2026-2027 Graduate & Professional Studies Catalog
Urban Education, PhD
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The PhD in Urban Education prepares scholars to conduct rigorous, justice-oriented research at the intersection of education, law, policy, and the social and cultural forces that shape learning in urban communities. The program takes seriously the intellectual traditions, lived experiences, and self-determined educational practices of the communities it serves, centering Black and Indigenous knowledge systems as foundational to the scholarly enterprise.
Doctoral students develop deep expertise in critical research methodologies, with opportunities to specialize across a spectrum of approaches. This methodological rigor is embedded within a transdisciplinary, inquiry-driven curriculum that challenges scholars to examine how broader sociopolitical, economic, and historical forces structure schooling and learning across K-16 contexts. The program cultivates scholars through multiple interconnected intellectual spaces, including: Credit-bearing coursework, Research collaborations, and Writing groups and peer communities Graduates are prepared for research careers in both academic institutions and non-academic settings, including think tanks, policy organizations, advocacy groups, and community-based research centers.
The program draws on connections to the Center for Urban Education and longstanding relationships with local community residents, while extending its reach to social actors, movements, and institutions across the country and around the world. Pittsburgh serves not just as a backdrop, but as a living laboratory for the kinds of questions, partnerships, and possibilities that define urban education scholarship at its best.
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Program Core (13 credits)
Research Methodology (18 credits)
9 credits of required courses, 6 credits of advanced quantitative methods, and 3 credits of advanced qualitative methods.
Supervised Research (6 credits)
First Year Seminar (3 credits)
Writing Workshops (1 credit per semester for 6-8 semesters)
The Writing Workshops provide doctoral students with a structured, supportive space to receive substantive feedback on manuscripts, milestone documents, and works-in-progress. Participants commit to reading drafts in advance of bi-weekly meetings and engaging in constructive, collegial critique that strengthens both individual scholarship and the intellectual community of the program.
Beginning in the second year, students enroll in Writing Workshop for either 1 credit or 3 credits each semester until completion of the credit requirement.
Field Placement/Teaching Practicum (2 courses, 6 credits)
Doctoral students complete two semesters of supervised field placement in settings relevant to the Urban Education PhD program. Potential placement sites include:
- Local nonprofit organizations engaged in urban education and community development
- RAND Corporation, through a competitive application to their summer internship program
- The Center for Urban Education at the University of Pittsburgh
Students may also structure one semester as a traditional field placement and dedicate the second semester to one of the following professional development experiences:
- University teaching, serving as instructor or co-instructor alongside a faculty member
- Course development, designing a new course - such as an online course in an area relevant to Urban Education - under faculty supervision
Students enroll in the course corresponding to their chosen experience:
Electives (variable credits)
Elective credits include approved transfer credits and approved additional credits to achieve 72 total credits for the PhD degree.
Dissertation (0 credits)
Students enroll in FTDG 0000 to complete their dissertation studies.
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