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Doctor of Education

The Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) program offers students, who have demonstrated superior scholastic ability and special interest and aptitude in educational leadership areas of adult and higher education leadership, P-12 administrative leadership and educational technology leadership, to gain an advanced level degree within the field. This Doctor of Education program will help prepare students to become practitioner scholars. Doctoral candidates should consult the Ed.D. Handbook for additional information.

Admission Requirements

The application process will consist of completion of an application submitted to the Office of Enrollment Services with accompanying items listed below. The application will initially be reviewed by Ed.D. faculty. Students who are considered likely potential candidates will be interviewed by an admissions committee composed of Ed.D. faculty and public school partners. To choose the most outstanding applicants, the Ed.D. admission committee will make selections based on a holistic evaluation of the candidate's application file including:

  1. Official transcripts of all graduate coursework.
  2. Documentation of a master's degree from an institution accredited by a nationally recognized accreditation body.
  3. Resume or vita documenting years of related professional/leadership or educational technology, instructional design and training experience.
  4. Letter of introduction/interest stating professional goals, leadership style and educational philosophy.
  5. Recommendation forms: at least three professional references from persons in a position to evaluate the applicant's potential for success in a doctoral program. At least one to be completed by immediate or up-line supervisor or (for Ed. Tech track) professional familiarity with candidate's use of technology, instructional design and training. Other recommendation forms to be completed by professional colleagues or University faculty who are familiar with the applicant.
  6. Optional: GRE, Miller Analogies Test (MAT), or GMAT scores including GRE writing score or on-demand writing sample.
  7. International students and ESL students must meet university minimum TOEFL score or its equivalent.

Program Competencies

After completing the program, candidates in the Educational Leadership Ed.D. program will:

  1. Support current and aspiring educational leaders who are seeking opportunities for educational advancement while providing ongoing day-to-day leadership.
  2. Strengthen partnerships between educational organizations and universities in order to bring about improved achievement and learning.
  3. Mine the rich data resources that are currently available in the educational settings and assist participants in making data-driven decisions.
  4. Use current technologies to deliver content, facilitate discussions, share data and provide alternative forms of instruction that provide flexibility for practitioners to be involved in advanced educational study.
  5. Incorporate field-based components and activities in each of the required courses thereby enabling candidates to design, test and analyze solutions to authentic challenges faced by today's school leaders.
  6. Incorporate performance-driven participant assessments that demonstrate advanced knowledge and skill in authentic settings.

Assessment

The above competencies will be measured on three levels. This first level will be a measurement of competencies at the individual course level. Each course syllabus will have built-in individualized assessment measures. The second level of measurement will occur as a qualifying examination that will be required of candidates to pass before moving on to the capstone project. The third measurement will be the capstone project that will be required of students in order to complete the program.

Requirements for the Degree

  1. Satisfy all degree requirements.
  2. The student must successfully complete and defend a qualifying examination to enroll in EDD 899 capstone courses and continue within the doctoral program.
  3. Students are required to successfully complete and defend a doctoral capstone.
  4. Students must apply for completion at the beginning of the term in which all requirements will  be completed. Students can access the completion forms online at www.moreheadstate.edu/graduate or visit the Graduate School, 701 Ginger Hall, Morehead, KY 40351. The completion form can also be faxed to 606-783-5061.
  5. Maintain a cumulative 3.0 GPA in all courses taken.
  6. Must be unconditionally admitted. If a student is not unconditionally admitted after completing 12 graduate hours, he/she will not be permitted to register for additional credit hours.
  7. Students are encouraged to complete the program within the cohort time limit. The maximum allowed time for completion is ten years.
  8. A maximum of 18 post-master's hours may be permitted to be transferred from other universities.
  9. No more than 24 hours of previously completed post master's work from MSU may be counted in the Ed.D. program.