Urban Education Leadership, Ed.D.

degree requirements

Please select a SPECIALIZATION that matches your degree interests:

General Study Specialization (total 80 hours minimum)

Theoretical Core Courses (8 hours):

EDPS/PS 571-The Education Policy Process
EDPS/PS 579-Organization Theory in Education or EDPS/PS 589-Administrative and Leadership Theory in Education

Specialization-specific courses (minimum 40 hours):

Minimum 10 elective courses, selected with an advisor, in EDPS/PS or College of Education for minimum of 40 hours.

Research methods courses (32 hours):

ED 500-Structural Foundations of Educational Research
EDPS/PS 586-Methods of Institutional and Practitioner Research
CI/CIE 545-Educational Evaluation or EPSY 560-Educational Program Evaluation
ED 544-Research Designs for Policy Analysis
EDPS/PS 599- Thesis Research (up to 16 hours)

School-level Leadership Type 75 (total 88 hours minimum)

Theoretical Core Courses (8 hours):

EDPS/PS 571-The Education Policy Process
EDPS/PS 579-Organization Theory in Education or EDPS/PS 589-Administrative and Leadership Theory in Education

Specialization-specific courses (minimum 48 hours):

EPSY 501-Cognition and Instruction
CIE/EDPS/PS 548-Leadership for Literacy Instruction
EDPS/PS 500-City Schools: Education in the Urban Environment
EDPS/PS 501-Education Finance and Budgeting
EDPS/PS 550-Organizational Change in Education
EDPS/PS 552-The Urban School Principal
EDPS/PS 556-Instructional Leadership
EDPS/PS 568-Education and the Law
EDPS/PS 559-Internship in Educational Leadership (up to 8 hours)
EDPS/PS 573-Seminar in Education Leadership Practice (up to 8 hours)

Research methods courses (32 hours):

System-level Leadership - Superintendent Endorsement (total 92 hours minimum)

Theoretical Core Courses (8 hours):

EDPS/PS 571-The Education Policy Process
EDPS/PS 579-Organization Theory in Education or EDPS/PS 589-Administrative and Leadership Theory in Education

Specialization-specific courses (minimum 52 hours):

EDPS/PS 500-City Schools: Education in the Urban Environment
CIE/EDPS/PS 548-Leadership for Literacy Instruction
EDPS/PS 412-Politics of Urban Education
EDPS/PS 501- Education Finance and Budgeting or EDPS/PS 567-Economics of Education
EDPS/PS 550-Organizational Change in Education
EDPS/PS 553-System Leadership in Urban Schools
EDPS/PS 556-Instructional Leadership
EDPS/PS 568-Education and the Law
EDPS/PS 581-Collective Bargaining in Education
EDPS/PS 559-Internship in Educational Leadership (up to 8 hours)
EDPS/PS 573-Seminar in Education Leadership Practice (up to 8 hours)

Research methods courses (32 hours):

ED 500-Philosophical Foundations of Educational Inquiry
EDPS/PS 586-Methods of Institutional and Practitioner Research
CI/CIE 545-Educational Evaluation or EPSY 560-Educational Program Evaluation
ED 544-Research Designs for Policy Analysis
EDPS/PS 599- Thesis Research (up to 16 hours)

Additional Items for All Specializations

A. Annual Reviews

To monitor student progress effectively and to provide a vehicle through which students and their faculty advisors can reflect on student progress in a structured way, each student in this program is required to prepare and submit a formal review of progress each year. Annual reviews are organized according to a program-wide template. Each student’s progress is reported to and discussed by the department faculty. One element on which students are assessed is their engagement in professional activities in the professional community beyond coursework required by the program. For this reason, students are encouraged to take advantage of opportunities for professional growth outside the program, such as colloquia, conferences, preparation of papers for presentation and publication, and leadership roles.

B. Comprehensive Qualifying Examination

Near the end or upon completion of their coursework, students must successfully complete a written comprehensive qualifying exam before proceeding to the dissertation stage of the program. This examination helps students organize and focus ideas toward dissertation proposal development and research. The exam will be designed and evaluated by a standing five-member review committee. This committee consists of three faculty members from the Policy Studies Department and perhaps from other departments of the College representing different expertise germane to the program (e.g., curriculum development and instructional improvement, bilingual education, special education). The committee may also include one faculty member from the College of Business Administration or one practicing principal or superintendent. This review committee will also administer the preliminary examination and the dissertation defense. This committee will be formally constituted by the Policy Studies Department, not the individual student. The comprehensive qualifying exam focuses on students’ coursework and internship experiences and assesses their readiness for professional practice and dissertation research. The comprehensive qualifying exam is graded on a “pass-fail” basis. Students who fail the exam or a portion of the exam have one opportunity to re-take the exam or the failed portion. The re-take must be completed successfully within one calendar year for the student to remain in the program.

