Doctor of Education in Educational Administration and Supervision
90 credits
The doctor of education degree (EdD) is designed to meet the needs of advanced graduate students who hold or are seeking to assume leadership roles in education and who are dedicated to advancing the profession through quality teaching, research, and service. The curriculum emphasizes school administration in K-12 settings. The program is designed to satisfy the licensing requirements in Indiana for the school superintendency; however, sufficient flexibility exists to design a program to meet the needs of the individual candidate.
Degree requirements
The doctoral degree program with a major in educational administration and supervision consists of a minimum of 90 graduate credits. 48 credits must be completed at Ball State. A master’s degree is required; previous graduate course work may be counted toward the 90 total credits required in the program.
Research requirements
A minimum of 15 credits in research is required prior to DISS 799.
Required courses
3 credits from
Total Credits: 15
Dissertation
Each student is required to write a dissertation on a topic approved by the committee. Students sign up for DISS 799 for a total of 10 dissertation credits.
Total Credits: 10
Required courses
The doctoral student ordinarily will have taken the following educational administration courses earned for the master’s in educational administration and supervision, administrative license, and/or the EdS in school superintendency, and those students may have met many of the requirements below as a part of those programs. A minimum of 40 credits of graduate work is required in the major, a majority of which must be taken at Ball State University.
Master’s courses
3 credits from
EdS courses
6 credits from
Additional courses in the major
EDAD 798: must be taken for 3 credits for two consecutive semester
One multicultural course from
| EDEL 644 | Education in a Diverse Society | 3 |
| EDFO 651 | Educational Sociology | 3 |
| EDMU 660 | Multcl Multieth Ed in Amer Sch | 3 |
| EDMU 670 | Soc and Cultl Min in Amer Ed | 3 |
| SOC 521 | Racial and Cultural Minori US | 3 |
| Total Credits: | 3 |
Cognate Requirements
The doctoral student must have either two cognate fields (or minors) consisting of a minimum of 15 credits each or a single cognate field consisting of a minimum of 24 credits. For the 15-credit cognate, 9 credits must be taken at Ball State University; 12 credits of the 24-credit cognate must be taken at Ball State University. Cognates are available in all university major fields of study for the master’s, specialist, and doctoral degrees. In addition, cognates are offered in composition; general foundations of business; general field of education; gifted studies; higher education; history, philosophy, and sociology of education; literary theory; literature, couples and family counseling; neuropsychology; psychology of human development, teacher education in higher education; the teaching of English; theory of computing, and research methodology.
Doctoral Committee
The student’s doctoral committee is appointed after the student has been admitted to study for the doctoral degree—usually near the end of the first year of doctoral work. Until the committee has been appointed, the director of the doctoral program or a delegated representative will serve as the program advisor for the student.
Residence Requirement
The residence requirement for this degree is the completion of at least 15 credits in two consecutive semesters of graduate work beyond the master’s degree. Summer may be used as one of the semesters for residency purposes.
Additional admission requirements
After admission, the student must begin course work within two years, and all requirements for the degree must be met within seven years from the date of the first course taken after admission to the doctoral program.
Criteria for Selection
The Department of Educational Leadership considers primarily the following criteria in determining its recommendation: the applicant’s Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores; the GPA in previously completed graduate work; the content of reference letters; the compatibility of the degree program and the applicant’s goals/needs; other evidence of advanced graduate academic skills (writing, research, etc); and relevant career or life experiences/accomplishments.