DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
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First and Second Years: Course Work Phase
The first year introduces the student, both broadly and deeply, to significant concepts and methods in educational research. In the second semester, the student begins to focus his or her course work on areas of concentration leading to the qualifying examination. We strongly urge students to explore relevant courses across the university in addition to the Education doctoral program's requirements; consult with your advisor about this. As different students may focus their work in different ways, it is crucial to choose all elective course work in consultation with the advisor, particularly in the case of research methods courses for which the student may need to follow a pattern of sequential study. The recommended plan of study, including general education requirements, methodology requirements, and concentration requirements, to be completed in the first two to three years, is as follows, depending on whether students are in the Social Contexts of Educational Research strand or the Science and Mathematics strand:
General Education Courses (9 credits)
Doctoral Seminar (Education 6901)
3 credits per semester (6 total)
The seminar is offered every fall semester. It is required of all doctoral students in their first two years. Advanced doctoral students are encouraged to continue enrolling in the seminar; options allow students from the third year onward to enroll for fewer credits, and to complete fewer assignments. Responsibility for this seminar rotates each year among the faculty and typically includes participation by more than one faculty member. The topic on which the seminar focuses also changes from year to year, and is chosen by a group of faculty to acquaint students with a problem in educational research that faculty consider central to the field. As such, the seminar enables students to study an educational issue from a variety of perspectives and become acquainted with a number of faculty members over the two required semesters of enrollment.
History of Education (Education 481)
3 credits
History of Education in the United States is required of all doctoral students. Alternate graduate courses in the history of education may be substituted, as approved by the Doctoral Studies Committee. It is recommended that the student take this course in the first year of study.
Methodology Courses
Methodology Concentration
12-15 credits
To develop problem-centered researchers, researchers who are free to adopt whatever methodology is most promising for addressing a particular problem and who are capable of utilizing the relevant literature from across the full spectrum of methodology, the program requires doctoral students to cultivate a professional level of competence in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Students are also required to attain a "specialist" level of competence in at least one of these approaches. What constitutes the specialist level beyond the core requirements is to be determined in each case in consultation with the student's advisor. Students concentrating in quantitative methodology are required to take a minimum of 1 qualitative and 3 core quantitative courses (12 total credits at minimum). Students concentrating in qualitative methodology are required to take a minimum of 2 core quantitative and 3 core qualitative courses (15 total credits at minimum).
Quantitative Methodology
This methodology concentration is required of all students in the Science and Mathematics Education Program.
The basic/professional level of expertise in quantitative methodology would consist of knowledge of:
- At least one of the major statistical packages, for example, SPSS, SAS, STATA, and so on.
- The basic concepts of measurement, for example, types of scales, reliability, and validity, strategies of item analysis, and professional standards for assessment.
- Descriptive statistics, correlation, graphical analysis, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, linear regression, nonlinear regression, generalized linear models, survival analysis, and modern regression methods.
- Nonparametric, bootstrap, and jackknife methods.
Students focusing on quantitative methods are required to take a total of 12 methodology credits, including one qualitative methodology course and three core courses in quantitative methods, examining analysis of covariance and multiple regression analysis, as well as hierarchical linear modeling. The basic/professional level of expertise in quantitative methodology should be satisfied by the completion of the core courses (offered in the Applied Statistics Program) as well as any courses from the optional list (chosen in consultation with the advisor).
Core Courses (choose in consultation with advisor with above criteria covered):
STA 441: Social Statistics
STA 442: Social Statistics Practicum
Psych 5066: Quantitative Methods I
Psych 5067: Quantitative Methods II
Psych 516 (for advanced statistical study): Applied Multivariate Analysis
Optional Courses:
To be determined with the advisor
Qualitative Methodology
Students concentrating in qualitative methods are required to take the first two quantitative methodology courses (see above) and three qualitative methodology courses for a total of 15 credits.
Educ 5991: Principles and Methods of Qualitative Research I, must be taken first in the sequence of qualitative courses. Students who choose to emphasize qualitative inquiry in their course of study will be required to take two additional doctoral level qualitative research courses. The second and third qualitative courses can be taken in any order.
Core courses:
Educ 5991: Principles and Methods of Qualitative Research I
Educ 5992: Directed Studies in the Principles/Methods of Qualitative Research
Optional Courses:
3. Qualitative Research in Social Science:
This should be a doctoral-level course in a department on campus. Examples of such courses include but are not limited to:
Education 4033: Video Microanalysis: Methods and Tools
Anthropology 412: Sociolinguistics: Ethnography of Communications
Anthropology 4451: Research Methods in Anthropology
Anthropology 4481: Writing Culture
Anthropology 5121: Culture, Power, and Writing
First and Second Years: Additional Requirements
In addition to the general education requirements and the appropriate methodology requirements, all students are required to complete two concentrations. The concentrations offered by the Education Department are as follows:
Social Contexts of Educational Research Strand:
Students in this program are introduced to the research in the areas of concentration they choose. The core literatures and research methods are shaped within each area of concentration; students choose their two concentrations with the help of the advisor, complete the core courses in the general education requirements, and finish one methodology concentration, chosen with the advisor.
Science and Mathematics Strand:
Most doctoral students admitted to the Science and Mathematics education doctoral program will arrive with a Master’s degree in mathematics or science (or its equivalent of 24-30 graduate course credits). These students will complete four concentrations. Three of these concentrations are required: Mathematics and Science education, Learning Sciences, and Methodology. A quantitative focus in methodology with one course in qualitative methods is required. Additional qualitative methods courses are optional. The fourth concentration may be selected from among the other concentrations (Urban Education and American Culture Studies, Literacy, Educational Policy or by meeting the requirements to build one’s own concentration). In addition, some course work in the sciences or mathematics may be advised in consultation with an advisor or committee member.
