Research Concentrations

About the Higher Education Concentration at Rossier

The Higher Education concentration at USC Rossier School of Education is one of the most widely recognized and respected in the nation. Its prestige can be attributed to the esteemed faculty whose work falls within this concentration. The research, scholarship and publications of higher education faculty members and major research centers under this concentration, are world-renowned.

Faculty

Faculty in the Higher Education Concentration have held leadership positions in the Association for the Study of Higher Education, American Educational Research Association, American Association for Higher Education and Association of American Colleges and Universities. They have served on the editorial boards of the Review of Higher Education, Journal of Higher Education, Journal of College Student Development, Change and The ERIC Review, and served as reviewers for the Institute for Educational Sciences and the National Science Foundation.

Their body of work and expertise includes the areas of organizational change and academic leadership, equity in educational outcomes, women and minority faculty, faculty evaluation and compensation, political-economic issues of public college finance equity, organizational effectiveness, sexual harassment in the academy, intercollegiate athletics, student development, remediation and college-readiness, access to college and governance in higher education, among many other specialties.

Research Centers

• Pullias Center for Higher Education
• Center for Education, Identity, and Social Justice
   

Programs

PhD

Within the PhD program, students with interest in higher education policy explore research in the areas of college access and equity, organizational productivity and leadership, fiscal management, ethical and legal issues, college student development, and enrollment and retention at four-year institutions and community colleges.

EdD

The EdD program includes a Higher Education Administration focus designed for individuals pursuing careers in senior administrative and academic leadership positions at two- and four-year colleges and universities.

Masters

The Master of Education in Postsecondary Administration and Student Affairs (PASA) program gives students the opportunity to develop proficiency in Student Affairs, Academic Advising, or Athletic Administration.

About the K–12 Education Policy and Leadership Concentration at USC Rossier

At the leading edge of education policy research and reform are our faculty in the K–12 Education Policy concentration, whose work informs local, state and national legislation and helps shape education policy and practice nationally and internationally. Our faculty combines some of the nation’s leading K–12 policy scholars working on major current issues in K–12 education policy, with distinguished educational leaders who have themselves led major school districts and other institutions. This unique blend of research and clinical faculty work together in developing programs designed to help graduates improve educational equity through research, policy and practice.

Focus

Faculty in the K–12 Education Policy and Leadership concentration specialize in studying school reform, racial justice initiatives, school choice policies and privatization, teacher policies, public school finance, standards and curriculum reform, governance, school leadership, public opinion on education policy, and educational entrepreneurship. Our faculty are interested in a wide array of questions including the effects of reforms on outcomes (overall and especially for students from historically marginalized groups), as well as the processes of policy making, policy implementation and organizational change. Faculty also seek to interrogate dynamics of power and the role of racism within and across communities and education systems, and investigate the ways in which educators address systemic racial outcome and opportunity gaps and structural racism in the context of education policies that are typically race-neutral. In order to address these questions, our faculty use qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods, drawing on their backgrounds in economics, educational measurement, political science, sociology and policy analysis.

Research

Some of the research conducted by faculty who specialize in K–12 issues falls within the Center on Education Policy, Equity and Governance (CEPEG), which conducts rigorous, policy- and practice-relevant research that advances educational equity for California K–12 students—with an emphasis on greater Los Angeles—and to create partnerships that ensure education policies, practices and governance structures are guided by evidence and careful analysis. In partnership with Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), USC Rossier faculty have led education policy conferences at USC, seminars in Sacramento and congressional policy briefings in Washington, D.C. PACE and USC Rossier also co-lead an annual public opinion poll of California voters that helps inform the policy agenda in the state and beyond.

Faculty

Tenure Track

Our tenure track faculty in the K–12 area have served in leadership positions in the American Educational Research Association, Association of Education Finance and Policy, the RAND Corporation and the National Education Policy Center. They have edited and served on the editorial boards of major education policy journals, such as Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Journal of Education Policy, AERA Open, Educational Administration Quarterly, American Educational Research Journal,Educational Researcher and the Elementary School Journal. Faculty have also received major grants from the field’s most prestigious and competitive funders to study a wide range of policy topics, such as standards-based reform and after-school tutoring (Institute of Education Sciences), governance change and online learning (Spencer Foundation), school choice, organizational response to COVID-19 and racial injustice (Institute of Education Sciences), instructional coaching and data use (Spencer Foundation), the impact of COVID-19 on education (National Science Foundation, Hewlett Foundation) and educational rights in youth prisons (Chan Zuckerberg Foundation) .

Clinical

Our clinical faculty in the K–12 concentration have run major urban school districts where they have led dramatic change and implemented transformative measures to improve student achievement. Faculty have led districts and organizations that include the New York City Department of Education, the Hawaii State Department of Education, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges accrediting agency, and several districts that are among the largest in the nation. The clinical faculty have been recognized as some of the best educational leaders in the country. They have led initiatives to increase student achievement, expand racial equity and social justice, relieve overcrowded schools, and integrate instructional technology.

