Questions about Admissions and Eligibility
When should I begin the application process?
We recommend that applicants begin the process at least one year in advance. Admission to a doctoral program is much more involved than admission to most master’s degree programs for several reasons. First of all, the Doctoral Program in Curriculum and Instruction requires all applicants to make a five-minute, research-based, recorded presentation and submit it to the program coordinator. This requires applicants to review the literature and prepare carefully for a formal presentation. A second reason to begin well in advance is so that doctoral students can take advantage of the full range of support mechanisms in place at IUP. Some students apply for graduate assistantships, and a student must be officially accepted into the program before any offer of an assistantship is made.
The deadline for graduate assistant applications is March 15; therefore, a student would need to be admitted to the program prior to that date. For teachers, there are many school and district policies that impinge upon doctoral studies. Applicants need to consider their district policies on such issues as tuition remission, sabbaticals, and requirements concerning full-time status. The timing of such long-range plans has implications for the start date. A third reason to apply at least one year in advance is to reserve a place in the cohort.
Do I need a degree in education to be considered for admission to the program?
Almost all of the students in the program have extensive backgrounds in education and classroom teaching experience at some level in the educational system, ranging from early childhood/elementary to middle school/secondary. Some students have teaching experience at the college level as well. Nevertheless, students from related fields who wish to concentrate on curriculum and instruction often find that the program is consistent with their goals.
The doctoral program in Curriculum and Instruction includes the option of earning the Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction Certificate from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in conjunction with the six-credit Supervised Doctoral Internship. This is an “add on” certificate. In other words, in order for a student to earn the Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction, she or he must already have a valid Instructional II Certificate in Pennsylvania. Earning this Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction Certificate requires the student to design, implement, and assess an interdisciplinary curriculum project in the public schools as well as produce a professional portfolio that documents the project. The portfolio must comply with detailed guidelines set by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Of course, students may elect not to pursue this certificate. International students, for example, cannot choose this option because they do not hold a teaching certificate from Pennsylvania. Other internships (for example, in higher education) are possible; however, all Supervised Doctoral Internships must have a clear connection to education and result in a professional development project that is “above and beyond” any normal work duties of the candidate.
What if an applicant is seeking a career change into the educational field?
At times, the path of an applicant’s career may have brought him or her into undergraduate teacher preparation, such as a person with a degree in mathematics who is teaching at a community college or a person with a degree in music who is working with future teachers. Under such conditions, it is the applicant’s responsibility to clearly demonstrate how the mission of the doctoral program in Curriculum and Instruction is consistent with her or his professional goals. The mechanism for doing this is the goals statement that applicants are required to write as part of the process of applying to the School of Graduate Studies and Research. An applicant’s goals statement should reflect consistency between the mission of the doctoral program and the prospective student’s professional goals.
Prospective doctoral students’ backgrounds and goals must clearly match the mission of the program. If a student is attempting to make a career change, the expectation is that he or she would work to acquire a background in education (e.g., enroll in master’s-level courses in education) before applying to the program. Such preparatory courses would not be considered as meeting any of the 60 credits beyond the master’s degree doctoral program requirements, however.
What is the mission and scope of the Doctoral Program in Curriculum and Instruction?T
The stated mission of the doctoral program in Curriculum and Instruction is to prepare teacher educators. Teacher educators are professionals who teach preservice and in-service teachers. Typically, teacher educators are future college and university faculty members with a commitment to the undergraduate preparation of teachers, or they are public school personnel who have responsibility for curriculum and the professional development of practicing teachers. It is not the case that “curriculum and instruction” is a catch-all for any program in any field with any type of educational function. Rather, the D.Ed. earned through the doctoral program in Curriculum and Instruction is the highest degree in education and, consistent with its mission, it is most appropriate for teacher educators and for some professionals in other fields seeking to concentrate on curriculum and instruction.
When are international students admitted?
International students must be enrolled at IUP’s main campus. Usually, international students are required to be full time. The main campus cohorts begin in Fall 2012, 2014, etc. International students on visas cannot begin in Fall 2011, 2013, and 2015 because these cohorts are at IUP at Monroeville, an off-campus site.
How are admissions decisions made?
The admission process includes four components:
- A review of the applicant’s credentials,
- An evaluation of the applicant’s five-minute, research-based presentation, and
- An assessment of the on-line writing sample that is produced in response to a professional journal article.
It typically takes several weeks for applicants to be notified of the decision. At that point, applicants are categorized as pre-candidates by the School of Graduate Studies and Research.
What types of financial support are available to doctoral students?
Each year, the School of Graduate Studies and Research awards graduate assistantships to qualified students. These awards are based on scholarship rather than financial need. Graduate assistants must be available to work with a faculty mentor on a research project or departmental project. A graduate assistant earns a modest stipend and receives a tuition waiver. Prospective students who are interested in a graduate assistantship can visit the School of Graduate Studies and Research website to learn more about this program. Additionally, after doctoral students have been awarded candidacy and have worked successfully as graduate assistants, they are eligible to apply for the Teaching Associate program, which enables them to be hired as instructors for up to six credits of teaching and/or supervision of undergraduates. This handbook contains additional information about all of the forms of financial support available to doctoral students. Please refer to Section 2 for details about the graduate assistant and teaching associate programs, as well as other sources of financial support for doctoral students.
When will I be notified of about an assistantship?
It is not possible to offer a graduate assistantship to an applicant until after the person has been officially admitted to the program. For the doctoral program in Curriculum and Instruction, this means that the student would have:
- A complete application packet,
- A positive departmental review, and
- An official admission letter from the School of Graduate Studies and Research.
