Doctoral Program in C&T
Courses
In addition to completing the requirements for 90 points minimum of course-work, students must satisfy a number of requirements that are designed to ensure that students are gaining a strong foundation in curriculum and teaching as well as developing the specialized skills and knowledge they need to complete a dissertation on a topic of their own choosing.
C&T 5000 is a rigorous course that makes considerable demands on students, but as experience has shown, also results in impressive growth in knowledge and scholarly abilities. It is designed to build a cohesive doctoral cohort; to introduce new doctoral students to ways of thinking, posing questions, and structuring inquiries that characterize scholarship in the field of curriculum and teaching, and to prepare students for the doctoral qualifying examination following completion of the course. Moreover, this course provides a foundation for the remainder of the doctoral program.
Due to heavy workload, students are encouraged to complete several readings before the course begins. A partial reading list will be made available to all students admitted into the Ed.D. program sometime in the summer following admission.
Students who successfully complete two semesters of C&T 5000 with grades of B or higher are then nominated by the course faculty to take the departmental qualifying examination. Students who receive a B- or below for three or more credits of C&T 5000 must receive permission from the C&T 5000 instructors to take the qualifying exam.
Students must complete at least two of the required research core courses before enrolling in dissertation seminar (C&T 7500) for the first time; the third course may be taken concurrently with dissertation seminar.
C&T 5000
All first-year doctoral students are required to enroll in two semesters of C&T 5000, Theory and Inquiry in Curriculum and Teaching, for six credits in the fall and three credits in the spring.C&T 5000 is a rigorous course that makes considerable demands on students, but as experience has shown, also results in impressive growth in knowledge and scholarly abilities. It is designed to build a cohesive doctoral cohort; to introduce new doctoral students to ways of thinking, posing questions, and structuring inquiries that characterize scholarship in the field of curriculum and teaching, and to prepare students for the doctoral qualifying examination following completion of the course. Moreover, this course provides a foundation for the remainder of the doctoral program.
Due to heavy workload, students are encouraged to complete several readings before the course begins. A partial reading list will be made available to all students admitted into the Ed.D. program sometime in the summer following admission.
C&T 5000 Evaluation
Students enrolled in C&T 5000 will be graded with the Teachers College evaluative grading system, which includes the following grades: A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, and F. Students who earn a grade of B- or below in the fall semester of C&T 5000 must meet with their advisors and the C&T 5000 instructors to discuss the student’s progress and support for the following spring semester.Students who successfully complete two semesters of C&T 5000 with grades of B or higher are then nominated by the course faculty to take the departmental qualifying examination. Students who receive a B- or below for three or more credits of C&T 5000 must receive permission from the C&T 5000 instructors to take the qualifying exam.
Qualifying Examination
The Qualifying Examination (sometimes referred to as the “Certification Exam” or “Cert Exam”) is taken following the completion of C&T 5000. The qualifying examination is a take-home examination that is distributed electronically on the day following the last day of C&T 5000. It is due two weeks later. After the examinations are returned, they are read anonymously by the Department’s Qualifying Examination Committee, which consists of C&T 5000 faculty and several additional members of the department faculty. Each examination is read by one member of the C&T 5000 faculty and one member of the Qualifying Examination Committee who did not teach C&T 5000. If one or both readers rate an examination as a failure, the examination will be read by an additional member of the committee. Resolution of discrepant examination ratings will be done at a meeting of the committee members. If a student is determined to have failed the qualifying examination, she or he does not automatically have the right to retake it. Following the scoring of the qualifying examination, each first-year student is evaluated with respect to whether it is appropriate and in his or her interest to continue in the Ed.D. program. Students who have not met expectations in C&T 5000 and on the qualifying examination will not be allowed to continue in the program.The Research Core
In addition to two semesters of C&T 5000, all Ed.D. students must complete the Department’s research core requirements. These include:- HUDM 4122 Probability and Statistical Inference
- Two (2) additional research methodology courses relevant to the student’s research interests
Students must complete at least two of the required research core courses before enrolling in dissertation seminar (C&T 7500) for the first time; the third course may be taken concurrently with dissertation seminar.