Education Policy

Overview

Key facts

Warner’s innovative education policy program provides students the opportunity to examine and understand contemporary policy issues impacting the educational spectrum. It delivers students the in-depth knowledge and strategic skills and tools to design, implement, and evaluate educational policies at the local, state, federal, and even international levels. Students learn to apply a variety of conceptual, theoretical, and analytic frameworks - including ones from sociology, politics, economics, finance, and law – and how they can impact education policy.

The Education Policy program of University of Rochester ensures our graduates are well prepared to apply their deep and diverse understanding, knowledge, and skills in educational policy to support any number of research, governmental, non-profit, community, school district, and higher education organizations.

Key Program Features:

• Minimum Credits: 30 graduate credits.

• Customizable: Includes a mix of rigorous core/specialization courses and elective courses to enable you to tailor the program to your career interests and needs. You also can add an Advanced Certificate in Program Evaluation for only three credits.

• Culminating Experience: You can take the form of a master’s thesis or a field-based internship or research experience, enabling you to prepare for the next step in your career and/or advanced education.

• Flexible: Program can be completed full-time or part-time, allowing you to start any semester and go at your own pace. Full-time students complete the program in only three semesters.

• Hybrid-Online Offerings: Option to take some required and elective courses fully online or hybrid-online.

• Supportive Environment: Engage with full-time faculty and peers at the master’s and doctoral levels, both inside and outside the classroom. Work with a dedicated faculty advisor to tailor the program to suit your academic and career goals.

Career Opportunities

Advancing Education. And Your Career to the Next Level.

Students enter the program with varied backgrounds and interests and pursue different opportunities following graduation.

Warner’s master’s degree in education policy prepares students for entry- and mid-level positions as policy analysts, research analysts, policy researchers, program analysts, policy/program evaluators, policy advocates, and institutional researchers in a variety of institutions – including policy, advocacy, research, governmental, non-profit, consulting, and educational organizations in the United States and abroad.

The program also prepares students to pursue a doctoral degree in education policy, public policy, law, or a related field.

Some of our graduates have entered or continued teaching in K-12 schools (Note, however, that this degree does not lead to NYS teaching certification so teaching options will depend on certification requirements associated with the position of interest).

Recent graduates have been hired in a variety of organizations, including the American Institutes for Research, WestEd, Office of the State Superintendent of Education (Washington, D.C.), National Human Resource Association, Child Trends, Inc., Cesar Chavez Charter School for Public Policy, EnCompass: Resources for Learning, the Rochester City School District, and the University of Rochester.