2025-2026 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
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Education Policy and Social Change Academic Major Courses (12 credits)
EdD Curriculum
The EdD program is a three-year 76-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 (all courses are 3 credits unless otherwise noted)
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