The following survey notes, current as of Fall 1999, highlight the differences between the proposed CUNY Ph.D. Program in Urban Education and existing programs at other area universities.
New York University
NYU's doctoral programs in education are highly specialized; they do not combine policy studies and curriculum area research. They may include coursework in other departments, but in a narrowly restricted range of disciplines for each specialist doctoral program. There are, for example, separate programs in science education, educational sociology, arts and humanities education, TESOL, etc. There is no specialization in Urban Education or a similar field of study. http://www.nyu.edu/education/academics/programs.html
Teachers College, Columbia University
TC's doctoral programs are also highly specialized, with some interdisciplinary programs; for example, the Department of Arts, Humanities, and Social Studies Education is divided into 12 distinct specialized programs. http://www.tc.columbia.edu/departments/arts.htm
Policy studies as a separate program is located in a different department from the university's school and curriculum research programs. The Politics and Education program operates within the Human Development department (as does the Sociology and Education program), is specialized within its field, and does not require connections to curriculum and school research study. http://www.tc.columbia.edu/admissions/catalog9900/4Programs/HD/Tfg.htm
Educational Policy is offered as an 18-credit concentration available to students who are taking degree programs in other specialized areas.http://www.tc.columbia.edu/departments/additional.htm#EdPolicy
Urban Education as a specialization is available only as an individualized program of study, not through a formal degree program curriculum. An Institute for Urban and Minority Education exists as a research center, not as a teaching program. http://www.tc.columbia.edu/departments/additional.htm#UrbanEd
Neither Urban Education nor Educational Policy is a formal degree program; both exist institutionally outside the framework of Teachers College's nine main departments. No programmatic structure emphasizes integration of policy and curriculum research perspectives.
Fordham University
Fordham offers a Ph.D. in Language, Literacy, and Learning. The program has linguistic and curriculum research components; it requires one course in policy perspectives chosen from among various specialized courses available. It does not seek to integrate across policy and curriculum issues in general, and it has no provision among 45 credits for coursework in other research disciplines outside the School of Education. http://www.fordham.edu/gse/c&t.htm#ct_doc
In its Department of Administration, Policy, and Urban Education, Fordham offers an Ed.D. and a Ph.D. in Administration and Supervision. The latter is specifically oriented toward leadership in sectarian and nonpublic schools. It does include coursework on urban education and urban sociology, but does not include connections to curriculum research in subject areas. Its emphasis is more on administration than on policy, and on preparing administrators rather than researchers. http://www.fordham.edu/gse/apue.htm#apuedas_c
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Rutgers has just begun (in 1999-2000) its first Ph.D. program in Education, the only one in New
Jersey. The degree offers concentrations in Educational Psychology, Mathematics Education,
Educational Policy, and Language and Literacy Education. Each of these areas has a separate faculty,
and there is no indication that the program emphasizes or requires connections between policy and the
other areas. will be able to take courses in other programs in the Rutgers Graduate School outside the
School of Education.
http://www.gse.rutgers.edu/announce/phd.htm
; http://www.gse.rutgers.edu/announce/phd.pdf