Loved this class and this professor, I learned so much and was very interested in her research and her teachings. She is the first African American female to get tenure in the poli sci department and she's won many awards. She is an amazing teacher and tells you exactly whats on the quizzes and midterms. For this class, we took a one class midterm, 2/3 quizzes counted, and a take home research paper. There are 2/3 reading critiques that you need for participation but this class had a heavy load but if you paid attention to the materials and content and went to lectures, you will receive an A.

Like the other reviews said: extremely straightforward class, and if you follow her instructions exactly as she says you will get an A. The title of the class sounds really boring, but it is a highly interesting class, and was by far my favorite class of the quarter. Do NOT be late for her class, ever. Her policy is she starts class at 5 after its actual start time, and if you are not in your seat she will call you out and kick you out (she did kick people out for being late). You have to go to discussion (you get 1 free unexcused absence, and then they start dropping your grade by a full letter grade each time after). Discussion isn't really all that helpful, but just go because the TA's are really nice, and they care. I had Jessica, and she was a great TA.
Midterm is really straight forward: she gives you a study guide and will only test you off of the study guide. There are 3 quizzes that she gives out randomly: she will tell you the lecture before the quiz, and give you hints as to what will cover. Best part is that she only takes your top 2 grades--meaning that if you do really well on the first 2, you don't even have to take the 3rd one. There are also 3 reading critiques that you have to do (well 2, it's the same grading concept as the quizzes). RC's go into your discussion grade and are graded on a check minus, check, check plus basis. Getting 2 checks is all you need, and then you won't have to write the last one. You have to use 3 class readings per RC, and that is the only time you will ever actually have to read the textbooks.
The final is an 8-10 page research policy paper that involves covering an incidence in a suburb. It sounds awful, but it really isn't. Like everything else in the class, Yokley lays out everything you will need to know. Plus, the TA's are super helpful, and will give you a lot of guidance and assistance in the final paper.
Little bonus: after the midterm, Yokely gave out extra credit. She would randomly take attendance from weeks 6-10, and if you were in lecture and signed in, you would get a % added onto your final grade for every time you were in lecture. An actual incentive to come to lecture.

This class requires studying, but if you're willing to put the time and effort to study well and understand the concepts in the course, I highly recommend this class. Yokley is a very straight forward- no BS type of professor, and her teaching style emulates that. She is very intolerant of tardiness- she will literally tell you to leave if you come in 5 minutes after the beginning of class, but she has her slides online and the TA's are very helpful. The class has average amount of readings, and had 3 "pop quizzes" (she would tell us a week in advance when the quiz was), 3 reading critiques (small one page writing assignment on 3 readings from the class), one midterm, and one final which was the paper. The pop quizzes she would tell you exactly what was on them and what would be tested and drops the lowest grade, and the 3 reading critiques are a small percentage of your participation grade and drops the lowest grade as well, which made them so minuscule that they didn't require immense effort. The midterm was easy to study for because she would give you a power point with the concepts being tested on. The paper was the hardest thing, it was 8 pages and it was on a specific suburb, which was hard to research for, but if you followed her guidelines it was easy enough to get an A. Overall Professor Yokley is interesting to listen to in lectures, and definitely made the class tolerable. I would 10/10 recommend this class

My first upper division poli sci class at UCLA and I loved it.

I believe it is the easiest Pol Sc class in UCLA
The readings are relatively few and the exams are really easy....
My TA is Stacey Greene, who is a really nice TA.
Anyone who wants to improve GPA should take this class

The person below is full of crap and is probably writing his/her review as an angry reaction to a bad score on a midterm or quiz. Prof. Frasure-Yokley is a wonderful professor and she really cares about her students. She actually tries to engage the class in discussion, she's open for questions, she really tries to explain things clearly, and I thought her choice of media was excellent. I enjoyed the documentaries she showed in class, and I think they helped me understand the readings on a deeper level.

The exams ARE a little cookie-cutter because of her grading rubric, but I think it takes more than just memorizing in order to get full points. You can't just regurgitate bullet points -- you actually have to understand the material and how everything relates to each other. In regards to this class being all about racial politics, wow, isn't that pretty obvious? How cities are run and the associated politics both basically boil down to race, class and money.

I think this class is best appreciated by students who actually want to learn about the subject. You'll have a good time if you have that kind of attitude, but if you just want to get an "easy A" by showing up for class and regurgitating crap, then you'll probably have a hard time in this class (like the person below). This class is much more than that.

Metropolitan Governance --What a waste of time. the professor is crazy, she is on her high horse the whole time. She has 2 reading quiz's each worth 10% a midterm and final. The whole class is based off of racial politics and nothing more. She shows documentaries all the time thinking they are making an impact and they are somewhat interesting. The reading for this class is so dry and her midterm basically asks you to regurgitate the information from the lecture notes and book word for word to get full credit. Sitting through her class for 2 hours twice a week is worse than going to the dentist good god. If you can bare yourself from the waste of time i would say do it. The whole easiness is deceiving on here, She isnt "Easy" you have to attend every lecture and basically memorize her slides and literally write them out for her quiz's and midterm. The day the class is over you will not remember any of the crap she pretends to know about.

I can honestly say she has been one of the best professors I have ever had in my whole 4 years here at UCLA. The material I learned in class is EXTREMELY relevant to understanding community and government. The readings are easy to read but really interesting. Also, her lecture notes are outlines of the readings. She makes it so easy for everyone to get an A on the class. Her quizzes, midterms, and finals, are a bit long BUT she makes it so easy to get an A on them. Really, you can Ace the tests by simply using her lecture slides. She is also really nice and very approachable. She demonstrates concern for students' learning as well as for their well being. Even on one occasion, I got a 68 on a quiz, but I went to talk to her and explained why I didn't do so well, so she said she'll take a look at it and later told me that she changed my grade to 77!!! Also, I e-mailed her once telling her I was not going to make it because I wasn't feeling well, and the next time I saw her in class she came and asked me if how I was doing. She also likes to give hints in class about what is she going to ask in a test. Also, when I went to talk to her about the final, just asking questions, she basically hinted at me (very obvious) what was one of the essay questions she was going to ask!!! Seriously, she'll help you if you seek her help and you can end up with a A+ on her class. In summary, SHE IS A GREAT PROFESSOR! TAKE HER CLASS!!!

P.S. She does have one bad thing about her... she HATES when people get to class late.. She'll call off your name as soon as you walk in.. but don't worry, it's not too bad... :)

Poor white people. They cant believe that race, class, and gender are central tenets of the creation of suburbs. I am so sorry that you don't want to talk about race, or think that race is not political (LOL).

Please take her class. You will learn so much. You will talk about a range of topics, including, but not limited to: Race, class, gender roles and norms, public choice theory, decentralization, the environment, tax policy, etc. And yes, she does talk about current policy and issues, but in order to know how suburban politics work today, you have to know how they worked in the past.

Did I mention how RIDICULOULY EASY her class is? She literally goes over the readings for you on the slides! There is no excuse for you not to get in A in her class. If you cant get an A here, you shouldn't be at UCLA honesty. Its that easy. Do the readings (Honestly, there aren't that many), go over the PowerPoints, take notes when appropriate, and you'll get an A guaranteed.

Take her!

On the surface, the below review may seem true. But the professor actually really cares about her students. She has her rules, to be fair; but she's totally within her rights. If you can't come to class on time, she posts her slides online. And she makes it easy to meet with her.

If you're genuinely interested in suburbia, you'll find this class insightful and fun. But if you're looking for an easy A without really trying, this isn't the class for you. You have to have the right attitude in order to succeed with Frasure.