Program Description

The Curriculum Studies and Teacher Education specialization is designed for people who want an in-depth understanding of the issues and that are faced by curriculum and teacher education specialists, regardless of whether they are leaders in a classroom, at central office, an agency, a professional organization, the community college or the university. The program provides opportunities for students to develop an understanding of the philosophical, cultural, ethical, political, and historical contexts that influence curriculum design, development, delivery, and evaluation.

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Degrees Offered

Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, concentration in Curriculum Studies/Teacher Education (CSTE).

Modes of Delivery

Offered: face-to-face or online

Career Opportunities With This Degree

A Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction may prepare you to work as a teacher, trainer, or education researcher. The degree can also lead to work in academia, government and business. It can also lead to a teaching career at the university level. If you are an EC-12 teacher, a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction may provide opportunities for leadership roles as curriculum and instructional leaders in your school or district. This degree will provide coursework in research methods, statistics, and policy. These areas are highly valued in government agencies and businesses. Large corporations often have their own education departments and have needs for curriculum designers and trainers.

Application Materials

The Ph.D. program in Curriculum and Instruction requires a completed master's degree in the field of education or cognate areas of study from an accredited higher education institution in the United States or equivalent higher education institution in another country.

All programs require that you submit an online application through the Graduate School.

College Transcripts –Unofficial transcripts can be uploaded to the Graduate School application. Information on submitting official transcripts will be provided to you by the Graduate School. Grade reports or unofficial transcripts from university web portals will not be accepted. Please redact the Social Security Number anywhere it appears on your transcript. If documents are written in a language other than English, a copy of a complete and official English translation must be provided with the original language records.

Required Supplemental Application Materials

GRE Scores, Resume, Three Professional Recommendations, Applicant Statement, Writing Sample. Download a comprehensive list of requirements.

Application Process

Please visit the Graduate Application Process for more information on how to apply.

Application deadline: TBA

GRE Scores

This program requires official GRE scores. Scores must no more than 5 years old at the time of application. Official GRE scores must be sent from Educational Testing Services (ETS) to the Texas Tech Graduate School. To register for the examination please visit the GRE Testing website. Texas Tech University's code is 6827.

• Due to ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Graduate School has temporarily changed its admission requirements regarding test scores. The GRE may optionally be submitted by applicants for the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 academic years, through the Summer 2024 application cycle. International applicants may use certain alternate exams in place of the TOEFL. Please visit the Graduate Admissions COVID-19 FAQ page for more information.

Semester in which the program can be started

Fall enrollment only.

Estimated Hours to Completion

63 hours of coursework.

Financial Aid

Scholarships and assistantships for doctoral students are available through the office of graduate education and research in the College of Education.

Tuition & Fees

Use the Student Business Services Tuition Estimator to estimate your costs.

Contacts

Faculty

Dr. Faith Maina is interested in teacher education and social justice, specifically, culturally sustaining pedagogies, multicultural education, cultural diversity in teacher preparation, and equity in graduate education.  Her students have written dissertations on a variety of topics including "Communicative Language approaches in Vietnam," "Doctoral students' attrition in Kenya," "Science teacher preparation in Saudi Arabia," "Teacher attrition," "Black girls in Mathematics," "Culturally relevant teaching in high school science," and "African American parents' perceptions of their children in STEM classrooms."  She is active in the American Education Research (AERA), the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE), the Kenya Scholars and Studies Association (KESSA), and the Carnegie African Diaspora Scholars Alumni (CADF)-2018.  She has also served as a Fulbright Scholar (2011-2012). 

Dr. Jeasik Cho is interested in curriculum theory, compassion as praxis (moral anger and outrage as a mobilizer for social justice), critical multicultural education (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), qualitative research (validity, evaluation of the quality of qualitative research), culturally relevant metacognition, rural education, formative assessment, and blended and personalized learning.  His students have written dissertations on a variety of topics, including “Afro-Brazilian undergraduate women of partners of the Americas,” “The family English literacy interactions of Muslim refugee & immigration mothers and daughters using a Symbolic Interactionism-Multiliteracies framework,” “The characteristics of culturally relevant engagement in two urban high school science classrooms,” and “Holistic validation in Posthuman research: Jazz Scat-Thinking as a way forward.”  He is active in the American Education Research Association (AERA), The Bergamo Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice, The Qualitative Report (TQR), and the Korean Association for Multicultural Education (KAME). 

Dr. Aaron Zimmerman is interested in teacher education and the lives of early-career teachers, existential perspectives on the experience of becoming a teacher, the collaborative data use for continuous program improvement within teacher education programs, and the scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education.  His students have written dissertations on a variety of topics, including “Comparing and contrasting financial literacy standards across states,” “Photo-voice and participatory action research as methods of developing a scholarly identity in higher education,” “Principal walk-throughs as method of teacher evaluation,” and “How early-career literacy teachers evaluate curricular resources for lesson planning.” He is active in the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE), the Southwest Educational Research Association (SERA), and the American Association of Teaching and Curriculum (AATC).

Dr. Joshua Cruz is interested in the development and advancement of qualitative methods, critical approaches, post-structural approaches, historical approaches, post-secondary education, mentoring and preparation for the college experience, academic writing, engineering education, student epistemologies, student identities, and empathy and soft skills.  His students have published dissertations on a variety of topics, including “Queering educator orientations toward culturally and linguistically diverse students,” “Servant leadership in Seventh Day Adventist schools,” “Foucauldian history (genealogy) of digital literacy,” and “Exploring the uses of short, ad hoc videos to create instructor 'presence' in online education environments.”  He is active in the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the Literacy Research Association, and the American Society for Engineering Education.

Dr. Jairo I. Fúnez-Flores is interested in Latin American student movements and social justice movements implicated in education.  He is also interested in Decolonial Theory and the geopolitics of curriculum, Space/Place Theory, Critical Ethnography, and Activist Research.  He is active in the American Education Research Association (AERA), the Curriculum and Pedagogy Group, and the Latin America Council of Social Sciences.