EdD in Education, Curriculum & Instruction

The College of Education, Health and Human Development is a proud member of the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate.

Program Objectives

The Doctor of Education (EdD) degree in Curriculum and Instruction has been designed to prepare students to teach in teacher education programs across the country in college and university settings. Progress through the degree provides students with opportunities to develop their professional knowledge and skills in the areas of research, teaching, and service.

The graduate faculty is committed to offering multiple avenues for students to reach their goals and expectations for advanced study in teaching, learning, and teacher education. The program takes an integrated approach to pre-service teacher education. The study of the theoretical underpinnings of teacher education are carefully examined in the context of practical experiences in teacher education research, college teaching, and professional service.

Course Offerings

The doctoral course of study features a combination of face-to-face and online courses. As such, it is considered an on-campus program which blends both formats of instruction. 

Students enter the doctoral program each fall semester as a full-time or a part-time student.

Courses are offered in a regular, predictable rotation as much as possible. Core courses are offered at least once each year. At a minimum, all other courses are offered every other year. During the summer, courses are offered based on student needs.

The Graduate Course Rotation depicts a working schedule of course offerings and delivery methods.

Program Flow

After being admitted the student will be assigned a temporary advisor and should then meet with his/her assigned advisor. Actual courses taken during the initial stage will be based on the student's previous academic work and advisor/committee approval.

The EdD program emphasizes the study of disciplinary content knowledge and related theories guided by a scholar-practitioner approach that can be used to devise applied research studies designed to solve practical problems encountered in K-12 school systems. The program is structured to be completed in 3 to 4 years with tuition support for a limited number of residential EdD students.

Program of Study

Committees

Each doctoral student's committee must consist of at least four approved members. The majority of the committee should be made up of faculty from the degree-granting department. The chair and one other approved member must be from the Curriculum & Instruction faculty. Two other approved members will be selected based upon their ability to contribute to the student's studies leading up to and through the dissertation research. These two committee members must have academic credentials in the area of the student's program of study and be approved by the Head of the Department of Education and Dean of The Graduate School. For information regarding graduate representatives, please refer to the Graduate School policy.

Chairs

The student should carefully select his/her chair after thorough conversations with those Curriculum & Instruction faculty members that he/she believes might have an interest in their doctoral research agenda and/or the ability to work with them toward generating a defensible dissertation. The chair will give leadership and approval regarding the balance of the committee's potential membership. The committee, as a whole, is subject to the approval of the Head of the Department of Education. The chair will facilitate program approval, comprehensive exam planning and clarification, proposal hearing, and dissertation defense. Chairs and members of a student's committee are subject to change. Revision to the program of study can be made during the course of study with the chair's approval.

Comprehensive Examinations

As EdD students in Curriculum & Instruction approach the end of their coursework (30 credits completed), and prior to the Dissertation Proposal Meeting, they will contact their committee chair to discuss the content and format of the required written and oral comprehensive examinations. The Written Comprehensive Examination will be composed of one question from each of three primary areas:

• Educational Foundations (e.g., synthesis of theoretical and empirical literature regarding various aspects of teaching and learning),
• Educational Research (demonstration of mastery of aspects of both qualitative and quantitative projects such as sampling, validity, reliability, data analysis), and
• The student’s major area of study (e.g., methods of science education for pre-service teachers). Students who are completing a minor (e.g., History) will answer one additional question in their minor area.

The committee chair will discuss the process with committee members and based upon the members’ area of expertise, designate one member to compose an appropriate question for each of the suggested areas. The members will submit their questions to the chair who will compile them and give them to the student. The Written Comprehensive Examination will be structured as a written take-home exam that is to be completed over the subsequent 1 to 2 week period. Students are required to complete the exam using APA format.

The completed written examination will be submitted to the committee chair and copies will be distributed to the entire doctoral committee for evaluation. Committee members will have two weeks to read and evaluate the content and written competency of the student’s responses. At the end of the two week period, the committee will meet for a two-hour Oral Comprehensive Examination. The chair will facilitate the meeting and determine the order of questioning. At the completion of the questioning and in the absence of the student, the entire committee will discuss their evaluation of the outcome of the examination. The chair will work with the committee to make a determination regarding passing or failing both the written and comprehensive components of the examination.

The comprehensive exams must be completed by the posted Graduate School deadlines.

Additional Doctor of Education Requirements

The Doctor of Education degree must meet the minimum requirements in the For Doctoral Students section of the Graduate School's website. Additional requirements for the EdD degree beyond these minimums are available through the Department of Education. All EdD degree candidates are expected to be familiar with both The Graduate School's degree requirements listed here: http://www.montana.edu/gradschool/policy/degreq_doctoral.html and the Department of Education degree requirements listed on the department website.

Contact Information

Dr. Nick Lux, Program Leader
Curriculum and Instruction
Phone: 406-994-6581 nicholas.lux@montana.edu

Micki MacGregor, Graduate Coordinator
406-994-6786
edgrad@montana.edu