Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Graduate Programs
The Ed.D. prepares educational practitioners to understand and apply the most advanced knowledge in the field to their work. ELPS currently offers two concentrations within the EdD: Educational Administration and Higher Education Administration.
All Ed.D. students must complete a minimum of 27 hours in the major/ concentration (educational administration or higher education administration), 9 hours of research, a 3 credit hour practicum or field experience, and a dissertation. In addition, all Ed.D. aspirants complete a responsible conduct of research component that is integrated with the required coursework.
A Doctor of Education is available in either of the two concentrations below:
- Educational Administration
- Higher Education Administration
Ed.D. with a concentration in Educational Administration
The Ed.D. in Educational Administration at the University of Kansas prepares students to be PK-12 school district-level leaders and is designed to accommodate working educators. Taught by full-time faculty who are experts in their field, the program stresses fundamental knowledge and educational policy development necessary for effective leadership. Graduates fulfill the academic requirements necessary for state licensure endorsement in school district level administration.
Courses are delivered online with class connections through Zoom once a week throughout the semester. The program is designed specifically for working practitioners in the field, with rich projects, collaborative opportunities, and progressive assignments applicable to licensure and district leadership.
Ed.D. with a concentration in Higher Education Administration
The Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration at KU is a degree designed for administrators in colleges and universities seeking to advance in their careers; for individuals intending to become faculty members in community colleges or other small colleges; and for individuals working in education related organizations. Taught by full-time faculty who are recognized scholars with extensive administrative backgrounds, the program prepares practitioner-scholars who are able to apply the most recent scholarship and research skills to their professional practice.
Courses are delivered online through a combination of weekly synchronous class sessions and asynchronous work.
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Ed.D program application requirements:
Contact the department for application deadlines. Ed.D applicants must have a master’s degree or equivalent with at least a 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale and must submit the following materials:
- Graduate application - check with the department regarding the application deadline
- 1 official transcript from each post-secondary collegiate institution attended
- Resume or CV
- Statement of purpose (see below for each concentration’s specific requirements)
- Letters of recommendations or names of references (review specific requirements on the application)
- Writing sample: an article, paper, or other composition
- Proof of English proficiency for non-native English speakers. Visit https://gradapply.ku.edu/english-requirements for further details.
See below for specific application requirements for educational administration and higher education administration
Educational Administration
Applicants for the educational administration concentration should hold a full-time position in an educational setting with at least three years of full-time experience recommended. Applicants submit contact information for one (preferably current) supervisor reference. The statement of purpose should address the items below. Applicants are encouraged to use the prompts as headings in their statement and to keep the statement succinct and to the point (no more than 5 pages, please):
- Tell us about yourself, your professional goals, and how the Ed.D will help you achieve those goals.
- Discuss your academic strengths and weaknesses, including any additional explanation for your transcripts.
- How do you define educational leadership? What is needed in the roles of educational leaders today?
- As a full-time employee, motivation and support will be essential to your success as a full-time doctoral student. Provide relevant examples from your past that demonstrate your motivation and capacity to succeed. This is an opportunity for you to highlight areas of particular strength.
Higher Education Administration
Higher education 3 names of references should evaluate the applicant’s capacity for rigorous graduate study and qualifications for leadership positions in education and related fields. The statement of purpose should address the following items. Applicants are encouraged to use the prompts as headings in their statement and to keep the statement succinct and to the point (no more than 5 pages, please)
- Tell us about yourself, your professional goals, and how the Ed.D will help you achieve those goals.
- Discuss your academic strengths and weaknesses, including any additional explanation for your transcripts.
- As a full-time employee, motivation and support will be essential to your success as a full-time doctoral student. Provide relevant examples from your past that demonstrate your motivation and capacity to succeed. This is an opportunity for you to highlight areas of particular strength.
- Describe how you anticipate being a doctoral student will change your normal daily routine (at work, at home) and how you plan to proactively address these changes.
- Have you discussed your application for this program with your supervisor? What level of support do you anticipate you will receive at work?
- Finally, what aspects of higher education are of particular interest to you as potential dissertation topics at this time?
Ed.D. Degree Programs
The Ed.D. prepares educational practitioners to understand and apply the most advanced knowledge to their work. ELPS currently offers two concentrations within the EdD: Educational Administration and Higher Education Administration.
All Ed.D. students must complete a minimum of 27 hours in the major/concentration (e.g. educational administration, higher education administration), 9 hours of research, a 3 credit hour practicum or field experience, a comprehensive examination, and a dissertation. In addition, all Ed.D. aspirants complete a responsible conduct of research component that is integrated with the required coursework.
Note: Contact your department or program for more information about research skills and responsible scholarship, and the current requirements for doctoral students. Current Lawrence and Edwards Campus policies on Doctoral Research Skills and Responsible Scholarship are listed in the KU Policy Library.
Students are encouraged to work with their faculty advisor in the first semester of their program to develop a program plan and residency agreement.