The Professional Studies in Education Department is obligated to make the decisions about graduate assistant assignments by the end of May.
Questions about Curriculum
What is the difference between an Ed.D., D.Ed., and Ph.D.?
Traditionally, the Ph.D. was considered to be more theoretical, while the other education doctorates, such as the Ed.D. and D.Ed., were considered to have a more applied emphasis. Over the years, the differences that once existed in the Ed.D., D.Ed., and Ph.D. have virtually disappeared. Recent comparisons of the curricula in doctoral programs in the field of education suggest that program requirements are equally demanding. The Ph.D. is often more familiar to the general public, however, because it is used in a variety of fields and has been in existence longer. The doctoral program in Curriculum and Instruction results in a D.Ed., a Doctorate in Education.
What is the difference between part-time and full-time study?
Students, other than those who are 20-hour graduate assistants, usually enroll in the program for part-time study. Part-time students enroll in six credits in the Fall, in the Spring, and in the Summer semesters. Full-time students enroll in nine credits every Fall and Spring and at least six credits in the Summer sessions. The curriculum section of the student handbook provides all of the details.
What is the success rate at the candidacy level? What if a doctoral student fails candidacy?
Due to the rigorous admission process, the great majority of students do pass the candidacy exam—approximately 90 percent. If a student fails the candidacy examination, she or he has the opportunity to retake the test one time. A second failure on the Candidacy Exam terminates the students’ enrollment in the D.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction program.
What is the doctoral internship? Can it be completed off campus?
The supervised doctoral internship is designed to provide doctoral candidates with an opportunity for professional growth through a practical work experience specifically tailored to their career goals. If, for example, an international student lacks experience in public schools in the United States, an internship could be designed to familiarize the student with public schools. Likewise, a person who has extensive experience as an elementary school teacher or school administrator might be seeking college-level teaching experience, and an internship could be designed to provide teaching opportunities at the college level.
Internship credit is not awarded for any work completed previously; in other words, an applicant cannot merely document a project that was conducted prior to entering the program and have it count as internship credit. All internships must be planned and supervised by IUP faculty who are qualified to work with doctoral students.
For those students seeking the Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction Certificate, the internship must meet the standards established by the state of Pennsylvania. The internship requirement is planned by the doctoral candidate in conjunction with an IUP faculty member who is eligible to work with doctoral students. Although the internship is often completed at a site other than IUP, the doctoral candidate is responsible for maintaining a log of activities, reporting regularly to the IUP faculty member, and documenting the work completed during the internship. Upon completion of the internship, the candidate is responsible for creating a portfolio of all of the work and submitting both a hard copy and an electronic copy to the faculty supervisor. A second copy of the electronic version of the portfolio is maintained for archival purposes by the doctoral coordinator; it must include an executive summary on the project in PowerPoint.
How long does it typically take to complete the degree program, including the dissertation?
Based on national statistics, education majors have the longest time-to-degree average among the disciplines. One explanation for this is that most educators pursue their doctoral degrees on a part-time basis while continuing in their full-time jobs. At IUP, the great majority of candidates in the doctoral program in Curriculum and Instruction follow the part-time cohort program sequence, which means that they will be finished with coursework and will have registered for all 60 credits within four years. The amount of time it takes to write the dissertation varies considerably from one doctoral candidate to the next, depending on motivation, persistence, and a host of other influences. Some doctoral candidates finish in as little as four years while others take considerably longer to write their dissertations. The School of Graduate Studies and Research sets a seven-year time limit on program completion for doctoral candidates. The seven-year timeline commences when the student enrolls in the program and begins taking classes. A seven-year limit means that is not possible to begin coursework, sit out for seven years, and simply resume studies at a later date; your timeline would have expired, along with the credits already completed.
What about the six credits of electives?
The course sequence in the doctoral program in Curriculum and Instruction is in the brochure, on the website, and in Section 3 of the handbook. It is a listing of the classes that all doctoral students in the program are required to take. Six credits of electives are also required, but those electives are restricted to graduate-level courses in education or a related field. Any course selected to meet the six credits of electives must be approved, in advance, by the coordinator of the doctoral program in Curriculum and Instruction. A complete listing of possible courses is posted on line; this list consists of all courses offered in the College of Education and Educational Technology that are suitable as electives for non-majors. Students need to check the on-line schedule URSA to see if a particular course is being offered in a given semester.
How are transfer credits handled?
A maximum of six credits (two courses) may be considered for transfer. First of all, any graduate credits considered for transfer must be after the master’s degree was awarded. Secondly, these credits must have been earned within the past five years from a regionally accredited graduate institution and must have earned a grade of A or B or its equivalent (no pass/fail grades can be considered for transfer). Finally, the doctoral program coordinator and the School of Graduate Studies and Research must approve the particular courses based on the relevance of the course content for to the Curriculum and Instruction doctoral program. Transfer credit is not posted on the transcript until after the student has successfully completed the Candidacy Examination. The credits transfer but the grades do not. In other words, transfer credit grades are not calculated in with the doctoral candidate’s grade-point average at IUP. For more information on transfer credit, please consult the School of Graduate Studies and Research Catalog and Section 4 of the Doctoral Program Handbook.
How is a dissertation committee formed?
Dissertation committees are not assigned. Students invite faculty from the Professional Studies in Education Department to serve on their committee based on the faculty member’s eligibility to chair or serve on doctoral committees, specialized expertise, interest in the dissertation topic, and willingness to serve. Usually, all three members of the committee are from the Professional Studies in Education Department. It is possible to invite faculty members from other IUP departments to serve as committee members; however, the committee chairperson must be from the Professional Studies in Education Department.
