Help shape the future of education. What can we do to boost high school graduation rates? How can we help individual schools cope with budget shortfalls at local school districts? How do we evaluate student and teacher performance? These are just a few of the challenges that education policymakers face in the 21st century. This 90-hour program will help you respond to these and other issues.

Creating and implementing effective education policies requires a close examination of the social and historical foundations of education in the United States and beyond. It also requires a deep understanding of sociology and economics, history and anthropology, and morality and culture.

Degree Requirements

Major Requirements (36 cr.)
Policy Core (18 cr.)

• A630 Economic Dimensions of Education (offered only prior to fall 2008) or A631 Microeconomic Applications to Education (Note: Y502 is a prerequisite) (3 cr.)
• H620 Seminar in Education Policy Studies (3 cr.)
• H622 Seminar: Issues in Education Policy (3 cr.)
• H623 Education Policy Research Seminar (3 semesters at 1 cr. per semester)
• Select two courses from the following (6 cr.):
  • A560 Political Perspectives of Education (3 cr.)
  • H504 History of American Education (3 cr.)
  • H510 Methodology of Educational Inquiry (3 cr.)
  • H525 Anthropology of Education (3 cr.)
  • H540 Sociology of Education (3 cr.)
  • H560 Education and Change in Societies (3 cr.)
  • H631 Social and Political Philosophy and Education (3 cr.)
  • H637 Topical Seminar: Appropriate Topic (3 cr.)

Policy Context (12 cr.)
Students will select one of the following three concentrations (the specific courses are recommended; others may be substituted with the consent of the student's Advisory Committee).

Higher Education Concentration

• C655 Higher Education and Public Policy (3 cr.)
• Select three courses from the following:
  • C654 Higher Education in the U.S. (3 cr.)
  • C665 Higher Education Administration (3 cr.)
  • C670 Problems in Financing Higher Education (3 cr.)
  • C695 Academic Problems in Higher Education (3 cr.)
  • C705 Legal Aspects of Higher Education (3 cr.)
  • C750 Topical Seminar (appropriate topic) (1-6 cr.)
  • C760 Internship in Administration (1-6 cr.)

Educational Leadership Concentration

• A653 Organizational Context of Education (3 cr.)
• A672 Moral Dimensions of Leadership (3 cr.)
• A720 Foundations of Research (1-3 cr.)
• Select one course from the following:
  • A560 Political Perspectives (3 cr.)
  • A608 Legal Perspectives (3 cr.)
  • A615 Advanced School Law (1-3 cr.)
  • A670 Topical Seminar (with advisor approval) (1-3 cr.)
  • A671 Planning and Change (3 cr.)
  • A754 Seminar in Research International & Comparative Concentration (3 cr.)

International and Comparative Education Concentration

• H551 Comparative Education I (3 cr.)
• H552 Comparative Education II (3 cr.)
• Select two courses from the following (6 cr.):
  • H590 Independent Study in History, Philosophy, and Comparative Education (1-3 cr.)
  • H637 Topical Seminar (appropriate topic) (3 cr.)

As part of their policy context concentrations, students may include one of the following courses even though its originating program is different from their chosen concentration:

• A653 Organizational Context of Education (3 cr.)
• C655 Higher Education Policy (3 cr.)
• H551 Comparative Education I (3 cr.)

Inquiry in the Major (6 cr.)
Directed Research
Select one course from the following:

• A590 Independent Study in Educational Leadership (for pre-dissertation research) (3 cr.)
• A695 Practicum in School Administration (3 cr.)
• C590 Research in Higher Education (for pre-dissertation research) (3 cr.)
• C760 Internship in Administration (3 cr.)
• H590 Independent Study in History, Philosophy, and Comparative Education (for pre-dissertation research) (3 cr.)

Linkage course
The course taken to fulfill the linkage course requirement may not duplicate any course taken to fulfill other requirements of the major.

Select one course from the following:

• A608 Legal Perspectives on Education (3 cr.)
• C788 Seminar in Research in Higher Education (3 cr.)
• H504 History of American Education (3 cr.)
• H525 Anthropology of Education (3 cr.)
• H530 Philosophy of Education (3 cr.)
• H540 Sociology of Education (3 cr.)
• H552 International/Comparative Education II (3 cr.)
• H601 Historical Inquiry in Education (3 cr.)

Inquiry Requirements (12 cr.)
Select one course from the following:

• H510 Methodology of Educational Inquiry (3 cr.)
• Y520 Strategies of Educational Inquiry (3 cr.)
• Y521 Methodological Approaches to Educational Inquiry (3 cr.)

Select one course from the following:

• Y502 Intermediate Statistics Applied to Education (3 cr.)
• Other approved beginning/intermediate course in quantitative analysis (e.g., PSY P553, SPEA V507) (3 cr.)

Select one course from the following:

• Y611 Qualitative Inquiry in Education (3 cr.)
• Y612 Critical Qualitative Inquiry I (for students who plan to take Y613 as their additional inquiry course) (3 cr.)
• Other approved beginning/intermediate course in qualitative analysis (e.g., SOC S659) (3 cr.)

One approved intermediate/advanced research methods course appropriate to the planned dissertation (e.g., Y604, Y613, Y635, Y750, H601, PSY P654, BUS K605), with advisor approval (3 cr.)

Minor Requirements (12 cr.)
The minor must have integrity in its own right and must complement the major. The minor field must demonstrate wholeness within itself and contribute to the student's overall doctoral program. Minors are normally formulated within a single program area. However, an interdisciplinary or individualized minor is also possible. Interdisciplinary or individualized minors require a written description of the minor's underlying theme along with a rationale for each course's contribution to that theme through the Minor Justification form. This form should be submitted and approved by the Graduate Studies Office prior to enrolling in the minor courses. Major area courses may not be used in the minor.

Elective Requirements (minimum of 6 cr. but normally 15 cr.)
Courses in policy-relevant fields inside or outside the School of Education selected in consultation with the Advisory Committee. May be used for a second minor.

Dissertation Requirements (15 cr.)

• A/C/H795 Dissertation Proposal Preparation (3 cr.)
• A/C/H799 Doctoral Thesis in Educational Leadership (A)/Higher Education (C)/History of Philosophy of Education (H) (12 cr.)