Application Process

The review of applicants will begin on September 15, 2011. For the Spring 2012 cohort, submitting an application before September 15, 2011 is strongly recommended.

Step 1: Apply to Texas Tech University’s Graduate School.

• Submission of Graduate Records Exam (GRE) scores that are five years old or fewer is required.
• International students must also submit your Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) score to the Graduate School.

Step 2: Apply to the College of Education.

• The College of Education requires the submission of an online application portfolio. Details and guidelines, as well as submission instructions, can be found on the College of Education degree website.

Step 3: Apply for financial aid and/or general scholarships.

Step 4: Upon acceptance to the Graduate School and the College of Education, you will work with a faculty advisor to develop a degree plan.

Program Requirements

Prerequisites

Students must have a master's degree from an accredited institution with at least one graduate-level course in each of the following areas: curriculum theory or development, diversity studies, and introductory statistics (9 credit hours). Also, students must have taken two graduate-level courses in philosophical, historical, cultural, psychological, political, global, or aesthetics studies (6 credit hours).

Prerequisites not completed at the time of admission must be completed by the end of the second year of doctoral study with the exception of graduate introductory statistics which must be completed by the end of the first year.

Courses

Building on the prerequisites, all students in this cohort will complete 12 hours in research core courses and 42 hours in curriculum studies. After completion of these 54 hours, students will take a qualifying examination. Students who successfully complete the qualifying examination will work on a dissertation while enrolling in a minimum of 12 semester hours capped by a defense of the dissertation which completes the degree requirements.

Program Requirements By Year

Year One 2012 (21 credit hours)

Spring
EDCI 5321	Curriculum Theory: Design and Development
EPSY 5385	Foundations of Educational Research
Summer I & II (First Residency Component)
EDCI 6331	John Dewey's Theory of Education
EDCI 6320	Curriculum Theory: Inquiry
EDCI 6333	Diversity Ideologies
Fall
EDCI 6306	Curriculum Evaluation for Improvement and Accountability
EDCI 5306	Popular Media & Culture

Year Two 2013 (18 credit hours)

Spring
EPSY 5381	Intermediate Educational Statistics
Summer I & II (Second Residency Component)
EDCI 5330	Ethics and Education
EDCI 5386	Constructivist Inquiry Methodologies in Curriculum & Instruction
EDIT 5370	Foundations of Distance Education
Fall
EDCI 6393	Advanced Practicum I
EDCI 6382	Advanced Field Methods in Constructivist Inquiry

Year Three 2014 (18 credit hours)

Spring
EDCI 6393	Advanced Practicum II
EDCI 5335	Models of Teaching
Summer I & II (Third Residency Component)
EDCI 6306	Curriculum Studies Research
EDCI 5333	Improving the Teaching of Thinking
EDCI 7000	Designing the Dissertation
Fall
Qualifying Examination & Dissertation Proposal
EDCI 8000	Doctoral Dissertation

Year Four 2015 (9 credit hours)

Spring
EDCI 8000	Doctoral Dissertation
Summer I & II
EDCI 8000	Doctoral Dissertation
EDCI 8000	Dissertation Defense
Students who do not complete their dissertations by Fall of Year Four (2015) will continue to enroll in dissertation research until completion of their degrees.

Program Delivery

The majority of the coursework will be completed online but students will be required to attend an orientation and three, two-week intensive summer sessions. Students must be committed to completing the program as part of a cohort. Additionally, students will be expected to complete coursework and complete additional expectations as outlined in the program requirements.

The two-day on-campus orientation will be held on January 14-15, 2012 at the main Texas Tech campus in Lubbock. At the orientation, students will meet with faculty and fellow Ph.D. students. Students will also learn about available support services and resources and will gain greater insight into the program requirements including the research-oriented philosophy of the program. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to meet with their advisors to complete the paperwork for their programs of study, explore research opportunities with faculty, and develop initial plans for research projects and/or dissertations.

In each of the first three summers of the program, students will be required to attend a two week, on-campus intensive session during mid-July.

Admission Criteria

Interested applicants should have:

• A master's degree in a relevant field from an accredited university with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher
• An acceptable set of GRE scores
• A minimum of three years of full-time professional experience
• A minimum of three references from professionals in the field of education

Additional Expectations

In addition to meeting programmatic and degree requirements, students are expected to actively contribute to the profession. Active contributions to the profession include doing most if not all of the following:

• Presenting annually at a national or international professional conference, such as ATE, ASCD, AERA, SITE or others as approved by advisor
• Submitting at least two research manuscripts for publication
• Submitting at least one book review for publication
• Attending a grant proposal writing workshop
• Contributing to the writing of at least one grant proposal
• Serving as a reviewer of conference proposals
• Serving as a reviewer of journal manuscripts