The MEd in Curriculum, Culture, and Communities (3Cs) is designed within a social justice framework across schools and communities to prepare educators, community organizers, faith-based leaders, policy-makers, and others to take on new challenges as socially-just curriculum specialists in institutions of higher education, schools, and communities.

MEd in 3Cs is designed for an applicant who has less than 5 years of professional experience with BA/BS. Applicants with BA/BS with 5+ years of professional experience are eligible to apply for both MEd and Ed.D. in 3Cs. Those students who complete an MEd in 3Cs will have an option to matriculate into an Ed.D. program if they are in good academic standing.

CURRICULUM

Completion of the MEd in 3Cs requires 30 semester hours of coursework. No comprehensive assessment is required.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Required Core Courses (12 Credit Hours)
CIEP 440	Critical Investigations in the Field of Curriculum	3
CIEP 469	Issues that Shape Teaching and Learning in Urban Schools and Communities	3
CIEP 518	Theories and Practices of Partnerships	3
CIEP 524	Prvlg, Power, & Possibilities: Teaching Soc Justice Schools & Communities	3
Research Core (3 Credit Hours)
CIEP 488	Participatory Action Research (PAR) in Schools and Communities	3
Designated Electives (9 Credit Hours)
Curriculum & Pedagogy
Select one of the following:		3
CIEP 415	Models of Instruction
CIEP 442	Culturally Sustainable Curriculum Development & Implementation
CIEP 470	Principles of Instructional Design
CIEP 447	Technology Enhanced Instruction & Online Teaching
Language, Culture, & Literacy
CIEP 473	Instructional Leadership for Multicultural Schools	3
or CIEP 508	Social Justice for Multilingual Learners
Communities & Change
Select one of the following:		3
RMTD 406 / CIEP 496	Educational Evaluation
RMTD 410	Communicating Research Findings
RMTD 412	Needs Assessment
ELPS 501	Leadership / Capacity Building Organizations
CIEP 457	Implementation Strategies, Planning, and Practices
Electives (6 Credit Hours)		6
Student select two additional graduate level courses with Advisor's approval 1
Total Hours		30

¹

RMTD 400 Introduction to Research Methodology is highly recommended.

Suggested Sequence of Courses

The below sequence of courses is meant to be used as a suggested path for completing coursework.  An individual student’s completion of requirements depends on course offerings in a given term as well as the start term for a major or graduate study.  Students should consult their advisor for assistance with course selection.

Plan of Study Grid

Year One
Fall		Hours
CIEP 440	Critical Investigations in the Field of Curriculum	3
CIEP 524	Prvlg, Power, & Possibilities: Teaching Soc Justice Schools & Communities	3
	Hours	6
Spring
CIEP 469	Issues that Shape Teaching and Learning in Urban Schools and Communities	3
CIEP 518	Theories and Practices of Partnerships	3
	Hours	6
Summer
CIEP 488	Participatory Action Research (PAR) in Schools and Communities	3
Language, Culture, & Literacy Elective		3
	Hours	6
Year Two
Fall
Curriculum & Pedagogy Elective		3
Communities & Change Elective		3
	Hours	6
Spring
Elective		3
Elective		3
	Hours	6
	Total Hours	30

Length of the Program

Typically, students coursework takes two academic years.

Course Transfer

All MEd in 3Cs coursework is transferred as part of their coursework towards earning a doctorate in the program.

Continuous Enrollments

Master's students in 3Cs are required to maintain the status of continuous enrollment during their program of studies. This means that during each semester of each academic year (excluding Summer Sessions), each student must enroll in at least one course. A formal leave of absence may be granted upon request and the approval of the School of Education’s Assistant Dean of Student Academic Affairs.

Graduate & Professional Standards and Regulations

Students in graduate and professional programs can find their Academic Policies in Graduate and Professional Academic Standards and Regulations under their school. Any additional University Policies supersede school policies.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Develop the skills and competencies needed to be a transformative educational leader for community-university-school partnerships.
• Advance pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in the professions (e.g., education, faith-based, legal, medical, law enforcement) to best serve all people, particularly those who are in high needs.
• Work collaboratively with community and school partners to solve problems using participatory approaches for research, evaluation, and change.
• Analyze historical and current practices in schools and communities for multilingual students and their families in line with research and theory of supporting and promoting equity for multilingual populations.
• Value the historical, political, socioeconomic, and cultural realities and funds of knowledge of local communities as they work to develop relationships, practices, and systems within schools and communities.
• Synthesize issues of power, privilege, and equity through a lens of LUC’s mission of social justice and Ignatian Pedagogy and analyze how they operate in curriculum, community, and local and global societies.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS & PROGRAM OUTCOMES

MEd & EdD in 3Cs is founded upon six enduring understandings (EUs)

EU1: Theories and Practices about Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Policy

• Students will develop understandings of curriculum, pedagogy, and policy and apply knowledge on transformative curriculum and pedagogy for innovative policy in the local, state, national, and international educational contexts to advocate with and for students, families, and communities.

EU2: Ecology of Communities

• Students will understand that effective educators comprehend the historical, political, socioeconomic, and cultural realities and funds of knowledge of local communities as well as relationships, practices, and systems. Further, students will understand that effective educators seek to engage multiple stakeholders toward creating that promote equity and social justice of society’s most vulnerable groups.

EU3: Research, Evaluation & Change Practices

• Students will understand and use appropriate and rigorous research methods (e.g., qualitative, mixed, quantitative) and research types (e.g., basic, action, evaluation) to investigate critical questions that contribute to the development and improvement in instructional practices, transformative curriculum, and the improvement of relationships across school, community and university settings. Emphasis will be placed on the use of participatory and collaborative research approaches.

EU4: Critical perspectives on Language, Culture, and Literacy

• Students will understand and apply an approach to language and literacy that is heteroglossic, a view of language and literacy as dynamic, and an understanding of the acquisition of language and literacy as a process that occurs within and is influenced by cultural systems and structures including (but not limited to) those of the family, the school, and the surrounding community.

EU 5: Collaboration and Partnership

• Students will understand that effective teaching and learning is situated in local and globalized communities and incorporates assets of students, families, and broader communities into learning. Students will understand that transformative learning engages in collaborative, mutually beneficial, and sustainable relationships among school, communities, and multiple stakeholders to ensure the academic success and social & emotional learning of all students.

EU6: Principles and Practices of Social Justice

• Students will develop their ability to apply principles and practices of a social justice lens in relation theories and practices of schools and communities by focusing on transformative teaching and learning, university-school-community collaborations, mitigating inequities and disrupting power structures and practices that have contributed to the marginalization of communities and people around the world through research and pedagogy.