Degree Requirements for all Ed.D. Programs:
Comprehensive Examination:
Per University and SOEHS policy, students must be in good academic standing and have completed all required coursework in order to take comprehensive exams.
The comprehensive exam consists of both a take-home, open book written exam followed by an oral exam. Students must pass both written and oral components of the comprehensive examination. Satisfactory performance on the written component must be attained before the oral component may be attempted.
To fail either component is to fail the examination. All 5 members of the student’s comprehensive examination committee are involved in the evaluation process. The written component of the comprehensive examination, like the oral focuses on the ability to relate program knowledge to tasks and problems faced by practitioners. To pass, the student must be evaluated as having responded satisfactorily to questions in the major areas. If a student fails any portion of the written comprehensive component, a failure of the examination is recorded. The examining committee determines if the entire written component of the examination, or only the failed portion(s), must be retaken. The entire written component lasts a minimum of 16 hours. If a student passes the written component but fails the oral, the examining committee determines if both components or only the oral must be repeated.
The grade on this examination is Honors, Satisfactory, or Unsatisfactory. An aspirant who receives a grade of Unsatisfactory may be allowed, upon the recommendation of the department, to repeat it, but it may not be taken more than 3 times. The aspirant may not repeat the oral examination until at least 90 days have elapsed since the last unsuccessful attempt or by petition.
Dissertation:
After successfully completing the comprehensive exam, Ed.D. students will engage in work for their culminating project – the dissertation – and must be continuously enrolled per University and SOEHS policy until the dissertation is defended.
The dissertation is done under the supervision of an advisor and dissertation committee and consists of two parts. First, the student works with an advisor to write a dissertation proposal that outlines the purpose scope and methods of the dissertation study. The dissertation proposal must be approved by a committee of at least three faculty members and the signed title page and electronic proposal filed with the department and SOHES.
Upon approval of the proposal, the student may begin work on the dissertation research under the guidance of the advisor and dissertation committee (typically consisting of the members of the proposal committee and one tenure-track faculty member from another department who represents Graduate Studies), determines the dissertation is ready for defense, a defense may be scheduled. Committee make up – etc.
The completed dissertation must be defended within time period established by the University and SOEHS for completion of doctoral degrees.
Additional requirements
To continue in the program, students must meet the University and SOEHS standards for being in good academic standing as specified in the SOEHS graduate regulations tab.
A general description of each concentration is given here.
Educational Administration
The educational administration concentration prepares teachers and administrators for school district leadership roles. Studies stress fundamental fields of knowledge and educational policy development necessary for effective leadership of school districts. The Ed.D. leads to licensure in Kansas at the district level. Students pursuing this degree from outside of Kansas should contact their licensing board to determine requirements for district level license. This concentration requires students to take classes in the summer.
Major courses in consultation with your faculty advisor:
Course List | Code | Title | Hours |
| ELPS 871 | Introduction to Qualitative Research | 3 |
| ELPS 948 | Research in Education Policy and Leadership | 3 |
| ELPS 949 | Educational Policy and Politics | 3 |
| ELPS 951 | Supervision of Instruction | 3 |
| ELPS 953 | District Human Resource Management | 3 |
| ELPS 954 | Sociology of Educational Organizations | 3 |
| ELPS 955 | District Business Management | 3 |
| ELPS 956 | District Leadership | 3 |
| ELPS 957 | Educational Policy, Ethics and Law | 3 |
| ELPS 960 | Leading Diverse Communities | 3 |
| ELPS 969 | Dissertation Seminar I (Applied Statistics) | 3 |
| ELPS 970 | Dissertation Seminar II | 3 |
| EPSY 870 | Quantitative Methods for Research in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies | 3 |
| C&T 903 | Curriculum Supervision | 3 |
Higher Education Administration
The concentration in higher education administration provides current and prospective college or university staff members and administrators with theoretical and practical knowledge of higher education as a complex human activity.
Course List | Code | Title | Hours |
| EPSY 870 | Quantitative Methods for Research in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies | 3 |
| ELPS 871 | Introduction to Qualitative Research | 3 |
| ELPS 882 | Higher Education in the United States | 3 |
| ELPS 948 | Research in Education Policy and Leadership | 3 |
| ELPS 969 | Dissertation Seminar I | 3 |
| ELPS 973 | Research on College Students | 3 |
| ELPS 979 | Postsecondary Leadership and Practice | 3 |
| ELPS 980 | Finance of Higher Education | 3 |
| ELPS 985 | Program Evaluation in Higher Education | 3 |
| ELPS 986 | Organization and Governance of Higher Education | 3 |
| ELPS 987 | Diversity Leadership in Higher Education | 3 |
| ELPS 995 | Field Experience in: | 3 |
| ELPS 950 | Contemporary Issues in Higher Education | 3 |
| ELPS 970 | Dissertation Seminar II | 3 |
Sample degree plans for the following concentrations can be found here: concentration in Higher Education Administration, concentration in Educational Administration, or by using the left-side navigation. We are not accepting applications for the concentration in Policy Studies at this time.
