Program Requirements

The Ph.D. program in early childhood education is comprised of courses totaling a minimum of 60 academic credit hours beyond the master's degree. The curriculum includes a required core (9 credit hours), a content concentration totaling 24 credit hours, a research component including 12 credit hours, the capstone course(3 credits), and dissertation (minimum 12 credit hours). The dissertation will often include more than 12 credit hours depending on the length of time necessary for completion.Students entering the program may also need to complete one introductory statistics course or demonstrate satisfactory competency. All students will be required to complete an internship (ESSE 888). Students who come into the Ph.D. program with a master's degree in an academic field that is unrelated to early childhood education and/or who have not completed courses to develop competency in early childhood education may need to complete these courses in lieu of electives. A minimum of two semesters of full-time study is required of students in the program to meet University residency requirements. For further details, please contact the department for a personal appointment.

Program Completion

In order to complete the program, students must fully comply with the curriculum below, all requirements noted in the University Catalog for graduate students, and within the Ph.D. in Education Handbook.

Continuance