The concentration in special education within the Doctor of Education
program is designed to prepare leadership personnel in special
education for the following roles:
- administrators of special education services in schools;
- teacher educators at colleges and universities;
- teacher leaders among school faculty; and
- leaders in allied service agencies and organizations.
Potential participants in this concentration might include those
aspiring to become special education supervisors as well as principals
or other educational leaders who want to further develop expertise in
special education. The guiding principles of this concentration are:
- commitment to improving educational practices for students with disabilities and other at-risk students;
- grounding in evidence-based practice;
- focus on challenges of real-world educational settings;
- leveraging of doctoral students' experiences within courses;
- flexible course schedule meeting individual student needs;
- balanced development of knowledge, strategies, and skills;
- strong mentorship support from faculty;
- Ed.D. student voice in program and course enhancements; and
- expertise in special education.
This program does not include coursework leading to a New Jersey school personnel license.
REQUIREMENTS
The
Ed.D. program is comprised of three interrelated program
components--the core, a concentration, and a dissertation/capstone
experience.
Core Courses (24 credits)
15:255:611 Leadership I: Leadership in Schools and Communities (3)
15:255:612 Leadership II: Change Process (3)
15:255:615 Social Contexts I: Sociocultural Foundations of Education (3)
15:255:617 Social Contexts II: History of Educational Reform (3)
15:255:606 Key Principles of Learning--Learners and Learning (3)
15:255:607 Learners and Learning II (Adult Learning) (3)
15:255:603 Inquiry I (3)
15:255:602 Inquiry II (3)
Concentration Courses (24 credits)
The special education concentration is comprised of 12 credits of core
coursework, 3 credits of methodology, 3 credits of Teacher Leadership
coursework, and 6 credits of Specialization courses.
15:293:605 Seminar in Special Education (3)
15:293:630 Current Topics in Special Education (3)
15:293:615 Designing Interventions and Measuring Outcomes in Special Education (3)
15:293:633 Internship in Special Education (3)
Methodological elective (3)
Teacher Leadership elective (3)
Specialization course (3)
Specialization course (3)
Capstone/Dissertation (24 credits)
The
Ed.D. culminates with a yearlong dissertation experience. The
dissertation requires students to identify and investigate a problem of
practice systematically using current literature and inquiry
methodology. Students are to write a final report that is presented
publicly that may include a conference presentation, journal article or
book chapter, or presentation to a local community. Students will have
the option of working on their dissertation projects individually or in
groups organized around key topics of interest.
Doctor of Education (Ed.D) Programs - For Students Entering in or subsequent to 2010 
