2023-24 Edition

Education, Ph.D.

The School of Education offers a Ph.D. in Education. The program seeks applicants from varied backgrounds and experiences who have the potential to become outstanding scholars and researchers in the field of education. The program currently offers three areas: (1) Human Development in Context; (2) Educational Policy and Social Context; and (3) Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement. Students enrolling in the program choose among these areas based on their research interests.

Course work for the program ordinarily takes two to three years to complete and involves a number of core courses, methodology courses, elective courses, and a directed research sequence. Before advancing, students are required to have successfully completed their first-year research poster project, second year research paper, and 12 courses as specified by the area requirements. Students should advance to candidacy in the fall quarter of their fourth year. The normative time for completion of the Ph.D. is five years, and the maximum time permitted is seven years.

Students are admitted to the program once per year to begin each fall quarter. Applicants must have completed a bachelor’s degree with a grade point average of at least 3.0 and have prior course work or background related to the area for which they express interest. Applicants are required to submit a UCI application, transcripts, a statement of purpose, a personal statement, CV or resume, a writing sample, and three letters of reference. For the 2023 admissions cycle, general GRE scores are not required. Applicants who are not citizens of countries where English is the primary or dominant language as approved by the UCI Graduate Division are also required to submit scores from either the TOEFL examination or the Academic Modules of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

Financial support will be offered in the form of teaching or research assistantships.

Students take a minimum of 12 4-unit courses, including five required research methods courses, three foundations courses, and four area courses.

Required Methods Courses
A. Complete the following:
EDUC 222 Research Epistemologies and Methodologies
EDUC 265 Applied Regression Analysis for Education and Social Scientific Research
EDUC 283A Qualitative Research Methods in Education I
EDUC 283B Qualitative Research Methods in Education II
EDUC 288A Educational, Social, and Behavioral Statistics
Foundations Courses
A. Complete the following:
EDUC 229A Foundations of Human Development
EDUC 237 Foundations of Teaching and Learning
EDUC 253 Foundations of Educational Policy
Area Courses

Students must take four courses in their own area.

Human Development in Context (HDIC)
EDUC 208 Reading and Writing Development
EDUC 220 Developing Adolescent Literacy
EDUC 223 Oral Language Acquisition and Education
EDUC 225 Learning, Development, and Culture
EDUC 232 Mathematics Cognition and Learning
EDUC 236 Applied Linguistics and Literacy
EDUC 238 Special Topics in Human Development in Context
EDUC 239 Cognitive Neuroscience and Human Development
EDUC 268 Out-of-School Learning and Development
EDUC 274 Studies of Professional and Staff Development
Educational Policy and Social Context (EPSC)
EPSC students are required to complete one course in the Economics of Education content area, one course in the Education Policy content area, one course in the Structure and Social Context of Schools content area, and one other course within the EPSC area.
Economics of Education
Special Topics in Microeconomics
Economic Foundations of Education and Social Policy
Education Policy
Educational Policy and Politics
College Access and Persistence
Early Childhood Education Policy
Structure and Social Context of Schools
Social and Cultural Foundations of Education
Social Organization of Schools and Classrooms
Educational Inequality
Special Topics: Social Organizations and Institutions
Other Educational Policy and Social Context courses
Special Topics in Educational Policy and Social Context
Educational Policy and Social Context does not require its students to take more than the set of quantitative courses required, but it does strongly encourage students to take additional methods courses within or outside the School of Education:
Quantitative Data Analysis in Education Research and Evaluation
Causal Inference: Methods for Program Evaluation and Policy Research
Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement (TLEI)
TLEI students are required to complete EDUC 237, EDUC 229A, EDUC 253, two courses in a single TLEI specialization and two other TLEI courses (which can be in the same specialization or in a different TLEI specialization).
Specialization courses within TLEI:
Digital Learning and Media
Literacy and Technology
Foundations of Digital Learning
Language and Literacy
Reading and Writing Development
Writing Theory and Practice
Literacy and Technology
Developing Adolescent Literacy
Oral Language Acquisition and Education
Applied Linguistics and Literacy
Sociocultural Perspectives on Learning and Educational Improvement
Learning, Development, and Culture
Interrogating Race and Education
Research Practice Partnerships
Immigration and the New Second Generation
Design-Based Implementation Research
Use of Video in Educational Research
STEM Teaching and Learning
Foundations of Digital Learning
Science Education for the 21st-Century Classroom
Mathematics Cognition and Learning
Teacher Learning and Professional Development
University Teaching: Concepts and Practices
Studies of Professional and Staff Development
Other TLEI courses
Special Topics in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Improvement
S/U Research Courses

Students who wish to engage in pre-dissertation or research for credit but not for a letter grade, may enroll in EDUC 295 for 2-4 units (pre-dissertation research) or EDUC 299 for 2-8 units (dissertation research). Both courses may be repeated for credit and both are graded on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis. As with other S/U courses, EDUC 295 and EDUC 299 may not be used to fulfill course of elective requirements.

Elective Courses

Students are expected and strongly encouraged to take courses beyond the 12 courses required, such as the additional research courses listed below, that provide training essential to the student's research interests and professional development throughout their five years of doctoral study. These courses may come from their own area, from the other two areas, from other appropriate classes in the School of Education, from other departments on campus, or from other campuses within the University of California. Elective courses must be graduate-level courses taken for a letter grade. Independent study courses (e.g., EDUC 298) are also acceptable when taken for a letter grade, pending approval and syllabus is provided.

Further information regarding the Ph.D. program, courses, and application requirements is available at the School of Education website.

Additional Research Methods Courses (not required but strongly encouraged)
EDUC 221 Longitudinal and Advanced Structural Equation Modeling
EDUC 234 Measurement and Psychometrics
EDUC 259 Community Research and Action
EDUC 266 Design-Based Implementation Research
EDUC 279 Advanced Qualitative Methods
EDUC 280 Research Methods: Hierarchical Linear Modeling
EDUC 287A Quantitative Data Analysis in Education Research and Evaluation
EDUC 287B Causal Inference: Methods for Program Evaluation and Policy Research
EDUC 288B Structural Equation Modeling for Educ, Soc & Behavioral Analysis
EDUC 289 Use of Video in Educational Research
Other courses in statistics or research methodology offered in the Department of Statistics, the School of Social Ecology, the School of Social Sciences, or elsewhere on campus, with the permission of the instructor.