For EdD/PhD Students
(Downloads from this page require Adobe Acrobat Reader.)Great Opportunity to Enhance your CV - Call for Volunteers!
The IED/CIE Programs Office organizes a year-long series of workshops and professional development events for all IED/CIE students, many of which are facilitated by volunteer IED/CIE doctoral students. Do you have an academic strength to share with your colleagues in a 1-hour workshop? Are you a whiz at Endnote? Exceptional at SPSS? Can you share your tips on how to get published or how to approach the 15-minute conference presentation? Facilitating a workshop is a wonderful service to our ITS community and a great CV-builder. Workshops are often co-facilitated. Please contact the Peer Asdvisor at arnstein@tc.edu to discuss further. Thank you to all of our volunteers last year!
2008-2009 WORKSHOPS FOR IED/CIE DOCTORAL STUDENTS
Certification Exam Prep Talk
Handout: Workshop Presentation
What you Need to Know as an IED/CIE Doctoral Student (but didn't know you had to ask!)
Handout 1: Workshop Presentation
INFORMATION ON THE IED/CIE EXAMS AND CERTIFICATION PROCEDURES
Information on the Certification Exam (aka "Comps" or "AM Exam" or "Department Exam")
Students are advised to take the department exam the semester after they have successfully completed both ITSF 6580, Advanced Seminar in International Educational Development, and ITSF 6581, Advanced Seminar in Comparative Education. The topics and readings covered in the core classes serve as a basis for the breadth of knowledge expected on the department exam, and a full bibliography is available in 374 GDH. Every student has TWO opportunities to take the department examination. Thus if a student does NOT pass the first time, he/she can retake once. If a student does not pass the retake examination, he/she will be discontinued from the IED or CIE doctoral program.
The department exam is offered twice during the academic year, in October and February. It is a three-hour morning exam that is usually taken on the computer. The deadline to apply to take the department examination is the first Friday of the Fall semester (for the October exam) and the first Friday of the Spring semester (for the February exam). Students can obtain an Application for the Ed.D. or Ph.D. Doctoral Certification Examination from the Office of Doctoral Studies (ODS) in 153 Horace Mann. This form needs to be filled out, signed by the advisor, and submitted to ODS prior to the application deadline. It is highly recommended that students bring a copy of the completed form to the IED/CIE Program Assistant in 374 GDH for filing. Please be careful to fill out the form correctly. The Program Assistant can review any application or paperwork before it is returned it to ODS.
Filling out the Application for the Ed.D. or Ph.D. Doctoral Certification Examination:
If you are ONLY taking the department exam, ONLY fill out SECTION I.
Please note the following when filling out SECTION I.
Question 1: The department name is: International & Transcultural Studies.
Question 2: The program name is EITHER: International Education Development OR Comparative and International Education.
Question 3: The examination is ONLY a retake if the student did NOT pass the first time.
Question 4: If teh student is ONLY taking the department examination, check AM. If the student is taking both the department exam and the specialization exam in the same semester, check BOTH. Please note that this is NOT recommended.
Question 5: ONLY the advisor can approve an extra hour for a department exam which is normally given to students with documented disabilities or to students whose first language is not English. A memo from the advisor must be included with the application.
If you require particular services, please check "S/A" and contact Services for Students with Disabilities located in 162 Thorndike Hall. It is highly recommended that students with disabilities inform their advisors of this at the start of the doctoral program. Students cannot expect a memo from their advisor immediately so these issues should be worked out in advance. Please provide the advisor documentation of disability from the Services for Students with Disabilities Office.
Computer Information: If students do NOT mark anything in this section, the default is hand writing the exam. The majority of students choose to use the computer.
Cancellations: Students who decide to cancel taking the exam after filing the application should alert the IED/CIE Program Assistant and the ODS (attention: Aida Christian).
Layout of the Certification Examination
The general certification exam is based upon a bibliography that is available from the IED/CIE program assistant in 374 GDH. This bibliography is derived from the syllabi of the two core classes. The exam poses six questions, and students are required to select two questions to answer during a sit-down, timed exam. The exam is three hours long, although students whose first language is not English are allowed to request an extra hour if approved by the advisor.
Certification Exam Preparation
Students may ask the IED/CIE Program Assistant for past department exam questions to use for study purposes. Please keep in mind that past exam questions will not reappear on future exams; questions will be of similar genres but will not be identical in content. Additionally, the most recent syllabi for the core classes, ITSF 6580 and ITSF 6581, are available on the professors' websites.
Every student needs to know his/her most successful approach to studying. The following are recommendations that many students have found particularly useful in preparing for the department exam:
1. Create a small (3-4 people) study group. You can obtain a list of names of other doctoral students taking the exam from the IED/CIE Program Assistant.
2. Decide with your study group members when you will meet and how you will divide the reading of the course material. Study groups usually begin to meet at least six weeks prior to the exam or during the summer/winter breaks before the exam.