C. Preparing a Dissertation Proposal

The Ed.D. dissertation is independent, original research that is required to complete the program. It may be developed substantively from the many possibilities related to your area of specialization and from a variety of research traditions. The process of writing a dissertation proposal is challenging, yet it provides unprecedented opportunities for creative, rewarding work. Students often find that the best approach is to draw on their studies and to avail themselves of the advice and support of faculty advisors and fellow students in the program whenever possible. Students are to develop their dissertation proposals as part of their work in PS 544. In preparing your proposal, you should select a faculty member from the Policy Studies Department to serve as your dissertation advisor and as chair of your preliminary examination and dissertation committees. You are encouraged to consult with your dissertation advisor and other faculty in the program to develop ideas and plans for your dissertation research. It is also strongly recommended that, as you develop your proposal, you also develop a draft of your IRB application. As a rule, students should not submit their applications to the IRB before the preliminary examination is completed and their proposals approved because quite often recommendations are made during the preliminary examination for changing research designs and protocols. See Section V for information about IRB procedures and requirements.

D. The Preliminary Examination

The preliminary examination is taken after you have successfully completed all your coursework, your comprehensive qualifying exam, and your dissertation proposal. In this Ed.D. program, the preliminary examination is a hearing on the student’s dissertation proposal and the means by which you receive approval to conduct your dissertation research. Preliminary exams are typically conducted in the spring of each year by the same five-member review committee that will work with the student through the final dissertation defense. While typically an oral hearing, this committee may require that students respond in writing to questions and/or make revisions in their dissertation proposals as a condition of approval. Passing the preliminary examination constitutes formal admission to candidacy for the Ed.D. In order to formally constitute your preliminary examination committee, you must submit to the Graduate College a Committee Recommendation Form. This form may be obtained from the Graduate College’s website: http://grad.uic.edu/cms/?pid=1000329. At the same time, you should ask the Office of Student Services (3145 EPASW) for a degree checklist. A list of the courses you have taken is available through Web for Students: http://osssorawebprod2.admin.uillinois.edu/webforstudent/wfs3.asp. You must return the completed degree checklist with the signed Committee Recommendation Form to the Office of Student Services. The completed form must be signed by your dissertation advisor and submitted to the Office of Student Services at least three weeks before the date of your examination.

E. Dissertation Research (EDPS/PS 599, 16 hours minimum)

After passing the preliminary examination and receiving approval from the IRB, you may begin your dissertation research. Students must register for a minimum of 16 hours of Ed.D. dissertation research credit, which also includes a supporting seminar. It is possible, even advisable, for students to register for 8 hours of Ed.D. dissertation research credit in the fall semester and again in the spring semester, and prepare their dissertations for defense at the end of that academic year. Again, students are advised to consult with their dissertation advisor and with other faculty members as they conduct and write their dissertations. If you require more time to finish and defend your dissertation, after you have registered for the minimum of 16 hours of dissertation credit, and after you have passed both the comprehensive examination and preliminary examination, you may petition the Graduate College to register for 0 (zero) hours of dissertation credit. If permission is granted, you may continue to register for 0 hours if you continue to make satisfactory progress and are within the time limits for completion of the degree. Note that even if you are eligible and successfully petition the Graduate College to register for 0 hours, you still must register for 0 hours each semester until you have successfully defended your dissertation (although you do not need to register for 0 credits for the summer session unless your defense will be held during the summer), with the following exception. Effective Summer Term 2007, if the defense will occur during late registration (the first ten days of the semester, the first five days of the summer term), the Graduate College will allow a doctoral defense without student registration. This is assuming that you were registered the previous term, or the previous spring term in the instance of a fall defense (which should be the case since, as stated above, continuous registration is required). The late registration period is the official first ten days of any fall or spring semester and the first five days of the summer term. If you defend after the 10th day (5th in summer), you must be registered. If you hold a fellowship, assistantship and/or tuition waiver, and do not resign from it, then registration is mandatory for the number of hours required to hold the award or assistantship. If you hold a student visa, you probably do not have to register if you leave the country by the 10th day (5th in summer), although you should verify this with Office of International Services. This exception does not affect the registration requirement to take the Preliminary Examination, or the continuous registration requirement from Prelim to defense (unless defense will occur in the first ten days of the semester or first five of the summer term). Failure to register continuously may result in being administratively dropped from the program. Please refer to Section IV for important information on conducting your research.

F. Dissertation Defense

Students are required to defend their Ed.D. dissertations before a review committee as described above. Defenses are typically scheduled at the end of the fall and spring semesters each academic year. According to Graduate College regulations, at least one year must pass between completing the preliminary examination and the dissertation defense. Any student who fails to complete all program requirements, including the dissertation defense, within five years of passing the preliminary examination must retake the preliminary examination.