Programs

PhD

K–12 faculty contribute to several programs within the school. The PhD program in Education blends expertise across the school in four core concentrations. The program allows for a focus in research centered on policy and practice in K–12 education and the examination of influences and processes related to leadership, governance, finance, teaching and learning, racial equity and social justice, and organizational change in K–12 settings.

EdD

The EdD program includes a focus on K–12 Leadership in Urban School Settings designed for current and prospective K–12 site and district administrators and/or those working with educational policy and practice at local, state and federal levels.

About the Psychology in Education Concentration at USC Rossier

The focus of the Psychology in Education concentration is on learning, motivation, instructional technology, assessment and mental health issues in urban education. Much of the research and scholarship that guides teacher education, educational administration and student affairs stems from the fields of psychology in education and counseling, emphasizing the importance of these fields to educational practitioners.

Faculty

Faculty expertise in this broad area expands to marriage and family therapy, school counseling, learning theory, cognitive technology, educational measurement, performance assessment, school violence, test anxiety, motivation, cross-cultural learning, human development, cognitive science, self-regulation, and social and cultural influences on the classroom. 

Among our psychology in education faculty are leading experts in a range of subjects, including: cognitive neuroscience and the study of the brain bases of emotion, social interaction and culture and their implications for development, curriculum and pedagogy, computer-based simulations and games for training and learning, and the study of complex adult learning and problem-solving.

Editorial Boards

Our psychology in education faculty serve on numerous boards of major journals in the field, including American Educational Research Journal, Review of Education Research, Journal of Literacy Research, Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, and Mind, Brain and Education. Our faculty have also been recognized as fellows of the American Psychological Association, the Association of Applied Psychology, the American Psychological Society,  the Association for Psychological Science, and American Educational Research Association.

Programs

PhD

The PhD program in Urban Education Policy includes research in the areas of learning and motivation, especially how people learn, what motivates them, what instructional and motivational strategies are most effective for individuals from different cultures, and how the social context of instruction affects learning.

EdD

The EdD program includes a focus in Educational Psychology designed for professionals in K–12, higher education, and business, military, and government organizations who seek to improve the motivation, achievement, performance and retention of diverse learners by focusing on research and practice in the areas of learning and motivation in diverse social contexts.

Masters

The Educational Psychology concentration also includes the Master of Marriage and Family Therapy program. Research centered on the relationship between technology and learning is prolific in the Center for Cognitive Technology (CCT), which studies the role of new technology in the development of advanced expertise and performance motivation.

About the Teacher Education Concentration at USC Rossier

Teacher Education concentration faculty specialize in three major activities: preparing teachers through our master’s programs, preparing future teacher educators through our EdD program, and preparing future researchers and professors in our PhD program.

From innovative online teacher preparation (like the MAT online program) to preparing instructors of English as a Second Language, this concentration brings together the best research and brightest minds in the profession.

Courses and research within the Teacher Education concentration use educational psychology and learning theory as a lens for understanding student and teacher learning. Teacher Education also intersects with USC Rossier’s K–12 Education Policy concentration through its focus on the critical role that policy plays in K–12 teaching in urban settings, and the preparation of teachers for high-needs schools.

In the roles of tenured professor, adjunct professor, academic coach, supervisor, master teacher, curriculum specialist or professional staff developer, graduates of the Teacher Education concentration have both a depth and breadth of knowledge that emphasizes the design and evaluation of all types of teacher preparation programs.

Programs

PhD

The PhD in Urban Education Policy program includes a focus on Teacher Education with research on teacher knowledge, teaching practices and teacher development, and how these areas relate to student learning.

EdD

USC Rossier’s EdD program offers an opportunity to specialize in Leading Instructional Change, specifically geared towards preparing leaders in the field of pre-service and/or in-service teacher preparation. The program focuses on equitable learning for culturally and linguistically diverse students in urban settings.

By moving between theory, practice and policy, concentration courses prepare learners to contribute to teacher education, whether in university-based teacher education programs or as curriculum leaders in K–12 settings. The courses and field experience in the concentration are constructed to provide prospective teacher/educators with research and theory related to facilitating and assessing teacher learning.

Masters

Building on a long history of teacher preparation, USC Rossier’s innovative Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program is offered on-campus and online.

The groundbreaking Master of Arts in Teaching online program was launched in 2009. This program blends the most cutting-edge technology with real-world in-classroom experience, and combines the finest USC-based teacher preparation faculty and curricula with the newest web-based multimedia interactivity. The MAT online program is a highly lauded success and has the potential to change the education landscape by putting more qualified teachers in greater numbers into high-need schools around the country and ultimately around the world.

Other master’s programs include a Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MAT–TESOL) which prepares graduates to work as teachers, curriculum specialists and leaders of ESL/EFL programs in the U.S. and abroad.