3. Contact doctoral students who have successfully passed the department exam for their advice on how to study for the exam.
4. Take at least 2 practice exams under the same conditions in which you will take the exam. Create exam questions with your study group and take mock-exams at the same time and in a similar environment as the actual exam. Afterwards, review each other's exams.
5. Sleep, eat and rest well!
The Day of the Certification Exam
One week before the exam date, check the bulletin board outside of the ODS (153 HM) to see what room the exam will be held in. This information will also be available the day of the exam at the Information Desk on the first floor Main Hall, (212) 678-3777, and the Thorndike Lobby Security desk. The ODS does not notify students of room assignments. Students should be in their assigned rooms at 8:45 am. The exam starts at 9:00 am and lasts until 12:00 pm. A dictionary -- electronic or hard copy -- may be used during the examination. Earplugs, blank paper, pens/pencils, and bottled water are also allowed in the room during the exam.
After the Certification Exam: Grading Procedures
After the department exam, one hard copy of the exam is sent to the ITS department. The IED/CIE program assistant makes another copy of the exam and routes the two copies to two program faculty reviewers with a grading sheet. The reviewers make comments, assign a grade, and return the exam to the Program Assistant. The grades are Low Pass, Pass, High Pass, and Fail. If there is a discrepancy between the frades assigned by the two reviewers, the exam will be read by a third reader. The student is informed of his/her grade via a mailed letter within 6 weeks of taking the exam and the IED/CIE program assistant informs ODS of the grades. Students can make an appointment with the program exam coordinator to see anonymous comments on the exam compiled from the reviewers. Students who fail the exam are advised to make an appointment with their advisor and the program exam coordinator regarding the exam and future steps. The grade of the exam is non-negotiable.
Please note: The IED/CIE program assistant, ITS department secretary, and ITS department associate do not discuss grades with students under any circumstances. This is disrespectful, and inappropriate actions may have consequences. If, in any given semester, the IED/CIE program assistant is taking an exam, an alternative ITS staff member will take over the exam procedures.
Some of the common problems for students who do not pass the exam are: 1) the student did not answer the question; (2) the student answered only pieces of the question, but not all sub-questions; (3) the student supplied information but lacked analysis; (4) the student did not provide a thesis -- the exam should be argument-driven, not author-driven; (5) the student did not reference key authors or texts.
Information on the Specialization Exam
Students are usually encouraged to undertake the specialization exam in the semester or academic year following successful completion of the departmental IED/CIE Certification Exam. Unlike the departmental exam, the process and specialization exam itself is tailored to the interests of each student. Students are responsibile for consulting with the advisor early in the doctoral program regarding specialization exam options and timing. Sometimes, the student works with his/her sponsor and second reader to create a 2-week take-home examination specific to the student's research. In other cases, the student is required to take the 3-hour on- campus comprehensive examination for the discipline/specialization in which s/he is concentrating. Whatever the format of the exam, the student is required to fill out and submit an Application for the Ed.D. or Ph.D. Doctoral Certification Exam to the Office of Doctoral Studies (this requires the advisor's signature) in the semester that the student intends to take the exam. This needs to be submitted by the date stipulated on the academic calendar, which is usually the first Friday of the semester.
If the exam is a take-home, the student should indicate this on the application form, and a memo from the advisor approving the take-home exam must be submitted with the application to ODS. The advisor should inform the IED/CIE Program Assistant of the student's take-home examination procedures (date/time deadline, readers, and any other requirements). Two hard copies of the completed exam should be returned to the IED/CIE Program Assistant by the pre-determined date and time. The Program Assistant will then forward the exam to the two readers, usually the CIE/IED sponsor plus the discipline advisor (for PhD students) or a suitable second reader (for IED students). The student is informed of the result via a mailed letter, usually within 6-10 weeks of completing the exam. The Program Assistant informs ODS of the result. The student should consult with the advisors regarding the results.
Information on the Language Proficiency Exams
Each Ph.D. student must demonstrate acceptable proficiency in two foreign languages to fulfill M.Phil degree requirements. Ed.D students do not have a language requirement. Obtain information from ODS and the appropriate langage department/program at Columbia University on how to fulfill this requirement. Please note that a specific sequence of Statistics courses can be substituted for one foreign language.
Certification Procedures for Ed.D. Students
Steps to become eligible for Ed.D. certification:
1. Pass the department certfication exam
2. Pass the specialization exam
3. Pass the proposal hearing
4. Have the research proposal approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB)
5. Have the ODS approve the program plan and statement of total program
Certification/Candidate Procedures for Ph.D. Students
Steps to become eligible for Ph.D. certification (award of the M.Phil):
1. Pass the department certification exam
2. Pass the specialization exam
3. Pass the proposal hearing
4. Have the research proposal approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB)
5. Have the ODS approve the program plan and statement of total program
6. Complete 75 graduate credits of course work
7. Demonstrate language proficiency in two languages other than English OR one language plus successful performance in a particular statistics sequence