Education:
PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison (curriculum theory and research)
MS, Kansas State University (family and child development)
BS, Kansas State University (social science)

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David Hursh is a professor in the teaching and curriculum program. His recent research and writing reflect three specific areas of interest. First, he situates the current corporate-based education reform effort within the context of the rise and dominance of neoliberal economic policies. This includes examining the changing role of governance in society where philanthropists, corporations, non-governmental organizations, and investment fund managers increasingly influence education policy. 
 
Second, he has worked to design and implement curriculum that promotes a sustainable society. This ranges from reconceptualizing educational goals to include practices that contribute to understanding the physical and social world as a holistic system. This includes not only teaching about energy and water use, but also creating an environment that supports the health of humans and other living things. He has created lessons and taught in classrooms in sub Saharan Africa as well as urban and suburban schools in the United States. He also worked with the Earth Institute at Columbia University from 2011-12 on the Millennium Development Project on attaining the Millennium Development Goals.
 
Third, he studies the way in which education policy is increasingly globalized so that the politics of education reform have similarities across different countries. Most recently, he has been speaking, teaching, and researching in New Zealand and Australia.
 
Hursh is responsible for teaching three courses:  ED 404 Teaching, Curriculum and Change; ED 532 Action Research Methods; and EDU 428 Theory and Practice in Teaching and Learning Social Studies in Elementary School.  He occasionally teaches an advanced doctoral seminar, most recently on globalization and education. In his Teaching, Curriculum and Change course, Hursh encourages students to conduct research on past and current issues in education, including the role of philanthropists, standardized testing, teachers unions, and inequality. His doctoral course on action research prepares students to use action research to investigate their own and others’ educational practices. Finally, his course on elementary social studies supports teachers and teacher candidates in developing curriculum and pedagogy in social studies education. Hursh supports students in raising and answering questions that are personally and politically significant.
 
Hursh’s most recent publications focus on the changing governance of public schools, including the increasing impact on education policy by philanthropists, corporations, non-governmental agencies and politicians. He has also written both theoretical and practical articles and books about education for sustainability as well as social studies education.
 
Hursh has given presentations on the above topics in the United States and around the globe. He has given addresses at the United Nations, in New Zealand, Australia, Chile, and Canada, and at numerous international conferences in Europe and North America. He is the associate editor for the Americas for the Journal of Education Policy and an associate editor for the journal Policy Futures in Education. In addition to his appointment as a visiting scholar at Columbia University, Hursh has been on the faculty of Swarthmore College, a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin- Madison, a visiting scholar at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand and the University of Redlands, Redlands, California, and a research fellow at Bristol University, Bristol, England. 

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Publications Available on the Web

The End of Public Schools: The Corporate Reform Agenda to Privatize Education (Mercedes Schneider Book Review)

The Crisis in Urban Education: Resisting Neoliberal Policies and Forging Democratic Possibilities (Book review for the Educational Researcher)

Undermining democratic education in the USA: The consequences of global capitalism and neo-liberal policies for education policies at the local, state, and federal levels

Neoliberalism and schooling in the U.S.: How state and federal government education policies perpetuate inequality

We all live downstream: Transforming knowledge and thinking through teaching and learning about the relationship between the environment and human health

Neoliberalism, markets, and accountability: Transforming education and undermining democracy in the United States and England

In the News

Courses
ED404 Teaching, Curriculum, and Change
EDF408 Student Teaching in Elementary Schools B
EDF409 Student Teaching in Inclusive Elementary School Settings B
EDU428 Theory and Practice in Teaching and Learning Social Studies in Elementary School
EDE436 Diversity and Equity in Education
EDU442 Race, Class, Gender, and Disability in American Education
EDE531 Globalization, Education and Societies
ED532 Action Research Methods (1 credit)
EDE532 Dewey, Democracy, and Globalization
ED553 Teaching & Curriculum Dissertation Proposal Seminar
ED554 Action Research Dissertation Seminar I