The City University of New York has
recognized its responsibilities to develop increasingly meaningful
relationships with the New York City public schools. Among several strategies for doing so is the new Ph.D. Program in
Urban Education.
WHY
In establishing a Ph.D. Program in Urban Education, CUNY will be able to foster a more sustained research effort on matters related to urban school policy studies and curriculum reform, thereby enabling CUNY to be a partner with the public schools in leadership training for change and improvement in urban education.
The faculty associated with a doctoral program in urban education will constitute the core of the academic leadership needed in CUNYs University-wide efforts to raise standards in its teacher education programs and strengthen New York City's public schools.
A Ph.D. Program in Urban Education can play an essential role in strengthening both the CUNY-New York City schools partnership and CUNY's teacher education programs. The new doctoral program will not only train new researchers and policy analysts in this critical field but will also: (1) help provide a research-validated knowledge base specifically focused on solving problems of K-16 education in New York City public schools and at CUNY; (2) recruit knowledgeable senior faculty to help in the work of leading teacher education programs toward higher standards; (3) provide research, evaluation, funded-proposal development, and curriculum leadership and service to CUNY colleges and public schools; and (4) actively support faculty development and New York City public school outreach efforts across CUNY campuses.
WHAT
The Urban Education Ph.D. Program will focus faculty and doctoral student research in four areas that are critical for CUNY and the public schools:
Systemic reform of urban public education, including teacher education
New information and communication technologies in K-16 education
English-language skills for academic work and performance evaluation
Use of private- and public-sector urban resources to improve K-16 education
HOW
The program will offer doctoral students options to concentrate their studies in:
Science, mathematics, and technology in education
Arts, humanities, and social studies education
Education policy studies and policy analysis
The doctoral program in urban education will succeed by utilizing critical CUNY resources and recruiting strong faculty and students:
To support higher standards in CUNY's bachelor's, master's,
and advanced certificate programs we need to recruit outstanding research
faculty in education who will only come to CUNY and stay at CUNY if we can
offer them affiliation with a doctoral program. Such individuals are critically needed to guarantee high academic
standards and mentor junior faculty throughout the University's education
programs.
The Urban Education Ph.D. program proposal also includes
substantial participation by CUNY arts and sciences faculty across the
campuses who work in other doctoral programs at The Graduate Center and at the
CUNY colleges and aims to promote a more substantive role for liberal arts and
sciences faculty in the education of teachers throughout CUNY. The doctoral program in urban education will
draw its strengths from the consortial model that has proved so successful in
CUNYs existing doctoral programs.
Nationally and locally recruited, competitively selected doctoral students in Urban Education will also provide a reliable pool of outstanding candidates to meet the continuing part-time staffing needs of CUNY's largest teacher education programs.
Leadership and Service to CUNY and the Public Schools:
The credibility of program
performance evaluations in
education at CUNY will be significantly enhanced by the research expertise of
the doctoral faculty.
CUNY will be able to secure significantly more external governmental and philanthropic funding in the area of urban education through the leadership of the doctoral faculty in developing more competitive institutional grant proposals.
Doctoral faculty and students will participate as researchers in the many current CUNY-public school collaborative projects in the schools, design new ones, and play a significant role in gathering outcome data and identifying successful educational strategies.
The doctoral faculty will also be available to advise New York City schools, districts, and central board offices.
WHEN
The CUNY Board of Trustees approved
the new program in June 2000.
The New York State Department of Education registered the new program in July 2000.
Student and additional faculty
recruitment will occur in academic year 2000-2001 and classes begin in the
Fall semester, 2001.
IN SUM
The proposal to establish a Ph.D. Program in
Urban Education will contribute to CUNYs strategy of better serving the needs
of the New York public schools, will strengthen the programs of teacher
education at CUNYs colleges, and through research and policy analysis will
contribute to the improvement of New York Citys public schools.
Utilizing the proved consortial model of a
doctoral faculty based at the CUNY colleges, a research base in schools and
districts in every borough, and the active participation of arts and sciences
faculty, a Ph.D. Program in Urban Education will make an important and
substantive contribution to CUNYs efforts both in teacher education and in K-16
articulation with the New York City public schools.
NOTE:
This document was edited from a draft statement describing the potential
contributions of the proposed Urban Education Ph.D. Program to the university
and its work with the New York City Public Schools.