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National College of Education—Doctoral

National College of Education's doctoral programs are built on a tradition of excellence in teacher education stretching over 100 years. Through advanced studies, the programs extend NLU's and NCE’s tradition of providing quality education for educational practitioners, academic scholars and researchers.

Doctoral Program Philosophy and Conceptual Framework

The NCE doctoral program comprises carefully constructed learning environments that initiate both students and faculty into a variety of sustainable discourse communities, while developing the grounds for a critique of knowledge and practice from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.

The doctoral program's conceptual framework revolves around critical reflective thinking in three interconnected key domains: theory, research and practice. Specifically, students and faculty in the doctoral program engage in critical reflection in these key domains, and explore their inter-relationships through coursework, research and writings. To this end, faculty and students form a diverse community of learners in order to continuously examine each of following elements and their interconnections:

  • Creation of a community of learners who are knowledgeable about and active in a variety of discourse communities
  • Development of critical reflective perspectives
  • Exploring the complexities of issues and the problems which surface from a critical reflective orientation
  • Development of multiple and interdisciplinary perspectives
  • Building on previous undergraduate and graduate work
  • Exploring the implications of ideas from diverse individual, social, psychological, cultural, political and historical perspectives
  • Interrogating multiple ways of knowing: raising epistemological and ontological questions
  • Building a capacity to consider and/or engage in social action in a variety of settings
  • Contributing to our knowledge and understanding in disciplinary fields
  • Developing habits of scholarship in a variety of areas including teaching, research, writing, publication, presentations and leadership in professional organizations

The above orientation to doctoral studies distinguishes our program locally and places it at the cutting-edge nationally. The conceptual framework is imbedded into each of the doctoral programs, which further develop it in accordance to the specific disciplinary perspective.

Admission Criteria

In addition to the NLU Graduate Admission Requirements, applicants must submit all of the following to the Office of Admissions prior to consideration for admission to any NCE doctoral program:

  • Official transcripts from all institutions attended. Please note that only credit from regionally accredited institutions will be considered for transfer credit. Completion of baccalaureate and master’s degrees from regionally accredited institutions must be verified. A grade point average of 3.25 or better in master’s level courses is required of all applicants.
  • Four letters of recommendation. Two of the four required letters should be completed by people associated with the applicant’s recent graduate work and two by people supervising the applicant’s professional work.
  • A professional resume or curriculum vitae
  • Written responses to substantive questions that directly speak to the applicant’s intellectual interests, professional goals, compatibility with program and commitments to the values of the program. Each program has its own set of questions and assessment criteria. Applicant responses are considered carefully, along with all other evidence, in determining the applicant’s potential for success in pursuing the Ed.D. degree.

Individual programs may require additional materials. Please see program pages for details. Applicants will be notified by the program director if additional materials are required.

The admission process occurs in two stages. First, the applicant submits the application and all supporting documentation to the Office of Admissions by the published deadlines. Faculty from the respective doctoral programs reviews the applications.

The second stage of the admissions process consists of an interview with the program faculty. Because of the limited size of the doctoral programs, only a small number of applicants are selected to participate in the second stage of the admission process.

The objectives of the interview process are to establish that applicants have clearly defined goals for pursuing doctoral study, to determine that the applicants’ goals may be met through the doctoral programs, to gain further information about the applicants and to clarify areas of concern, to provide an opportunity for applicants to ask questions about the programs and to enable applicants to acquaint themselves with faculty in the programs.

Financial Aid

Students admitted to the doctoral programs are eligible to apply for the NCE Doctoral Scholarship. Because a major purpose of the doctoral program scholarship fund is to encourage students to take a year off from regular employment for full-time study, highest priority is given to students who plan to undertake doctoral study on a full-time basis for a given academic year. Such students demonstrating need may be eligible for full- or half-tuition scholarships for one academic year. In addition, teaching, staff development, clinical and research opportunities may be available to full-time doctoral students.

Remaining scholarship funds are available for new and continuing doctoral students who register for a half-time course load (four semester hours) or more. The typical award covers half of the tuition during each of the three quarters. Because the size of the scholarship fund is limited, priority is given to doctoral students on the basis of need first, and then on the basis of merit.

Academic Policies

Time Limit

The doctoral degree must be completed within eight years of the date of admission. Within this time frame, a student is expected to make regular and consistent progress, which is subject to periodic review.

Enrollment Requirements and Leave of Absence

It is expected that doctoral students will be continuously registered until the completion of their degrees. When unforeseen circumstances require a student to temporarily withdraw from his or her doctoral studies, the student must submit a Request for a Leave of Absence form in the first quarter of becoming inactive (see the Doctoral Handbook). A leave of absence may be approved for up to one year. Please note that students who are granted a leave of absence must still complete the program within the original eight-year time limit.

Students who have been inactive for three consecutive quarters and are not on an approved leave will be considered withdrawn from the doctoral program. Students who wish to be reinstated must submit a written petition stating the reason for the inactivity to the Graduate Admissions and Retention Council and file a re-entry form with the Office of Admissions and Records.

