Graduate Certificate in Education for Equity & Democracy

The Graduate Certificate in Education for Equity & Democracy will prepare professionals to confront the consequences of systemic inequities and invidious discrimination against people who have been historically marginalized in educational institutions (e.g., Black, Indigenous peoples, and Latinx people and other ethnic groups; and children with disabilities). The overarching goal is to turn out responsible, empowered, and civically engaged professionals as citizens who are capable of thinking for themselves and to equip them with knowledge, skills, and tools to help people and organizations to reflect and revise systems that oppress others.

This online certificate program includes five core courses for 18 units total. Based on a candidate’s schedule, the program can be completed full-time within 12 months or on a part-time schedule. Candidates will enroll as part of a cohort taking core courses together.

Key features of this program include an online format, cohort model, sustained engagement with community partnerships, coursework across disciplines, summer institutes and workshops, and public sharing of knowledge (e.g., podcasts, webinars, and policy briefs).

Learning Outcomes

Competencies	Learning Outcomes
1. Self-Awareness	Students will engage in the ongoing practice of self-examination and reflection by writing and speaking about how their beliefs, values, and behaviors influence their thinking about and responses to others, in order to conceptualize conditions that promote equity.
2. Understanding Others	Students will acquaint themselves with the lived experience of others in order to empathize with others’ perspectives by actively listening and articulating (either orally and in writing) what is understood in order to engage in a productive dialogue.
3. Exploring Roots of Inequity	Students will write an analysis that demonstrates that they have engaged with scholarship associated with equity and democracy in a way that highlights their cognitive flexibility to recognize and address new and emerging forms of inequity.
4. Building Consensus and Mobilizing Communities’ Issues of Equity	Students will create action plans that inform and direct changes in industry, government, and educational institutions after they collaborate and organize supportive communities unified by clearly defined goals and an understanding of historical and contemporary issues.
5. Inclusive Communication	Students will model civility in disagreement by demonstrating the techniques of debate and dialogue and articulate the importance of using objective information in decisionmaking.
6. Strategic Planning	Students will develop strategic plans with centers of activity seeking alternate outcomes. They will organize and facilitate constituencies to present complaints of grievances to centers of power.
7. Mobilizing for Change	Students will mobilize organizational resources, such as identifying sources of funding and community action, in order to increase their reach into marginalized communities.

Curriculum

Required Courses	Units
WED AP 641 Equity and Community Partnerships	4
WED ED 640 Origins of Inequity	4
WED ED 679 Equity and Democracy in Action	2
WED HD 610 The Psychology of Oppression and Liberation	4
WED SC 645 Institutional Racism in Health and Science	4
	18 total