Description:     An important course for all school faculty members; K-12. Participants examine community, school and social resources to deal with problems related to race, class, gender and socioeconomics. Participants will discuss issues such as crime and the criminal justice system, probation, substance abuse, domestic violence and the impact of disproportionate justice outcomes.

Participants consider the impact of various social pressures on the education of pupils and learn mitigation strategies.

Course Objectives:

1. Participants will be able to explain the benefit of the “sociological perspective” when measuring the challenge the student body may present.
2. Participants will identify specific challenges students face related to race, class, and gender and modify pedagogy to consider them.
3. Participants will be able to identify legitimate research resources and data sets to understand their student population.
4. Participants will modify instruction methodology according to the needs of the students.
5. Participants will be able to identify specific challenges confronting educators instructing students of incarcerated parents.

 Required Text: Provided by the Instructor

Location: Online

Framingham State University - 3 graduate credits