P-12 PhD Degree Plan

The PhD program in P-12 Educational Leadership includes a total of 72 credit hours required for program completion. Courses are divided into seven blocks as described below.

The first two blocks total 36 credit hours and share three required common courses with the HESL PhD program as follows: EDC 6345 Christian Faith and Education, EDL 6302 Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, and EDL 6305 Ethics/Values in Educational Leadership.

These first two blocks are fully illustrated in Table 1 below.

Table 1: PhD Program in P-12 Educational Leadership – Blocks I & II

Block I: Educational Leadership Core (9 Hours)

EDL 6305 Ethics/Values in Educational Leadership

EDC 6345 Christian Faith and Education

EDL 6302 Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Block II Studies and Leadership in Educational Leadership Core (27 hours from the following with at least 15 hours from 6000-level)

EDL 5345 Fundamentals of School Leadership

EDL 5301 Christian Faith and P-12 Educational Leadership

EDL 5302 Instructional Leadership

EDL 5363 Administrative Theory and Educational Leadership

EDL 5353 The Principalship

EDL 5359 School Law and Governance

EDL 5344 School Business Management and Finance

EDL 5305 International/Comparative Education

EDL 5355 Transforming Learning Environments: School Facility Planning

EDL 6303 Curriculum Management and Evaluation

EDL 6304 Politics/Policy/Governance of Education

EDL 6310 Organizational Behavior and Leadership

EDL 6350 Seminar-School Leadership

EDL 6352 Trends in Educational Thought

EDL 6312 Systemic Inquiry Through Data Analytics

EDL 6380 Technology in Educational Administration

EDL 6309 Framing K-12 Problems for Inquiry

Block III of the PhD program focuses upon skills in research and statistical analysis. This includes 15-credit hours as illustrated in Table 2 below. Research courses includes the following eight offerings: EDP 5334 Statistical Methods, EDP 5340 Measurement and Evaluation, EDP 6360 Experimental Design I, EDP 6361 Experimental Design II, EDP 6362 Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis in Education, EDP 6337 Psychometric Theory and Test Construction, EDL 6339 Ethnographic Research, and EDL 6370 Case Study Research. This provides key research and analysis courses that can be further augmented by the unique research interests and skill set requirements of the individual doctoral students.

Table 2: PhD Program in P-12 Educational Leadership – Block III

Block III: Research and Statistics (15 hours)

EDP 5335 Research Methods in Education

EDP 5334 Statistical Methods (if the student has already taken a master’s level statistics course, they will be required to take either EDP 6360 Experimental Design I or EDP 6362 Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis in Education).

EDL 6300 Research in Educational Leadership I

EDL 6301 Research in Educational Leadership II

In addition to the above required R&S courses, students will choose remaining required hours (depending on whether the student needs to take EDP 5335) from the following (in consultation with his or her advisor). The courses chosen should assist with the publication of the dissertation. In addition, students can use their cognate or elective hours to take additional research courses.

EDP 5340 Measurement and Evaluation

EDP 6360 Experimental Design I

EDP 6361 Experimental Design II

EDP 6362 Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis in Education

EDP 6337 Psychometric Theory and Test Construction

EDP 6339 Ethnographic Research

EDL 6370 Case Study Research

Block IV is composed of a 9-credit elective or cognate area that allows for student customization of the program with additional courses from within our outside of the department. Block IV is identical across the two PhD options (Higher Ed and P-12 Leadership). Block V is composed of a 3-credit opportunity to participate in either a professional seminar course or to complete an internship experience in Educational Leadership (EDL 6V64). Block VI includes the 2-credit comprehensive examination process that would occur during the final semester of traditional coursework within the program for both programs. Block VII is identical in both programs and includes the dissertation research and defense (7-credit hours). Blocks IV through VII are illustrated in Table 3 below.

Table 3: PhD Program in P-12 Educational Leadership – Blocks IV, V, VI, & VII

Block IV: Electives/Cognate (9 hours)

Students may take nine hours of their choice from within the department or across the university. We particularly encourage taking courses outside the School of Education that may expose students to other fields within the university. For instance, students may wish to take additional courses in management from the business school, particular methods courses from a particular discipline (e.g., history or sociology), or courses about education found in other disciplines (e.g., sociology of education, philosophy

of education).

Block V: Professional Seminar and Internship (3 hours)

EDL 5V95 Special Problems in Education or

EDL 6V95 Special Problems in Educational Leadership or

EDL 6V64 Internship in Educational Leadership

Block VI: Comprehensive Exam (2 hours)

EDL 6V95 Special Problems in Educational Leadership: Comprehensives

Block VII: Dissertation (7 hours)

EDL 6V99 Dissertation

Total Number of Hours in the Program: 72 hours (65 hours of course work +7 dissertation hours). The degree plan may be modified during advisement on an individual basis to meet each student’s needs.