History 404 - Comparative School Choice: History and Policy
Comp School Choice
Spring
2026
01
4.00
Hilary Moss
TH | 1:05 PM - 3:50 PM
Amherst College
HIST-404-01-2526S
hmoss@amherst.edu
EDST-404-01-2526S
(Offered as EDST 404 and HIST 404.) Relative to the U.S., Aotearoa New Zealand has been far more open to experimenting with choice-based educational policies within its public schools, particularly with respect to religion, Indigeneity, and the utilization and dismantling of school attendance zones. This research seminar explores the history of school choice in the United States and Aotearoa New Zealand in the late twentieth century. Students will research, explore, compare, and connect the history of school choice in the United States and Aotearoa New Zealand by considering choice-based policies including vouchers; de-zoning; "controlled choice"; and early charter initiatives derived from public-private partnerships. Among the questions we will consider: how did ideas about school choice circulate between educators and policy makers across the Pacific? What analytical understandings emerge about the purposes and possibilities of public education when one peers beyond the United States? What can Americans, particularly those concerned with equalizing educational opportunity, understand about the possibilities and pitfalls of public-choice initiatives that decouple educational access from a student's place of residence? How have African American and Indigenous parents, educators, and policy makers utilized school choice to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for their communities? And how and why have debates over school choice functioned as key sites for contesting citizenship, identity, language preservation, and belonging in these two different contexts? As this is a research seminar, students will conduct primary research on a topic related to this course. Those interested in Aotearoa New Zealand will have access to a curated archive of primary and secondary materials.
Limited to 18 students. One class meeting per week. Spring semester. Professor Moss.
How to handle overenrollment: Education Studies Majors; History Majors; then juniors, seniors, and sophomores
Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Research seminars require independent research, including the framing of a research question, and the identification and analysis of relevant primary and secondary sources. Students will also gain exposure qualitative research methods including oral histories; manuscript analysis; and archival and bibliographical identification and organization. History majors who wish to use this course to meet their research seminar requirement must write a 20-25 page, evidenced-based research paper. Education Studies majors may also use this course to complete their research paper requirement with a 20-25 page evidence-based research paper. All other students will be expected to conduct primary research, but the format they choose to present their research can be agreed upon with the professor.
Permission is required for interchange registration during the add/drop period only.
