• EDL 700: Knowledge Base*
• EDL 701: Leadership in Educational Organizations I*
• EDL 702: Leadership for Organizational Learning*
• EDL 703: Leading Organizational Change
• EDL 646: Leadership for School Family Community Engagement
• EDL 571: Design Thinking in Education
• EDL 669: Leadership for Creative Problem Solving

• EDL 751: Foundations of Inquiry*
• ELS 620: Introduction to Action Research
• EDL 771: Seminar in Educational Leadership: Action Research Methods and Analysis*
• EDL 792: Research in Educational Leadership

• Required Topical Seminars (1 credit each)
  • EDL 770 – 210: Topical Seminar in Educational Leadership: Academic Writing
  • EDL 770 – 211: Topical Seminar in Educational Leadership: The Literature Review
  • EDL 770 – 212: Topical Seminar in Educational Leadership: Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks
• EDL 704: Politics of Educational Leadership (recommended elective for Ed.D. students)
• Electives can be taken within or outside the Department of Educational Leadership Studies.
• You should get approval for electives from your advisory chair (our department’s director of graduate studies) or your dissertation chair prior to enrollment in a course.

Fall

Spring

Summer

Fall

Spring

Summer

Fall

Spring

Summer

Fall

Spring

Oriented toward Educational Leaders

Online, Cohort-based Experience with Summer Doc Week

Relevant, Authentic Problems of Practice in School Contexts

Eligibility

You must have:

• a graduate degree (master’s degree) from an accredited college or university, with a minimum graduate GPA of 3.5
• A GRE Verbal score of 150 (new scale) or 500 (old GRE scale).
• A GRE Analytical Writing score of 4.0.

Application Documents

• UK Application for Admission
• Transcripts: Copies of all transcripts from all postsecondary institutions that you attended. Uploaded transcripts may be official or unofficial, however If you are offered admission and decide to enroll you will then be required to submit official transcripts to the Graduate School.
• GRE: Applicants will be asked to self-report these scores on the application (you can also supply a future date for taking the test). We will however also require official scores from the ETS or another method (verification of scores from another postsecondary institution on official letterhead). GRE scores should be sent directly to us from Educational Testing Service (ETS); the Institution Code for the GRE for UK Graduate School is R1837. These scores will be incorporated into your application and compared against self-reported scores to ensure consistency.
• Professional resume (limited to 2 pages): This should provide your name, contact information, as well as postsecondary education (all degrees, years awarded, institution names, emphasis area), work experiences, education certifications, professional memberships
• Personal Statement: Submit an up to 2 page personal statement addressing the following prompts: double spaced 12 pt font.
  • Why are you pursuing a doctorate?
  • What is your interest in Leadership?
  • What is your research interest?
• Academic Writing: Submit a piece of academic writing (example) that you are most proud of or that demonstrates your ability as an academic writer. Ideally this sample should be from a writing that you have completed during the course of your graduate work. There is no page or format restriction. If you do not have an existing academic writing sample, please feel free to submit an original work that demonstrates your ability as an academic writer.
• Recommendations: A. 2 (1 Professional & 1 Academic) both programs however PHD can have 2 academic references

International Teachers

If your native language is not English, you must submit either a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or IELTS (International English Language Testing System) score.

• Minimum TOEFL score of 550 (paper-based), 213 (computer-based), or 79 (internet-based)
• Minimum IELTS mean band score of 6.5
• Please note that the language score for international applicants who have received a degree from a U.S. institution is waived.

Statistical Methods

You must show that you have completed a graduate-level basic statistics course with a grade of B or higher. This requirement serves in lieu of a minimum quantitative GRE requirement.

• • Applicants to the Ed.D. programs in Educational Leadership Studies must understand statistical concepts and the associated reasoning and critical thinking skills with those concepts such that they are prepared for our program’s advanced quantitative courses. Therefore, applicants to the Ed.D. programs in Educational Leadership Studies must demonstrate proficiency in basic statistical concepts and techniques that constitute the foundation of quantitative research. Applicants may do this in one of the following ways:
  • Basic descriptive statistics, correlation, normal distributions and hypothesis testing (including correlation and regression) should be covered. An emphasis should be placed on exploratory data analysis and interpretation of results within the broad contexts of education and/or evaluation. Applicants should provide an official course description or syllabus of the course.

If you have not taken such a course you may:

• Complete EPE 558 or EDP 558 before August 15th of the year of admission to Educational Leadership Studies. Increasingly, EPE 558 and EDP 558 are being offered online. Applicants and students should check with those departments to determine offerings each semester, OR
• Show proof of completion of the following Open Learning Initiative course: https://oli.cmu.edu/courses/statistical-reasoning-copy/. It’s self-paced and free for independent learners.