If a student is admitted to the program with less than a master’s degree in mathematics or science, additional coursework in mathematics or science will be required to achieve the equivalent of a master’s degree in a content field.
Additional Options:
Some students may wish to complete a graduate certificate outside the Department of Education, for example, in American Culture Studies, in Women and Gender Studies, or in the Center for New Institutional Social Sciences. Typically completing either certificate will require an extra semester's worth of course work. Please consult your advisor in Education and the appropriate advisor in the graduate certificate program about the requirements and scheduling of courses.
Concentrations
Educational Policy Concentration
Students who wish to understand the policy analysis and making processes that influence educational research and practice must also understand the contexts of those activities and the theoretical assumptions that shape them. The policy studies concentration is intended to enable students to design and evaluate educational initiatives and associated legal and legislative remedies, taking into consideration the budgetary challenges, political realities, and ethicaldilemmas related to poverty, education, crime, child and family well being, and humandevelopment. Students may take additional course work in other policy areas such as ethics and environmental policy through elective courses within Arts and Sciences or elsewhere at Washington University. Students developing a concentration in the policy area should take at least three courses in the Education Department and one or more courses in other areas, in consultation with the advisor.
Core Courses (choose 3):
Education 4315: Culture, Language, and the Education of Black Students
Education 4608: Education of Black Children and Youth
Education 462: Politics of Education
Education 489: Education and Public Policy in the U.S.
Education 461: Intro to Tests and Measurements
Education 4621: Political Economy of Urban Education
Optional Courses (choose 1 or more):
Political Science 4241: Race and Politics
Political Science 4263: Systems of Inequality
Political Science 520: American Political Institutions
Political Science 531: American Public Policy
Law 603C: Children and the Law
Law 608: Race Relations Law
Law 617: State and Local Government
Learning Sciences Concentration
Students in this concentration gain a deep and working knowledge of the learning sciences. A deep knowledge requires a vertically integrated approach—including theory, research methodology, and classroom application. Students study the foundational theoretical approaches that underpin the learning sciences—constructivism, sociocultural theory, and cognitive science--and consider how these issues apply to such topics as reasoning, inquiry, modeling, memory, attention and engagement. Students engage in learning sciences research; this includes drawing on theoretical foundations to design, implement, and test their own approaches in real-world settings, such as schools, informal science institutions, or on-line communities. Of particular focus is the application of the learning sciences to mathematics, science, literacy and technology as a means of examining the epistemological foundations of knowledge and learning. Students become familiar and/or gain hands-on experience with some of the most influential and cutting-edge technologies under development, based on various learning sciences theories. Students also creatively and critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of specific classroom approaches and software applications.
Required Core Courses:
Education 4415: Introduction to Learning Sciences in Math, Science and Technology
Education 4055: Central Topics in Learning Sciences Research
Optional Courses (in consultation with the advisor):
Education 5232: Learning Sciences Practicum
Education 511: Cognitive Psychology Applied to Education
Education 4413: Project Design for Math and Science Education
Education 4414: Learning Technologies for Math and Science
Education 531A: Computer Applications in Education
Mathematics and Science Education Concentration
Students in this concentration are introduced to research in mathematics and science education. Primary areas of research include reviews of the patterns of results of major national and international tests (NAEP, TIMSS, AP, and so on), studies of student learning in major conceptual areas (multiplicative structures, algebra and functions, statistics, force and motion, electricity and magnetism, ecology, and so on); misconceptions literature; curricular change; and the use of new technologies. In addition, topics concerning equity and access and success in the sciences are examined quantitatively, through case studies and critical race theory. Finally, students examine approaches to professional development and assessment.
Required Core Courses:
Education 4414 Learning Technologies in Mathematics and Science
Education 5231 Curriculum Evaluation in Mathematics and Science
Education 5230 Professional Development in Mathematics and Science
Education 5055 Power and Conflict in Mathematics and Science Education
Optional Courses:
Education 4413 Project-Based Instruction in Mathematics and Science
Education 5011 Modeling and Inquiry in Mathematics and Science
Urban Education and American Culture Studies Concentration
The concentration in Urban Education with an optional emphasis or certification in American Culture Studies is designed to: (1) prepare urban educational researchers, broadly defined, with a coherent vision of the role that urban schools play in the broader American society, of social change, and of their roles in achieving it; (2) prepare urban educational researchers with a solid grasp of the historical, economic, and political forces that have shaped and that continue to shape urban communities and their schools; and (3) build a scholarly community that is steadfast in its commitment to improving urban education and that understands that such improvements are fundamental to making American public schools in general and society as a whole more responsive to its diverse citizenry. Students with a concentration in urban education are required to complete 3 core courses and any additional options in consultation with the advisor; students with an emphasis or certificate in American Culture Studies are required to choose 2 core courses and any additional options in consultation with the advisor.
Core Courses (AmCS graduate certificate students choose 2; for all others 3):
Education 4511: Race, Ethnicity and Culture: Qualitative Inquiries into Urban Education I
Education 4608: Education of Black Children and Youth in the United States
Education 4621: Political Economy of Urban Education
Education 4891: The Science and Politics of Testing in the United States
Optional Courses (choose 2 or more):
Education 4280: Urban Schooling in American History
Education 4315: Culture, Language and the Education of Black Students
Education 462: Politics of Education
Educations 4289: Neighborhoods, Schools and Social Inequality
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