DC Summer Scholars Program
2025 DC Summer Scholars Program
The Pepperdine School of Public Policy DC Summer Scholars Program explores topics typically untouched by Washington, DC-based policy studies programs, pushing its participants to understand the vital interconnection between culture, history, and public policy.
The program will offer one, 3-unit graduate-level course eligible for exclusive full-tuition scholarships, where accepted scholars will learn from top policy academics and practitioners. The four-week seminar will accommodate only 20 qualified scholars, hosted at Pepperdine's Washington, DC Foggy Bottom campus (2011 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW) with class sessions meeting Tuesday/Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings in July.
Applicants may apply by filling out the DC Policy Scholars Application. Course descriptions can be found below.
Upon completion of the program, scholars will receive an an applied philosophy in education policy certificate of completion from the School of Public Policy. Credits may be used toward future enrollment at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy for a master of public policy degree.
Applications for summer 2025 open February 25.
2025 Session and Dates
Session Details
July 1 - July 26, 2025
T/Th: 6:30 PM to 10:00 PM EST
Sat: 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM EST
Course Description
Like few other areas of public policy, the COVID crisis has placed a focused lens on America’s K-12 school systems. Americans have long cared about preserving a tradition of liberal arts education, seeing it as key to a free society of citizens with both the knowledge and virtue to sustain self-governance and to advance social order and prosperity. This graduate introduction to the philosophical debates that have shaped the goals and practices of American educational policies, curricula, and institutions will ask scholars to identify challenges and opportunities for revitalizing American educational systems and culture.
In a class that combines the philosophical with the latest public policy debates, Dr. Lindsey Burke will explore foundational concepts and their impact on current events. Using the works of Alexis de Tocqueville, Paolo Freire, John Dewey, Paul DiMaggio, Walter Powell, and Milton Friedman, this class will explore a variety of competing debates in philosophy of education, connecting these theories of human nature and the roles of society and government to educational curricula and policy. Students will be asked to question the role education policy, curricula, and institutions play in shaping culture and politics and promoting human progress in a diverse society founded on freedoms of religion, conscience, speech, and association. Students will also understand foundational research methods approaches and their use in education policy and program evaluation.
Concepts covered
- The philosophical underpinnings of today's education system
- How differing views of human nature affect the way we teach
- Current debates on roles of the public and government institutions
- Economics of education
- How do funding policies impact education policy
- Research methods in education policy
Faculty
Lindsey Burke
As director of the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, Lindsey Burke oversees Heritage’s research and policy on issues pertaining to preschool, K-12, and higher education reform. Burke’s research has been presented at academic conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals including Social Science Quarterly, Educational Research and Evaluation, and the Journal of School Choice, and her commentary and op-eds have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers. She is a frequent guest on radio and television shows and speaks on education reform issues across the country and internationally. She has published evaluations of education choice options for public policy foundations across the country and has done extensive work shaping and evaluating education savings accounts (ESAs).
In 2021, Burke was tapped to join Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin’s transition steering committee and was also appointed to serve on the Youngkin landing team for education. Burke was also appointed by Governor Youngkin to serve on the Board of Visitors for George Mason University. Her term runs from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2026.
Burke also serves as a fellow at EdChoice, the namesake foundation of Milton and Rose Friedman, on the national advisory board of Learn4Life, a network of public charter schools serving “opportunity youth,” on the board of the Educational Freedom Institute, and on the advisory board of the Independent Women’s Forum’s Education Freedom Center.
In 2022, Burke was honored to receive The Heritage Foundation's President's Award for striving to build an enduring organization. In 2015, Burke won Heritage’s prestigious W. Glenn and Rita Ricardo Campbell Award in recognition of her work fighting for expanded education choice options. The award is given annually to a policy expert who has made “an outstanding contribution to the analysis and promotion of a free society.”
Burke holds a bachelor's degree in politics from Hollins University in Roanoke, VA, and a master of teaching degree in foreign language education from the University of Virginia. She earned her Ph.D. in education policy from George Mason University, where she examined the intersection of education choice and institutional theory.
Who is Eligible?
Application is open to rising undergrad juniors and seniors, plus recent college grads who are considering graduate school. *Please note that the Office of International Student Services will not issue an F-1 visa for these classes, and visitors to the United States in B-1, B-2, WT, or WB visitor visa status are not eligible to audit or enroll in these courses.
Tuition:
Only 20 qualified scholars will be selected for the session. All selected scholars will be awarded full-tuition scholars for this 3-credit class. Scholars will not receive any additional financial aid or support for their participation in the program. Pepperdine University nor the School of Public Policy are responsible for funding/finding/providing housing while scholars attend the program, funding/providing/arranging transportation to and from Washington, DC, nor any other expenses related to enrollment in the program.