Every summer, first-year students in the School of Education’s doctoral program travel together to Washington, D.C. to visit members of Congress and federal agencies whose policies affect American education. This year, the group numbered 50 students. “They hear from elected officials and congressional staffers to understand where education policy comes from and who represents them,” says Belinda Karge, professor of education and chair of the EdD specialization in Special Education Leadership, who has led the trip for nine straight summers. “Being there firsthand is the best way to learn about civics in action.” The trip, which is part of an education policy class, sheds light on how education policy at the federal level impacts local schools and classrooms. This year, students and five Concordia faculty members met with employees at the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of State. “Educators get to see that the funding and information they receive from both the state and federal levels come from decisions made by the policymakers,”says Karge.“They understand how it relates constitutionally to what they’re doing. That’s a big ‘aha’ moment.” Heather Churney, a former high school counselor, now directs the school counseling and school psychology emphases in Concordia’s School of Education. She is also a doctoral student in her second year. “The experience was so much better than you can possibly convey, especially the people we got to have access to at the Department of Education and elsewhere,” she says. “We met with a lot of people we wouldn’t normally get to meet.” Students often are able to visit with their own elected representatives in the House and Senate. In those meetings, “the communication goes both ways,” says Karge. “In our group we have teachers and administrators from public, private, and charter schools. Somebody from the Department of Education can ask us questions about things they are working on and get responses from three different perspectives. If you are an administrator and are able to represent a group of people with your voice, that’s huge. So we are also educating the people we speak with.”
The Concordia group also visits the Library of Congress to learn effective research methods. This year, the librarian retrieved a 500 year old book written by Martin Luther from the archives so that the students could examine it.
Some years, the group is able to tour the White House in addition to the Capitol, and the trip usually concludes with a time of worship on Sunday morning at the National Cathedral, followed by a debriefing dinner that evening.
For Churney, two highlights were visiting the Museum of the Bible and bonding with her cohort. “It was exactly what I needed at that one-year mark,” she says. “It invigorated me to go into the second year.”
Karge says doctoral students often tell her, “I had no idea how important it is to let my congressional representative know what I think about an issue. I had no idea that I, as a citizen, could make an impact in the school system by filling out a survey or placing a phone call,’” says Karge. “Engagement is a big result of this.”