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Doctor of Education

Take your career to the highest level with a doctorate in education (EdD).

Overview
Structure and Logistics
Admissions
Doctoral Projects

Winter 08 Course Schedule

Overview

The EdD offered by Northeastern’s School of Education in the College of Professional Studies prepares skilled and knowledgeable academic leaders. By integrating core managerial and leadership skills with best practices in education, our EdD builds on the School of Ed’s commitments to practice-oriented education and to inclusion and community building from urban and global perspectives. The content and format of the program reflects the changing role of education leaders, the necessity for distributed leadership in education, and the need for access, opportunity, and empowerment in all education communities.

Designed for working professionals with demanding careers, the program is structured so that candidates may complete their coursework and doctoral projects in as little as three years. Classes meet evenings, on weekends, intensively during the summer, and online. Degree requirements include a collaborative doctoral project that focuses on a significant challenge facing educators in the U.S. or around the world.

Structure and Logistics

The EdD degree is designed to build on a masters degree. Candidates entering the EdD program must first complete an appropriate masters (such as an MEd in curriculum and instruction or education leadership) or equivalent in a related field (such as a JD or an MS in science).  Candidates take 13 three-credit courses and complete a six quarter hour doctoral project − for a total of 45 quarter hours.

Starting in their first year, groups of up to five candidates work collaboratively to begin to develop their doctoral projects. They have three formal hearings before their project committees. By the end of their second term each group writes a qualifying paper describing the significance of the education issue to be addressed.  By the end of their fourth term each group member will individually formulate, submit and defend a doctoral project proposal for addressing the group’s education issue. Candidates will individually submit and defend their final doctoral projects in their final quarter in the program.

Each of these milestones: the group qualifying paper, proposal defense, and project defense — coupled with an annual review of academic standing allows the faculty to assess candidate progress.  These milestones may trigger remedial measures for candidates not making adequate progress, or they may serve as exit points from the program.

Admissions

To apply to the EdD online, submit a completed application form, official undergraduate and graduate transcripts, three letters of recommendation, and a personal statement.  We prefer that one letter of recommendation be from your current employer/supervisor. Admission also requires at least three years of professional experience in education or a closely related field. GRE exam scores are not required. Individuals for whom English is not the primary language must submit TOEFL or IELTS scores, or complete an assessment test administered by Northeastern University’s English Language Center.

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Doctoral Projects

Doctoral projects provide candidates with an opportunity to apply their knowledge, understandings, and insights, as well as their analysis, synthesis, problem solving, and team-work skills.  The theme of each project will be a significant curricular, policy, or management problem confronting public or higher education in the U.S. and/or other countries.  Within those themes candidates will identify more focused issues that have particular urgency to their state, region, district, or institution.

Doctoral projects involve extensive reviews of the literature, and in-depth analysis of current and past policies, procedures, and management systems.  Candidates are expected to interview experts within and outside the university, particularly innovative professionals who have developed successful strategies upon which candidates may model their own approaches. Candidates are expected to draw on published data banks reporting on, for example, candidate scores on standardized tests, and both make meaning of the data and compare it with similar data from their home districts and institutions.

As stated earlier, initial project work, including the qualifying paper, will be performed collaboratively by project groups. Project proposals will be in two parts. The first will contain the results of each group’s efforts to frame their education problem/issue in historical and political terms, and to collectively assess the state-of-the-art as it relates to the major theme of the group. There will be as many second parts as there are members of the project group. In these parts each candidate will submit their plan to build from the group work using existing data, additional literature, and/or interviews with experts, to focus on a specific application or issue.

Final doctoral project reports are presented to the faculty in the last quarter in which a candidate is in residence. Candidates are expected to identify those components of their projects which were the result of group efforts and those based on individual investigation and analysis.  Final project reports should also include an implementation plan, analysis of challenges, and predicted outcomes that are situated in a particular district or institution.

For more information:

Call the Doctoral Programs Office at 617-373-6425


Winter 09 Course Schedule:

The courses listed below are appropriate for all Ed.D. students participating in an online or hybrid program on the Boston Campus. 

If you are in a K-12 cohort program in an offsite location, registration for your Winter 09 courses is posted at the bottom of this page.  If you have any questions please contact the Doctoral Programs Office at 617-373-6425.

Online Courses:

ED 3900    Social and Cultural Analysis of Education Systems

ED 3901    Research Processes

ED 3903    Global and Historical Perspectives of Education

Hybrid Courses offered on the Boston Campus:

ED 3900    Social and Cultural Analysis of Education Systems
                Tuesdays, 5:50 - 7:50pm*

ED 3901    Research Processes
                Thursdays, 5:50 - 7:50pm

ED 3910    Leading Change and Transformation
                Tuesdays, 5:50 - 7:50pm*

*These hybrid courses are meeting on alternating Tuesday nights, students may enroll in both sections without conflict.

K-12 Cohort Schedules:

Attleboro Cohort:
All hybrid classes meet at Biship Feehan High School in Attleboro, MA

ED 3901       Research Processes
                   Online

ED 3900        Social and Cultural Analysis of Education Systems
                    Hybrid course, Saturdays 8:30am - 3:30pm 
                    Special dates:  January 3, 24 and February 28

Swansea Cohort:
All hybrid classes meet at the South Shore Education Collaborative in Swansea, MA. 
To register for Winter courses contact Mike Flanigan or Jewel Woodside at 508.379.1180 ext. 29.

Cohorts 1 and 2:
ED 3910    Leading Change and Transformation
               Hybrid Course, Saturdays 8:30am - 3:30pm 
               Special dates:  Jan 3 plus 2 other dates TBA

ED 3913    Public and Institutional Policy 
                Online course

Cohort 3:

ED 3903    Global and Historical Perspectives of Education
                Online course

ED 3913    Public and Institutional Policy
                Online course

Weymouth Cohort:

ED 3900    Social and Cultural Analysis of Education Systems
                Hybrid course, Saturdays 8:30am - 3:30pm
                Special dates:  January 10, 31, and February 7
                Location:  Weymouth, MA (TBA)

ED 3903    Global and Historical Perspectives of Education
                Hybrid course, Saturdays 8:30am - 3:30pm
                Special dates:  February 28, March 14 and 28
                Location:  Boston Campus

 

 

 

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