Bachelor of Arts in Education Studies
Education studies at Brandeis is an interdisciplinary program through which you’ll study the social and historical contexts of education policy, human learning and development, and the role of schooling in society. As an education studies major, you will engage in pivotal issues in the field, from classroom methodology to opportunity and achievement gaps in equity and achievement.
The interdisciplinary curriculum is structured to give you the flexibility to tailor your education to your interests.
A major or minor in education studies will lay a strong foundation for a career in educational research and policy, school psychology, higher education, informal education, and even museum education—not to mention graduate studies in the field.
If a stimulating career in the classroom is what you’re after, check out our minor in education studies.
Why Brandeis?
Brandeis’ Education Program is rich in resources dedicated to strengthening teaching and learning. We offer several concentrations, so that whether your goal is making smart policy, acquiring best practices for the classroom, or becoming a teacher leader, you’ll benefit from a multidimensional approach to education. Our program also embraces the liberal arts perspective, encouraging you to think critically and creatively.
Academics and Research
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As an education studies major or minor, you will engage in academic discussion and hands-on research on the role of schools in our society. In addition to two core courses, you will choose elective courses, which are organized into four clusters:
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education, equity, and social change
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teaching and learning inside and outside of schools
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human creativity and development
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Jewish formal and informal education
This makes you the pilot of your learning and gives you the flexibility to pursue other disciplines, such as American history, psychology, and Jewish studies.
If you’re passionate about a certain topic in education, you may consider writing a thesis. While challenging, it’s a great way to develop expertise in a particular area, as well as to learn how to analyze existing research in the field and how to conduct empirical research.
Education studies majors and minors often choose to do an internship in the field — such as studying education policymaking in Washington, D.C., or in other countries during a semester abroad.
Brandeis has a tradition of pairing education studies majors with several nearby elementary, middle, and high schools to assist teachers and support their students’ work. We also encourage students to take on one-on-one tutoring volunteerships with English learners, or work near campus in the early-development Lemberg Center.
Faculty Excellence
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Our highly productive yet accessible faculty publish and lecture widely and are recognized for their teaching:
- Leah Gordon's first book, "From Power to Prejudice: The Rise of Racial Individualism in Midcentury America,"received the 2016 Linda Eisenmann Prize from the History of Education Society. She has received awards and fellowships from the Spencer Foundation, the National Academy of Education, the American Council of Learned Societies and Stanford University's Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity.
- Ziva R. Hassenfeld studies reading comprehension from a sociocultural perspective, focusing on how children develop interpretations of the Hebrew Bible as a case of student reading development. She uses a variety of qualitative methods including ethnographic observation, stimulated recall interviewing and think-aloud interviewing. These investigations connect her to the worlds of biblical hermeneutics, both contemporary and rabbinic, as well as literary theory and criticism.
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Jonathan Krasner is the author of The Benderly Boys and American Jewish Education (Brandeis University Press, 2011), which won the 2011 National Jewish Book Award in American Jewish Studies. Jonathan Krasner's 2020 book, “Hebrew Infusion: Language and Community at American Jewish Summer Camps” (Rutgers University Press), co-authored with Sarah Bunin Benor and Sharon Avni, was the recipient of the 2020 National Jewish Book Award in Education and Jewish Identity.
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Marya R. Levenson ’64 is a veteran of the Boston and Newton public schools, the author of Pathways to Teacher Leadership: Emerging Models, Changing Roles (2014) and a recipient of the Louis Dembitz Brandeis Prize for Excellence in Teaching (2008).
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Jon A. Levisohn is a philosopher of education, with a focus on the teaching and learning of history and of Jewish texts. Levisohn is also the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Chair of Jewish Educational Thought in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis.
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Joe Reimer is a renowned expert on experiential Jewish education and regularly publishes articles in the Journal of Jewish Education. His book, Succeeding at Jewish Education: How One Synagogue Made It Work, won the 1997 National Jewish Book Award in Education.
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Derron Wallace is a former community organizer and international education policy analyst who joined the Brandeis faculty as an assistant professor in 2015. His work has appeared in the Harvard Educational Review, the British Journal of Sociology of Education, International Journal of Inclusive Education, Gender and Education, Disability & Society, among others. His research has been supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Gates Cambridge Trust, the Marion & Jasper Whiting Foundation, and the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. He is the recipient of the 2017 Michael L. Walzer Prize for Excellence in Teaching.
Careers and Graduate Study
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As an education studies major, you will be prepared for graduate work in education, equity, and social change.
Brandeis graduates have become counselors, school psychologists, or educators in specialized arenas, such as schools for the hearing-impaired or Jewish schools. Other alumni have gone on to work in the legal field, for the State Department, and for major publications.
Others have gone on to graduate school to become educators in public, charter, and private schools in urban areas such Boston, New York, Chicago, Miami, and San Diego, as well as in suburban districts such as Westchester, N.Y., and Newton and Framingham, Mass.