Area Description
Area Faculty
Specialization Descriptions
    - Anthropology of Education (PhD)
    - Economics of Education (PhD)
    - Educational Linguistics (PhD)
    - History of Education (PhD)
    - Social Sciences in Education (MA, PhD)
       * Please Note: Master's Students in the Social Sciences in Education Program may do          substantial work in any of the specializations (e.g. Educational Linguistics) included in the          Social Sciences in Education concentration.
    - Philosophy of Education (PhD)
    - Sociology of Education (PhD)
Recent Graduates: Job Placement

SSE Master's Program website

News:
Beginning in September 2008, the Social Sciences in Education MA program will have a new structure. In the past, the program centered on a core series of courses and a year-long master’s seminar, which students experienced as a cohort. In the new program, a small number of master’s students will work more closely with their faculty advisors around a plan of study specially tailored to their interests. In cases where a faculty advisor has a research project underway, the master’s student may end up working with the advisor’s research group. This more integrated experience with the advisor and his or her doctoral students will offer master’s students the opportunity to develop closer relationships with faculty and doctoral students and gain valuable research experience. The reduction in required courses will provide more flexibility to construct a program that matches a student’s professional experience, academic interests, and career goals.

Area Description (SSPEP/SSE)
In the SSE master’s program, a diverse group of social scientists-anthropologists, economists, historians, linguists, philosophers, political scientists, social psychologists, and sociologists train students in social and behavioral science research in education. Graduates of the concentration are recruited by government bodies, research institutions, social service organizations, and universities.

In this small program, students work closely with a faculty advisor to develop an individualized program of study that reflects the student’s particular interests. Students also have the opportunity to develop specializations around particular areas of specialization within Social Sciences in Education – including anthropology, economics, history, philosophy, or sociology of education, educational linguistics, or interdisciplinary studies. These specializations are negotiated individually with faculty in the area and are contingent upon course offerings and directed reading/research opportunities. Students have ample opportunity to take courses both across the School of Education and the university at large. In addition to coursework, students conduct a final project that will allow them to focus in depth on a particular area of interest. The SSE Master's program aims to prepare students to serve as educational leaders in a variety of contexts as well as paving the way to further graduate study.

The doctoral degree is geared toward high-level, technically competent inquiry into social aspects of the educational process. Graduates are expected to be able to communicate their research results inside and outside the classroom. With these goals in mind, the concentration combines standard, in-depth training in a particular discipline with broad grounding in the other social sciences. Flexibility is encouraged: theoretical orientation and specific skills may be adapted to a student's special interest and career path.

Area Faculty (SSPEP/SSE)

Specialization Descriptions (SSPEP/SSE)

Anthropology of Education
Degree Offered: PhD

Students seeking careers as educational anthropologists should select a disciplinary orientation, and concentrate in the Anthropology of Education subconcentration.

The PhD candidate in Anthropology of Education will take courses in the Department of Anthropology in addition to educational anthropology courses offered in the School of Education, for a combined total of at least 45 units. The course units in anthropology should include work in methodology, theory and its history, sociocultural and psychocultural processes, and ethnography. At least 20 units must be at the advanced graduate level. The 45 units of Anthropology can be recognized as a Ph.D minor in Anthropology or as a master's in the Anthropology department

Economics of Education
Degree Offered: PhD

The program aims to instill a thorough understanding of micro- and macro-economic analyses as they apply to the economics of education, a facility for using econometric modeling techniques to formulate complex relationships in education and to test such models with relevant data, and an acquaintance with the other social sciences as they relate to the economics of education.

Specific areas of focus include the production, distribution, and financing of education; the relationship between education and labor markets; the contribution of education to economic growth and development; and the organization of the education industry.

Students are expected to take courses in each of the following four areas: (1) economics and econometrics; (2) statistics; (3) education; and (4) related areas, including research-oriented courses in sociology, political science, psychology, anthropology, history, philosophy, mathematics, engineering-economic systems, and operations research.

Knowing how to apply the tools of economics and econometrics to problems in education will prepare students for positions in universities, research institutions, and government.

Educational Linguistics
Degree Offered: PhD

The program in Educational Linguistics is interdisciplinary, and draws substantially upon courses, faculty, and programs in various areas throughout SUSE as well as departments within the School of Humanities and Sciences. Building upon a common core of linguistic foundations, graduates of the program in educational linguistics integrate theory, research, policy, and practices that are central to studies of language development and usage in schools and their surrounding communities.

