Jean Ketter, Education, Program Director

The Grinnell-in-Washington, D.C., program is offered in the first semester of each academic year. Part of the curriculum changes from year to year, reflecting the interests and expertise of the Grinnell faculty member leading the program that fall. Other courses--the internship, internship seminar, and policymaking are offered every year. The classes are taught throughout the semester, more intensely before and after the internship period.

Students are placed in internships that match their individual interests and experience. The internship is 10 weeks in length, Monday-Thursday, approximately 32 hours per week. During the internship, classes are held only on Fridays.

Students are housed in apartments in D.C., attend class just off Dupont Circle, and take multiple field trips in Washington, D.C.

Prerequisites: second-year status and good academic standing.

Education 295: Educational Policy and Social Change 4 credits

The course will analyze how education policies have been developed and encated throughout the history of schooling, particularly in the United States. We will look at several topics that have been addressed in educational reform policies: curriculum and assessment, school funding, and equity. We will begin with a historical frame, exploring how policy makers have viewed schools as institutions of social engineering and as a means for addressing social ills. Then, moving to present day, we will look at how issues are identified, how policies are developed, and international contexts how educational policy development processes reflect their particular settings, analyzing how policies are shaped by and in turn shape the political and cultural environments in which they are enacted. We will pay particular attention to United States federal policies connected to the Elementary and Secondary Schools Act (No Child Left Behind) and will explore current controversies associated with this act from the viewpoint of both policy makers and classroom teachers. This course is required for participation in the Grinnell-in-Washington, D.C. program. Prerequisites: none. KETTER.

Political Science 295: Contextual Policy Making 4 credits

This course will introduce the political and organizational nature of policy making using an applied interdisciplinary approach, taking advantage of the resources available in Washington, D.C. Various approaches to public policy making will be discussed and analyzed using current policy issues of interest to the students in the program. The course will provide students with analytic tools to use in their internship and to use as a foundation for understanding the politics of policy making. This course is required for participation in the Grinnell-in-Washington, D.C. program. Prerequisites: none. FERRARA.

Social Studies 295: Organizational Life and Policy Making in Washington, D.C. 4 credits

This course includes readings and discussions on how organizations operate and how policy gets made in Washington, D.C. as well as reflections on students' experiences as interns in Washington based organizations. Students will analyze readings, share questions and insights from internship journals, develop portfolios of internship projects, and write a reflective paper (at the end of the semester) on their internship host organizations using informal ethnographic case study techniques. This course is required for participation in the Grinnell-in-Washington, D.C. program. Prerequisites: none. KETTER.

Social Studies 300: Internship 4 credits

Each student will intern four days a week (approximately 32 hours per week) for 10 weeks. Grinnell College has contracted with a local nonprofit that specializes in internship placement. The organization discusses the student's interests, and based on that information, secures an internship. These placements can be chosen from governmental agencies, nonprofit organizations, or private for-profit corporations. This course is required for participation in the Grinnell-in-Washington, D.C. program. Prerequisites: none. KETTER.