About a dozen students were enrolled in Notre Dame’s interdisciplinary minor “Education, Schooling and Society” (ESS) when it was established seven years ago. Today, the program is one of the largest minors in the College of Arts and Letters.

More important than the program’s rapid growth is its unique connection to local schools, according to ESS director Stuart Greene, associate professor of English and Arts and Letters and associate dean for undergraduate studies.

“Our students’ research is inextricably tied to problems that educators in the South Bend schools are facing,” Greene says.

Designed to help students acquire diverse perspectives on important questions in education, ESS encourages them to view educational issues through the lenses of anthropology, English, history, philosophy, political science, psychology, sociology, and theology, thus enabling them to better understand the complexities of education and education reform.

“We work with students on developing research methods and conducting interviews, focus groups, discourse analysis, and ethnography,” Greene says. “They do a capstone research project, which allows them to see firsthand the effects of issues like poverty and segregation in schools.”

Students have conducted research several local schools, where they have analyzed many issues, including single-sex classrooms, drop-out rates, mobility, parent involvement, testing, and transitions to arts academies.

Many ESS students see the program as a way to acquire foundational knowledge about education in preparation for applying to Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education program. Also, ESS offers resources for students interested in working for non-profits, conducting University research, policy making, and pastoral duties.

Notre Dame Professor of Liberal Studies F. Clark Power, who teaches in—and helped Greene and former ESS co-director Julie Turner launch—the program, says ESS introduces students to the psychological and sociological aspects of education.

“Students take on the perennial issues that have intrigued the greatest intellectuals since Plato,” he says. “How do we acquire knowledge? What should we teach? What are the qualities of a good teacher? Can virtue be taught? ESS students get into local schools and conduct research on educational practices and school climate.”

The win-win relationship helps schoolteachers and administrators develop a better understanding of their students and families, and Notre Dame students become more committed to issues of civil rights and social justice.