History of Education
Degree Offered: PhD

A historian of education needs to be well trained in history and knowledgeable about education. By taking coursework in history and history of education-normally earning a master's in history along the way-students gain skill in asking productive questions, finding and organizing evidence, and presenting convincing historical arguments. In addition, students take a range of courses in education that introduce them to important issues and strategies for research. The aim of this specialization is to prepare historians of education who will be rigorous, imaginative, and knowledgeable teachers and researchers. Graduates often find their training helpful in policy analysis and in fields like academic administration.

Social Sciences in Education
Degrees Offered: MA

The master's program is designed for several types of students:

• The experienced classroom teacher who wants an intellectual understanding of how the behavioral and social sciences can be superimposed on educational phenomena;
• the student who needs first-level research skills in order to participate in educational research involving social science;
• the liberal arts degree holder who wishes to learn how behavioral science relates to recent developments in educational research and practice; and
• anyone who wants to explore social science research in education as preparation for doctoral study in that area.

This attention to contemporary social problems in education should enable the student to participate in and evaluate community projects involving educational change. Many graduates of this specialization intend, after a few years of field experience, to pursue doctoral studies and a research career.

All candidates for the master's in Social Sciences will complete an independent project (a paper or research report) based on prior writing in one or more courses, or possibly on an internship arranged by SSE faculty.

Program Requirements are available in the Master's Degree Handbook.

Professor Martin Carnoy is the program sponsor.

Final Project:

The final project provides an opportunity for students to delve into an area of particular interest to them and to use what they are learning in a different context. The project could include: an empirical research study, a literature synthesis, or other project as agreed upon with one's advisor. Part of the purpose of the final project is to help students identify how they want to put their learning to use once they graduate from Stanford. Students work with their advisors to develop an idea for their final project.

Doctoral students may also choose to put together an interdisciplinary social science program of study. This interdisciplinary option is designed for those students who have already developed a clear focus for their research interests that requires the use of more than one social science. These students will typically earn a disciplinary minor or a master's alongside their interdisciplinary program. Faculty members of a three-person advisory committee represent the disciplines that make up the student's combination of disciplinary interest plus topic focus.

Both alternatives have the following features in common:

    1. An academic or disciplinary minor must be taken in an appropriate social science or humanities department.
    2. The general School of Education doctoral requirements must be met.
    3. Beyond coursework, each student must either serve in an apprenticeship to obtain intensive training in an ongoing project or must undertake supervised fieldwork. Students planning careers in college teaching are also required to do supervised teaching.

Philosophy of Education
Degree Offered: PhD

It is expected that the philosopher of education trained at Stanford will be able to

    1. analyze and clarify concepts and chains of reasoning used by teachers, researchers, administrators, and policymakers;
    2. assess arguments and clarify the rhetoric of educational debates;
    3. identify implicit assumptions in such arguments or statements;
    4. enter into productive exchange with researchers or policymakers in at least one branch of social or human science;
    5. place educational issues, and issues arising from the social sciences, into a broader philosophical and sociocultural context.

Graduates of this SSE subconcentration traditionally become college or university professors of the philosophy of education in departments or schools of education. However, a few graduates have secured joint or courtesy appointments in a school of education and a department of philosophy because of the intensive training in the minor field of general philosophy (many students take a master's degree in philosophy or philosophy of science).

Sociology of Education
Degree Offered: PhD

The Sociology of Education Program offers students invaluable research apprenticeship opportunities that take advantage of faculty interests and expertise at Stanford University. Areas of emphasis include the following:

    1. analysis of interpersonal dynamics in classrooms and schools
    2. the sociology of development and peer cultures
    3. the effects of organizational characteristics of schools and universities
    4. transfer of knowledge and organizational learning
    5. stratification within education and society
    6. comparative macrosociology of education

Doctoral candidates in Sociology of Education ordinarily earn a master's degree in sociology and take advanced coursework in statistics. Doctoral students emerging from this specialization typically become faculty members at universities and carry on activities such as teaching Sociology and Education courses, training researchers, carrying out applied and basic research, and consulting.

Recent Graduates: Job Placement (SSPEP/SSE)

Master's Graduates

   - Director of Student Life
       * Occidental College

   - Research Associate
      * Brandeis University

Doctoral Graduates

   - Social Science Researcher
      * SRI International

   - Assistant Professor, Education
      * University of Georgia

   - Assistant Professor
      * California State University San Bernardino

   - Director Master's Program
      * Stanford University

   - Program Officer
      * Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County