Curriculum, Advocacy and Policy, Ed.D.
The Curriculum, Advocacy and Policy doctoral program is designed to prepare high level scholar-practitioners for curriculum leadership positions in schools and other educational communities. The program emphasizes engagement in processes of critical reflection about issues of curriculum in relation to the school community and society and on developing the scholarship necessary to be leaders and change agents, scholars and researchers.
In addition to National College of Education Doctoral Admissions Requirements, applicants must:
- Submit three letters of recommendation. Two of the three required letters should be completed by people who can attest to the candidate’s capacity to complete rigorous graduate studies and one by a person supervising the applicant’s professional work.
- Submit written responses to the following four questions:
- What are your professional goals and how do you envision doctoral experiences supporting and/or relevant to achieving those goals?
- What previous professional and personal experiences encouraged you to apply to this doctoral program?
- Please explain what readings, academic studies or specific ideas have contributed to your current understandings as a professional.
- How do you strive to enact these understandings?
- Note: The admission process occurs in two stages:
- First, the applicant submits the application and supporting documentation to the Office of Admissions by the published deadlines. The Office of Admissions will forward to the doctoral committee the completed application form once all documentation is received. A faculty committee will review the documents and decide if and when to invite the applicant for a second stage of the admissions process.
- The second stage will consist of having all applicants who appear to be a good match for the program being invited to campus for the second stage of the review process that includes three components: a group interview, a written response, and an individual interview
- The first part of this will be a group interview in which a faculty committee will interview
applicants as a group. This will include a discussion/conversation among the candidates and the committee members, focusing on an article, selected by faculty and sent to the
applicant in advance.
- After the group discussion, students will write a reflective essay on the ideas provoked by the
discussion. Faculty will later review the essays to assess the student’s ability to construct a written document.
- Individual interviews will follow the writing portion to enable faculty and the applicant to
focus on individual and programmatic goals
Program Details:
- Requires 63 SH for completion
- Requires qualifying paper
- Requires a dissertation
Required Courses
Foundational Core - 18 SH
CCD 605 | Scholarly Habits of Mind | 1 TO 6 |
CCD 615 | Psychological Foundations of Teaching and Learning | 3 |
CCD 620 | Epistemology of Learning, Teaching and Inquiry | 3 |
CCD 625 | Critical Policy Analysis | 3 |
CCD 630 | Teacher Knowledge in Disciplines | 3 |
Note: CCD 605 must be taken for a total of 6 SH.
Curriculum, Advocacy and Policy Core - 15 SH
CAP 600 | Curriculum Theory: Historical, Philosophical, and Political Issues | 3 |
CAP 601 | Cultures of Schools and Communities | 3 |
CAP 602 | Curriculum Theory: Contemporary Issues and Practices | 3 |
CAP 603 | Curriculum Planning, Organization, and Evaluation | 3 |
CAP 605 | Professional Development and School Change | 3 |
Research and Dissertation - 17 SH
ESR 612 | Empirical/Analytic Research I | 3 |
ESR 614 | Interpretive and Critical Research I | 3 |
ESR 616 | Empirical/Analytic Research II | 3 |
| or | |
ESR 618 | Interpretive and Critical Research II | 3 |
| and | |
CCD 699A | Dissertation: Curriculum Advocacy and Policy | 1 TO 8 |
Note: CCD 699A must be taken for a total of 8 semester hours.
Program Electives - 13 SH
Choose 13 SH of NCE graduate courses in consultation with the doctoral advisor
Qualifying Paper
When students complete all courses, with the exception of ESR 616 or ESR 618, they will work with a faculty advisor to plan a qualifying paper that represents a synthesis of their learning. This plan must be approved by the advisor and the program director for the paper’s focus and the start date. Before starting the writing, but after obtaining approval, the student registers for CCD 697A.