Public Sector Structural Change: K-12 Eduction (20638). 3 units per semester. Enrollment for two semesters is required. Permission of the instructors required. R.C. Post and J. Liebman.
The United States is in the midst of a vast restructuring of public-sector service delivery and regulation, especially as they relate to the governance and management of public schools. Staffed by broadly interdisciplinary teams of professionals, the most successful of the new federal, state, and local education organizations are replacing public bureaucracies and interest group politics with 'learning organizations" committed to using public problem-solving techniques to accelerate adult and institutional, as well student, learning and to build public consensus.
A group of Columbia professional schools recently created the Center for Public Research and Leadership to mobilize university resources to study and support these public reforms. This year-long course is part of that effort and is intended to prepare graduate-level Law, Education, Business, and Policy students for the challenges of public-sector problem solving and to provide them with opportunities to apply their knowledge and developing skills within the field of K-12 education. Since 2010, Columbia and New York University professional students have taken the course, and in 2012-13, it is co-listed, as well, at Yale Law School. This one-year course:
1. Compares conceptual frameworks for public-sector structural change: Theoretical readings, case studies, and class discussion examine important conceptual, organizational and legal shifts taking place in the public and nonprofit spheres, drawing analogies to recent private-sector developments. Strategies compared include bureaucracy, left and right versions of market-driven or mimicking minimalism, new public management, craft-based professionalism, and public problem-solving or democratic experimentalism.
2. Immerses students in public K-12 restructuring: Examples from the federal, state, local, school, and classroom context (including many current K-12 controversies) provide insight into organizational, legal, administrative, and pedagogical changes taking place in K-12 education.
3. Builds concrete professional skills through hands-on projects: Structured and team-based consulting projects for K-12 organizations enable students to build professional skills, domain expertise and professional contacts. Recent clients include the NYC Dep't of Education, Excel Bridgeport (a non-profit supporting school reform in Bridgeport, CT), Newark Public Schools, and Proof Points for Educational Success (a national non-profit).
Admission to the course is by application only.
Interested Yale Law students should submit a resume/CV, transcript of your law school courses and grades, and one-page (or less) statement addressing the following, none of which is decisive, but all of which will be considered:
- Reasons for wanting to take the course, including career aspirations
- Background and experience in public K-12 education
- Experience in public sector leadership, management, structure
- Consulting experience
- Experience conducting quantitative or business analysis
- Relevant course work in college and professional school
Note:Submit applications by email to Kate Alcorn (kate.alcorn@law.columbia.edu) and to Robert Post (robert.post@yale.edu) by July 31, 2012. Telephone interviews may be scheduled at convenient times.
Students who are selected for the course will be asked to commit to six units over two semesters, and the course grade will be based upon satisfactory completion of the year's work, including year-long consulting projects. Class currently is scheduled for Wednesdays at 8:30-10:20 a.m., but may be rescheduled if needed to accommodate student schedules.
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