Doctor of Philosophy in Education (Ph.D.)

Filling a Niche

A significant shortage exists for well-trained educators with degrees in the research-oriented fields of education. SMU has responded to this need with a doctoral program in education in the University's School of Education and Human Development. Offered through the School's Department of Teaching and Learning, the doctoral program provides a strong foundation in empirical research, pedagogy, and educational leadership in the area of literacy and language acquisition.  Job positions for educators with these sorts of research and academic credentials are abundant.

Participate in Research

The doctoral program in education prepares students to understand, evaluate and conduct research in education that will contribute to the improvement of student learning, teaching practices, services to special populations, and, ultimately to the improvement of all levels of Education.  The program’s distinctive vision is to respond to the need for educational leaders who can provide data-based recommendations for educational policy and innovative new teaching and assessment practices. The program faculty is particularly effective in building student skills in reading and mathematics instructional design, improving education for special populations such as English Language Learners (ELL), and quantitative methods of research as emphasized in a number of recent federal education initiatives and federal grant programs. The program is currently offered by the Department of Teaching and Learning (DLLL), which is housed in the SMU Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development (SEHD).

Curriculum

The curriculum of the doctoral program prepares the student for leadership, research, and innovation in a broad range of educational contexts. The four broad specialty areas of the program consist of Instructional Design, Special Populations, Research Methods & Assessment, and Literacy, Math, or Science Interventions. Each of these areas contains several concentrations. Instructional design involves innovative new practices for a wide range of curricular areas and levels of education. Special Populations includes giftedness, learning disabilities, ELL, and many other education-related categories. Doctoral students must complete a minimum of 60 credit hours of coursework across approximately four years with at least two years of residence at SMU. Required coursework consists of 21 hours of Core Research courses, 21 hours of Specialty Area courses, and 18 hours of Electives. The Core Research curriculum includes Professional Seminars in research paradigms and design, a quantitative statistics series, advanced assessment methods, and mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative research). Specialty and Elective courses span a wide range of instructional design, literacy, bilingualism/biliteracy, diversity, linguistics, special education, giftedness, and other education-related courses.

Admission

The PhD program is designed to augment an existing Master’s degree or equivalent preparation. Admission is based on an overall evaluation of the candidate’s undergraduate and graduate transcripts, GRE scores (e.g., ideally 1100+; with TOEFL scores if the student’s native language is not English), written records demonstrating at least three years of full-time teaching or school-related experience, a statement of purpose and aspiration, three letters of recommendation, and faculty interviews. Application should be made online, beginning February 15th for priority review, and continuing until April 15, the latest date acceptance letters are typically sent to applicants.

Degree Requirements

Ordinarily, students must enroll in 9 hours of coursework (i.e., three courses) per semester, in full-time residence at SMU, for the first two years of the program. With the assistance of their advisors (and dissertation committees), students develop programs of study tailored to their particular needs. However, all students share the same set of requirements. Requirements for the doctoral degree encompass the 60 credit hours of coursework (including approved transfer credits), qualifying exams, a major area paper (often related to the future dissertation), evidence of teaching competency, dissemination of research (e.g., a conference presentation), a professional portfolio of the student’s best work, advancement to the dissertation phase, formation of a dissertation committee, a dissertation with an oral defense, and submission of a variation of the dissertation for possible publication. Students are expected to participate as assistants in extant research studies (often conducted in local school districts) as part of the research requirements of the program.

For Additional Information

Please contact the Department of Teaching and Learning by calling 214-768-4889 or e-mailing LitandLang@smu.edu.