Area Exam Survey Soe 2023 Updated 6.30.2023
Area Exam Survey Soe 2023 Updated 6.30.2023
After the exam, students should be able to conduct rigorous research and teach both
undergraduate and graduate level courses in the area of the sociology of education. Sociologists
of education are fundamentally interested in how education functions as an institution within and
across societies. Below are some broad questions that researchers in this area seek to answer with
theories and empirical research:
What effects do schools and classrooms have on individuals and the society as a whole?
Why do some students learn more and go further in school than others?
How are school resources (as related to learning opportunities) allocated to students?
Which school resources affect student achievement and attainment?
How does the socio-demographic and academic composition of the school affect (a) the
learning opportunities that students receive and (b) student outcomes (e.g., achievement
and attainment)?
How do ascriptive factors such as race/ethnicity and gender affect students’ learning
opportunities, achievement, and attainment?
How does the educational system sort individuals into different places in the labor
market? How does schooling affect labor market outcomes?
How do schools work as organizations and with what consequences for students,
teachers, and school administrators?
1
Students will be expected to be familiar with key issues, the dominant theoretical perspectives,
and the latest empirical research in the field that inform these issues.
These issues are presented and discussed in the Sociology of Education graduate seminar.
Students must take this class in preparation of the area exam.
Researchers from other fields (e.g., economics, anthropology, psychology, education policy)
focus on many of the same questions that sociologists of education study. This exam focuses on
sociological perspectives and research on education. However, although students are not
expected to master the relevant literature in these fields, they should be familiar with research
from other disciplines when it clearly intersects with the research of sociologists. This research is
covered in the Sociology of Education and CREO graduate seminars. Finally, students should
understand important methodological innovations and debates within our field of study.
Examples include: debates about the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches, about
selection bias, and about internal validity, external validity, and measurement.
EXAM PREPARATION
Required Resources
Students should focus on three sets of resources as they prepare for the sociology of education
area exam, including:
(1) Students should get copies of previous SOE area exams to see the types of questions,
issues, and terms that the committee considers important to prepare graduate students to
teach a sociology of education course to undergraduate and graduate students.
(2) Students should have completed advanced graduate classes related to the sociology of
education. The department offers the Sociology of Education graduate seminar (CRN
63239-01). Students must take this course.
(3) Students should read all articles from the foundations list. Among the books on the list,
student should choose 5 books to read as they fit most closely with the student’s area of
specialization within Sociology of Education
(4) Students should choose 4 subtopics from the list below as areas of concentration. After
these areas are chosen, students will meet with the exam chair and then develop a reading
list of around 15 articles for each subtopic in consultation with and to be approved by the
exam chair.
2
Subtopic list (choose 4)
Discipline/school-to-prison pipeline
School choice
Testing/accountability
Policy
Sociodemographic inequality
School effects
Early childhood
School segregation
Neighborhood effects
Sociology of Teaching
Teacher Effects
School Organization
Peer effects
Tracking and ability grouping
Parent Involvement
Seasonal Learning
Sociology of High Education
Educational Expansion
Exam Format
The duration of the exam will be six hours (two three-hour blocks with a one-hour break in
between. The questions will require four essay questions requiring you to provide a well-
elaborated essay in which you demonstrate knowledge of both abstract sociological principles as
well as concrete examples of research. Questions from past exams may appear again on future
exams (perhaps with modifications), in addition to new questions.
Students will be allowed to bring a reading list and approved notes to the exam. Students are
permitted in the exam two pages of approved student-authored notes. These notes may be single
spaced, but no smaller than 11-point font. Attempting to pre-draft an exam answer in these notes
violates the spirit of the exam. Therefore, notes will not include full paragraphs or essay outlines.
Any notes must be approved by the respective area exam committees one week in advance of the
exam. Approved lists and notes will be given to the Graduate Studies Coordinator, who will print
out these materials for the student to have on the day of the exam.
Although students will have a choice concerning the questions they answer within each section
of the exam, students should expect to be required to answer one essay about the various
methodologies and statistics for examining particular educational issues.
3
EXAM RESULTS
Overall, exams will be assessed as pass or fail. If students fail the exam, they may retake the area
exam in its entirety at the next exam date. Students who fail should meet with the committee
members to discuss ways to improve, and double their efforts to better understand the sociology
of education.
Feedback
After the committee renders its decision, the student will be notified of the results by e-mail.
The student will then be asked to schedule a meeting with the committee chair to discuss both
strengths and weaknesses of the students’ performance. This meeting will be scheduled for all
students, regardless of whether they pass or fail the exam. Other committee members may
provide written feedback to each student, or they may set up a separate meeting to discuss the
students’ exam performance. This decision will be left at the discretion of faculty on the
committee.