Education, Ed.D

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Radford University’s Ed.D. in Education program is a cohort-based, online program requiring a minimum of 63 credit hours of graduate-level courses, including electives, optional internship, and applied dissertation in practice (DiP) modules. The focus of the curriculum is practitioner-based with the intent to engage students in practical activities, grounded in sound theoretical frameworks, that prepare them for advanced educational leadership roles.

Doctoral Requirements

Foundation Courses (9 credit hours)

Students will take 9 credits of foundations courses.

EDEL 800 - Leadership for Equity and Improvement at Scale Credits: (3)
EDUC 801 - Place-Based Education: Leading with Communities Credits: (3)
EDUC 803 - Equity and Social Justice in Education Credits: (3)

Practitioner Inquiry Courses (15 credit hours required)

Students will take 15 credits of practitioner research course credits.

EDEF 825 - Practitioner Inquiry I Credits: (3)
EDEF 835 - Practitioner Inquiry II Credits: (3)
EDEF 845 - Practitioner Inquiry III Credits: (3)
EDEF 855 - Practitioner Inquiry IV Credits: (3)
EDEF 865 - Practitioner Inquiry V Credits: (3)

Educational Systems Leadership Courses (15 credit hours)

Students will take 15 credits of educational systems leadership courses. The five courses meet Virginia Department of Education superintendency licensure requirements.

EDEL 810 - Advanced School Law Credits: (3)
EDEL 820 - Leadership for Human Resources Credits: (3)
EDEL 830 - Leadership for Teaching and Learning Credits: (3)
EDEL 840 - Policy and Governance of Schools Credits: (3)
EDEL 850 - School Finance and Operations Credits: (3)

Social Justice Courses (6 credit hours)

Students will take 6 credits of social justice courses.

EDUC 805 - Leadership for Social Justice Credits: (3)
EDUC 811 - Leadership for Inclusive Schools Credits: (3)

Open Credits (9 credit hours)

Internship and electives combined must total 9 credit hours. Students may choose any combination of internship and/or elective credits to total 9 credit hours. The internship is not required. It can be completed up to three times.

Electives may include directed study courses, specialized research courses, or courses related to specific content in the field of education.

EDEL 890 - Internship in School District Leadership Credits: (3)
EDUC 809 - Facilitating Equitable Change Credits: (3)

Dissertation (9 credit hours required)

Students will take one dissertation credit hour per term over the course of the three-year program (9 credit hours total).

EDEF 890 - Doctoral Research in Education Credits: (1-3)

Doctoral Candidacy

Students enter doctoral candidacy upon successful completion of the first and second benchmark papers. The Initial Program Benchmark Assessment will be completed after the first 12 credit hours of coursework and during the first semester of the second year of the program to determine the candidate’s readiness to continue in the program.

The Second Program Benchmark Assessment (i.e., the dissertation proposal) will be completed after 24 credit hours of coursework to determine the students’ readiness to engage in the final research processes. This assessment requires a formal written document consisting of following sections: a complete and revised analysis of the problem causes and context (from the initial benchmark assessment), a full description of the theory of improvement supported by the research and professional knowledge base, a full description of the proposed PDSA cycle(s). Students may continue to make edits on the dissertation proposal until it is satisfactorily completed.

Upon successful completion of all courses and benchmark assessments, a dissertation defense will be conducted where the student will defend their work to the dissertation committee. Students at this stage will work with the committee to revise the dissertation paper until it is acceptable to the committee. Students may only defend the final dissertation twice.