Transfer of Credit

Transfer credit for 12 semester hours of post-master’s coursework from NLU or other institutions offering graduate degrees is approved on a case-by-case basis by the directors of the doctoral programs. Approval for transfer credit beyond 12 semester hours may be obtained through petition to the Graduate Admission and Retention Council. Credit for courses taken more than six years prior to the time the student was admitted to the doctoral program must also be approved through petition to the Graduate Admission and Retention Council.

Educational Specialist (Ed.S.) Credits

The doctoral program requirements may be reduced by a maximum of 33 semester hours when a student has completed an Ed.S. degree and, as part of that program, has completed course or internship requirements that are also Ed.D. requirements. For students completing Ed.S. degrees at institutions other than NLU, the reduction must not exceed 18 semester hours.

Eligible students should petition the director of the doctoral program to which they have been admitted. Requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to determine the number of semester hours by which the doctoral program requirements may be reduced. Final approval for the program reduction must be obtained from the director of doctoral programs and submitted to the registrar's office.

Grade Policies/Credits

Programs will monitor student academic progress at the end of each term by the program. Any student who receives one or more grades of “C” or lower in any program, research or doctoral core courses in any one term will be placed on probation. Students on probation will receive official notification from the NCE doctoral office. Probation continues until the student completes all doctoral coursework. A student who receives one or more grades of “C” or lower in two terms will be withdrawn from the program. If the student has already registered for the next term, the student will be charged tuition in accordance with published university policy. Students may appeal such decisions to the individual program directors and then to the Graduate Admissions and Retention Council following the University Policy on Academic Appeals. Students must have a grade point average of 3.0 or higher to graduate. Courses in which the student has received grades of “D” or lower will not apply toward the degree.

A student who accumulates one or more in-progress (“I”) grade for two consecutive terms will not be allowed to register for a subsequent term until in-progress course requirements are completed and the “I” grades are updated. When the “I” grades for at least one quarter are updated to letter grades and posted, the student should contact his or her program director to have the registration hold lifted. “I” grades are issued following the In-Progress Grade Policy.

Comprehensive Qualifying Examinations

In most programs, doctoral students must successfully complete a comprehensive examination prior to beginning formal work on their dissertation. Each of the doctoral programs determines the format and scope of the comprehensive exam. Students must register for CCD 697 Comprehensive/Qualifying Doctoral Exam Continuation for each term in which they have no other registration, but have not yet passed their comprehensive exams. At least two faculty members and the program director (or designee) of the respective program evaluate the exam. The program director notifies the student in writing concerning the results of the exam. The program director will inform the NCE Director of Doctoral Programs and the student’s advisor of the final outcome. Once a student has passed the comprehensive examination he or she is eligible to register for ESR 604 Dissertation Proposal Seminar and CCD 699 Dissertation. If a student fails the comprehensive examination, the student will not be allowed to proceed to dissertation.

Dissertation Requirements

Doctoral students should demonstrate the competencies associated with a traditional dissertation including:

  • The ability to analyze, synthesize, interpret and discuss the implications of existing literature on a well-defined question
  • The ability to formulate, pose and justify a researchable problem or issue
  • The ability to develop an appropriate research design and methodology
  • The ability to interpret, analyze, synthesize and discuss the assumptions, contributions and limitations of existing as well as one’s own research

Continuous registration is required until the written dissertation is complete. Students who have been inactive for three consecutive quarters and are not on an approved leave will be considered withdrawn from the doctoral program. Students desiring to be reinstated must file a re-entry form with the Office of Admissions and Records and submit a written petition to the Graduate Admissions and Retention Council stating the reason for their inactivity.

Dissertation Completion

Students planning to complete all doctoral requirements prior to the June, August, December, or March degree dates must adhere to the following time-line:

  • Final dissertation hearing must take place no less than four weeks prior to the degree date
  • The final bound copy of the dissertation must be received by the University Library at the Lisle Campus no less than five business days before the degree date
  • Students obtain approval from the committee to schedule the final hearing, submit the Form to Schedule Dissertation Approval Meeting, and submit a copy of the final document to the Director of Doctoral Program and the Dean’s Representative, no less than three weeks prior to the final hearing date
  • Students should plan to complete a final draft of the dissertation and obtain approval for scheduling a final hearing no less than seven weeks prior to the degree date
  • Students wishing to participate in June commencement hooding ceremonies must have their final hearing on or before April 30
  • Students who have their hearing after the April 30 deadline will be invited to participate in the June commencement ceremony the following year

Doctoral Handbook

Additional procedures and policies regarding the doctoral programs are included in the Doctoral Handbook. Students are to consult both the University Course Catalog and the Doctoral Handbook to determine program requirements. The Handbook is available on the NCE website at http://nlu.nl.edu/nce/departments/doctoral-programs/upload/Doctoral-Hand-Book.pdf.