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PhD in Education, Specialization in Policy Studies

The Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD) is a college-wide degree awarded for distinguished academic preparation for professional practice and research in the field of education. The program is designed to enhance and facilitate educational, social, and economic growth locally, nationally, and internationally with a pool of highly qualified educational scholars and leaders.
 
Educational policy studies consists of a multidisciplinary program of study and research concerned with identifying and ameliorating significant educational problems. It draws upon concepts and research methods from a variety of fields (including the social sciences, history, law, and philosophy) in defining problems and formulating solutions.
 
The purpose of this specialization is to prepare professionals from diverse backgrounds for effective informed engagement in this process. At the same time, it prepares such persons to pursue research and service agendas geared toward lifting policy analysis, discourse, and action to new levels.
 
The program varies in the number of credit hours required, depending upon the candidate's qualifications, and includes courses required of all doctoral students in the college, courses in the specialization area, work in a cognate area outside the specialization, a field experience/internship, and the dissertation.

Admission Requirements

Application for admission to the PhD program will be considered for the fall semester only and is made to the Graduate Division. Students must meet the requirements of both the Graduate Division and the College of Education, including

  • Acceptable scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) verbal, quantitative, and analytical sections and the GRE Writing Assessment.
  • Applicants from foreign countries where English is not the dominant language are required to have a TOEFL score of 600 (regardless of degree completion from other U.S. institutions).
  • A master’s degree from an accredited university or college is required with evidence of a minimum of three years of experience in the field of education.
  • The applicant must demonstrate competence in writing and present a written statement of higher career goals and academic objectives.
  • At least three letters of recommendation are required.
  • An oral interview may be conducted.

Program Requirements

The quality of a candidate’s work is judged by a variety of experiences, which include the College of Education general and specialization area courses, culminating in a field project or internship, a set of comprehensive and final examinations, and a dissertation. The dissertation is based on a selected research problem and is a significant part of the candidate’s experience. Five areas of specialization are currently available: curriculum and instruction, educational administration, educational foundations, exceptionalities, and policy studies.