Professor Emily Qazilbash has been awarded a Community-Based Learning and Research (CBLR) Course Mini-Grant in support of her Fall 2023 undergraduate course, EDUC 1320: Turning Hope into Results: The Policy Ecosystem of Providence Public Schools.

The Providence Public School District (PPSD) serves approximately 22,000 students and their families. Professor Qazilbash's course examines the policy ecosystem around the district, which is currently undergoing transformational change to provide students with the world-class education they deserve. This course aims to build students’ knowledge of PPSD’s history and organizational context. Students are learning to analyze the district’s policy environment while considering the voices of relevant community members. To do this, students must study the national context for specific topic areas such as teacher policy, curriculum and instruction, family engagement, and school culture.

As a Community-Based Learning and Research course, students are involved in community collaborations and course assignments that encourage reflection on the relationship between their classroom learning and their role and experiences working with a community partner. For example, students are working with teachers during the school day, in afterschool classes, in weekend sessions with refugees, in advocacy organizations where students or families are working to write or influence policies that affect PPSD community members, and in organizations that prepare teachers. 

View Current Undergraduate Courses in Education.