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University of Pittsburgh    
2024-2025 Graduate & Professional Studies Catalog 
    
 
  Nov 27, 2024
 
2024-2025 Graduate & Professional Studies Catalog

Education Policy and Social Change, EdD


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The EdD program in Education Policy and Social Change (EDPSC) is for the education professional interested in leading efforts to improve educational access, outcomes, and opportunities for all students.  EDPSC students dig deeply into foundational issues in education, such as the meaning and value of education, education’s role in society, the historical roots and significance of educational practices, the role of policy in educational change, and the significance of global trends in education access and equity.  Faculty and students affiliated with the EDPSC Program ground their professional and scholarly work in multiple forms of evidence and use social science tools that lead to creative solutions, more equitable opportunities, and more socially just educational structures.  Our EdD students work in varied formal and informal educational settings - K-12, higher education, community agencies, and non-profit organizations - and unite around the fundamental role that education plays in a diverse and globally-connected society. 

The Education Policy and Social Change Doctor of Education (EDPSC EdD) program aligns with the mission/vision of the school of education in preparing students to be scholars, leaders, and change-makers in education and health, with a particular focus on equity and justice.

EdD Curriculum


The EdD program is a three-year 84-credit program, including 24 credits transferred from relevant graduate work. Students are required to transfer 24 credits of graduate work into the EdD program. 

The EdD curriculum is delivered in several stages, through a variety methods:

  • Orientation: The EdD cohort participates in a full-day, on-campus, orientation in the spring before the summer start of the program.  The day includes opportunities to meet program faculty, EdD program information, and cohort-building activities as well as an introductory session with other students in your academic major.  Orientation typically takes place in March or April.
  • Intensive on-ramp: The EdD cohort will participate in a full-week, on-campus, experience that includes intense work focused on understanding enduring problems of practice in education, health, and human development. This one-week experience typically takes place in June, and is a component of the first summer courses (Foundations 1 and Practitioner Inquiry 1).
  • Hybrid seminars: You will experience a hybrid model of education through online course experiences and in-person, once per month (typically on Saturdays) sessions on the Pittsburgh campus.  Attendance at in-person, on campus sessions is required.

 

SCHEDULE

Year 1: Summer Year 1: Fall Year 1: Spring Year 1: Summer

EDUC 3002 FOUNDATIONS 1: BECOMING A LEADER SCHOLAR PRACTITIONER  

EDUC 3001 PRACTITIONER INQUIRY 1: THE SCIENCE OF IMPROVEMENT  
(3 credits)

EDUC 3004 FOUNDATIONS: CONTEXTS OF EDUCATION  

Major: Course 1
(3 credits)

EDUC 3003 FOUNDATIONS: LEADERSHIP IN GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS  

Major: Course 2
(3 credits)

EDUC 3005 FOUNDATIONS: POLICY AS A LEVER FOR CHANGE  

EDUC 3009 SUPERVISED PRACTITIONER INQUIRY   

Year 2: Fall Year 2: Spring Year 2: Summer

EDUC 3006 PRACTITIONER INQUIRY 2   

Major: Course 3

EDUC 3007 PRACTITIONER INQUIRY 3  

Major: Course 4

EDUC 3008 PRACTITIONER INQUIRY 4: APPLYING DISCIPLINED INQUIRY  

EDUC 3012 LABORATORY OF PRACTICE  

Year 3: Fall Year 3: Spring Year 3: Summer

EDUC 3099 GUIDANCE IN SCHOLARLY PRACTICE  
(6 credits)

EDUC 3099 GUIDANCE IN SCHOLARLY PRACTICE  
(6 credits)

EDUC 3099 GUIDANCE IN SCHOLARLY PRACTICE  
(6 credits)

 

 

Total Credits: 84


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