►   Graduate School Rules  apply to this program

Office: Lawrence Street Center, 701
Telephone: 303-315-6300
Fax: 303-315-6311
E-mail: education@ucdenver.edu
Website:  http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/SchoolOfEducation/Academics/Doctorate/Pages/EdD.aspx

Program Overview

Students completing this program earn a Doctorate of Education (EdD) with a major in “Leadership for Educational Equity.” Within this major, students also pursue a concentration area in Executive Leadership, Early Childhood Special Education/Early Childhood Education, Mathematics Education, Professional Learning and Technology, Science Education or Urban Ecologies. The EdD program is a practice-based, doctoral level program for professional leadership in P-20 or community-based educational contexts. The EdD prepares leaders within the profession to address complex educational challenges by combining decision-focused, analytic and research skills with a broad-based understanding of systems anchored in principles of equity and access to education.

The goal of the doctor of education (EdD) leadership for educational equity program is to prepare future leaders for social justice and equity in P-20 and community-based education contexts who can effectively translate research into practice, influence policy, use data effectively in decision making and organize individuals and groups to address challenges collaboratively and successfully.  

This program reflects a cohort model.  Courses will generally be offered in weekend, hybrid (part face-to-face, part online), online and/or summer intensive formats. Students follow their cohort in taking the prescribed course work and experiences for three consecutive years.

Course Work – 54 Semester Hours

• 6 hours in an equity core
• 6 hours in a leadership and organizational performance core
  (two, 3 - credit courses)
• 6 hours in learning core
  (two, 3 - credit courses)
• 12 hours in one of five concentration areas
  (four, 3 - credit courses/experiences)
• 9 hours in research core
  (three, 3 - credit courses)
• 15 hours of completion of a capstone Dissertation in Practice

Concentration Areas

Executive Leadership (with ALP or PLP Option): is designed to deepen individuals’ skills in policy analysis, development and research; personnel management; finance; accountability systems and evaluation; and community relations. Support individuals who hold or seek to move into senior management positions inside school districts, community colleges, higher education policy or community-based education organizations.  Students working in P-12 schools may also choose either an administrator or a principal licensure option.  Roles may include that of a director, deputy, superintendent or president.

Early Childhood Special Education/Early Childhood Education: is designed to introduce students to issues and practices in early childhood special education/early childhood education and to prepare students to provide leadership to improve outcomes for children with disabilities across early childhood settings. The program will prepare students who can act effectively as administrators in districts, agencies and programs to improve outcomes of all children, including children with disabilities.

Mathematics Education: students and faculty focus on teacher learning and professional development experiences. Specifically, projects investigate the ways that particular interventions used in professional development for mathematics teachers impacts their content knowledge and pedagogical practices in their classrooms. Work in this area is framed by a situated perspective of learning and incorporates mixed methods to answer questions around the ways particular interventions support teacher and student learning. Video data is prominent in both the design of professional development interventions as well as a major data source for analyses. Analytic methods vary based on the research question and grain size.

Professional Learning and Technology (PLT): this concentration area brings together faculty and students seeking to support working educators in ongoing professional development (PD) and learning activities, helping them become more effective and productive in their jobs. The PLT focus addresses the PD needs of K-12 teachers but also those of higher educators and workplace learners. Applying principles of adult learning, instructional design and change leadership, we use a variety of methods (mentoring, coaching, site-based communities, e-learning resources, workshops etc.) to support professional growth and accountability. The PLT courses in the EdD program prepare you to assume leadership in professional learning programs at all levels (site-based, district- or organization-wide), applying the latest research and best practices of the profession.

Science Education: prepares students to explore, understand, and think critically about the nature of science and science education from a largely research-oriented perspective. Students may elect to focus on environmental science education as an area of specialization within this concentration area through electives and discipline- specific research agendas.

Urban Ecologies:  this concentration area brings together several faculty members in interdisciplinary study of education in urban ecologies. Participating faculty members are aligned with the interdisciplinary concentration area as a whole, rather than specific threads or foci. The philosophical assumptions underlying work in this concentration area are: 1) Cultural groups are not monolithic, 2) Urban life and learning, including Pre-K-20 education, complex phenomena that benefit from the multiple lenses offered by multi-disciplinarity, and 3) Trans-nationalism characterizes the cultural experiences and political/economic realities of many communities in cities and contributes to the hybrid identities of residents. These assumptions contribute to a conceptual frame for investigating diversity within the city that is not focused on specific groups and is concerned with the influence of globalization on communities in general within the city. Experiences of and issues confronting different cultural and ethno-linguistic groups will be the key content of this concentration area.