological, and socio-cultural processes that are mediated by the meanings that youth give to their identity vis a vis rac, class, and gender formations within the broader society. Students will engage in interdisciplinary study of theories to examine the implications for teaching and learning processes and the role of educational institutions in fostering the healthy development of youth in society. Forms of inquiry will include students' examination of their own lives and assumptions, critique of theory, and observations of young people in a variety of contexts.

A study of social forces that impinge upon the educational enterprise and analysis of the relationship to major social problems in urban education with emphasis on their social, economic, political, historical and philosophical dimensions.

(formerly CUG 400) This course will examine the basic questions, issues and theoretical frameworks central to the purpose, conceptualization, conduct, writing, reading and the use of educational research as a means for informing educational theory, practice and policy. Students will be exposed to the multiple frameworks which inform education research, the various methodologies employed in collecting and analyzing data and will examine the advantages, limitations and values implicit in conducting and evaluating research.

This course concerns theoretical concepts and empirical research relating to administrative behavior in organizations with special reference to educational organizations. Concepts are examined within the typical decisional framework of supervisors, chief school business officers, principles, and superintendents, and similar positions in the helping professions. Assignments are individualized.

Authority, powers and liability of school personnel; rights and status of students; character of districts and school board control of curriculum, school property, finances. Special emphasis on recent state and federal court decisions as they affect Illinois and neighboring states.

This course will examine the formation of educational partnerships within the home, school, community for the general purpose of school improvement and more specifically to affect the improvement of student achievement within the context of school reform. Students will have the opportunity to critically examine their individual and collective roles as administrators and educators in the school reform movement and be reflective regarding actions taken and planned. Among the issues to be discussed and integrated into the administrative role are how groups form, school leadership, group relations, power relationships, communications/public relations, collaborations, shared decision making, needs identification, resource identification and individual and collective action.

Supervision viewed from a human resources perspective, dealing with motivation, responsibility and successes at work as a means to intrinsic satisfaction.

This paper will give students the opportunity to develop and demonstrate written competence in a subfield of their disciplines and to enhance life-long learning. Specifically, they will broaden their knowledge base and inform themselves about a topic, issue, theory, etc., reviewing and synthesizing existing literature. To do so, students will need a variety of bibliographic skills including searching databases. In other words, student will need to be able to ask and answer such question as "What is know about? What are major issues and themes?"

Students will observe and/or participate in the reciprocal interaction of theory and practice, by investigating actual practice in the field as it relates to theory. This might take the form of investigating how a particular theory is applied in the field, developing a practical application of a theory, or, conversely, developing/refining a theory based on investigations made in the field. In other words, as graduates encounter new theories and practices they wll need to be able to investigate and evaluate them, asking and answering questions about "how theories work."

Students who have completed the majority of the program will engage in an analysis of an urban school. Students will be given demographic, financial and testing data; a narrative of the school's history and recent past; photographs of the setting, and other pertinent data and artifacts. Using these artifacts, students will be asked to design their first year agenda as the chief administrator in the building. Using the ISLLC standards as a guideline, students will create a portfolio that clearly outlines, schedules, professional development plans, budgets, enrollment projections, and so forth.