phd online teaching

College of Professional Studies

Northeastern University’s online Doctor of Education program provides experienced adult learners, working professionals, and scholar-practitioners from diverse backgrounds and perspectives with the practical knowledge and experience they need to transform the learning landscape. Students gain innovative approaches to create authentic change in their communities. The program was selected as the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate's Program of the Year for 2022-2023.

The Doctor of Education program is designed to be completed in three to four years of study—following a fast-paced quarter system in lieu of a traditional semester format. Students choose from five concentrations to create a curriculum that matches personal and professional interests. The program's dissertation in practice process will begin at the onset of your coursework as you identify your problem of practice and develop an action plan—incorporating cycles of data collection and analysis, collaboration, change work, and reflection—culminating in the dissemination of your action research findings. Our students come from diverse disciplines and professions, seeking more than just a degree. You'll gain a practical education that translates to your everyday working environment.

While all EdD courses can be completed online (except for hybrid courses in Seattle and Charlotte), annual in-person two-day residencies are held on campus. Residencies focus on networking and tools for career success and allow you to connect with faculty and fellow scholars to share knowledge and experience. You'll attend residencies* in your first and second years of the program at one of our campuses in Boston, Charlotte, or Seattle.

The Northeastern Doctor of Education degree is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) and was selected as Program of the Year by the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate Program for 2022-2023.

*Please note: International students enrolling in the online EdD program will be provided with an option to complete the residency through online participation in interactive sessions with fellow scholars offered during the residency period.

More Details

Unique features.

• You will choose one of five concentrations—higher education administration, innovative teaching and learning, transformative school leadership, workplace learning, and integrative studies—to focus your studies and further customize your curriculum.
• You'll begin dissertation in practice work at the onset of your program. You'll select a compelling educational/organizational challenge and will be assigned a faculty advisor to support your research throughout the program.
• All coursework is online—providing flexibility for working professionals. Your residencies will be fulfilled in person*, at one of our campuses in Boston, Charlotte, or Seattle.
• You'll learn alongside faculty practitioners—engaging with respected leaders who contribute to the field as authors, journal editors, school board members, bloggers, and podcasters.

*In-person participation in the residency is also available for international students.

Concentrations

• Higher Education Administration: The higher education administration concentration provides an opportunity for experienced higher education professionals to expand their previous understanding of practices within all sectors of postsecondary education—and also advance their professional practice by developing and deepening their understanding of the roles of colleges and universities in our society. Sectors examined include community colleges, four-year colleges, for-profit institutions, and research universities.
• Innovative Teaching and Learning: The innovative teaching and learning concentration focuses on transforming education through innovation, justice, and policy, by providing engaging opportunities for current and aspiring teaching and learning specialists working in various education spaces. The concentration focuses on teaching and learning both inside and outside the bounds of P-20 schools and focuses on developing and leading innovative curricula as well as professional development.
• Transformative School Leadership: The transformative school leadership concentration provides innovative opportunities for experienced education professionals who are current and aspiring leaders of early childhood centers, public or private schools, or school districts. The concentration prepares students to lead and transform educational spaces and be equipped to shape the needs of education in K-12, higher education, organizational contexts, and beyond.
• Workplace Learning: The workplace learning concentration helps professionals gain a deeper understanding of, recognize, and influence real-life social inequalities faced by marginalized populations in the workplace. Courses allow students to advance their professional practice by developing and deepening their knowledge of workplace learning, organizational dynamics, learning strategy, and ethics.
• Integrative Studies: The integrative studies concentration provides an opportunity for students to design a program of study that fits their own professional goals and includes the required foundation and research courses, concentration courses from any EdD concentration, and electives from the Doctor of Education or Doctor of Law and Policy programs.

Program Objectives

Northeastern's Doctor of Education program is designed for experienced professionals interested in deepening their understanding of education, organizational development, and leadership. Throughout the program, students examine various approaches to critical, practice-based issues, learn research methods, and conduct a doctoral research study that investigates a compelling educational or organizational challenge.

2022-2023 Doctor of Education Program of the Year

The Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate selected Northeastern's EdD program as the 2022-2023 Program of the Year, noting the “redesigned Dissertation in Practice Curriculum and the adoption of action research as its guiding methodology …” The committee praised “the program’s efforts to move beyond the typical five-chapter dissertation and engage scholarly practitioners in the acquisition of skills to realize meaningful change in their local contexts, emphasizing social justice.”

Testimonials

– sara ewell, phd, assistant dean, graduate school of education, – frawn morgan, current student, doctor of education, – aaron b., program graduate, looking for something different.

A graduate degree or certificate from Northeastern—a top-ranked university—can accelerate your career through rigorous academic coursework and hands-on professional experience in the area of your interest. Apply now—and take your career to the next level.

Program Costs

Finance Your Education We offer a variety of resources, including scholarships and assistantships.

How to Apply Learn more about the application process and requirements.

Requirements

• Online application
• Academic transcripts: Official undergraduate and graduate degree documentation
• Describe the problem of practice
• Explain why you want to investigate it
• Provide a strong rationale for the significance of the problem
• Minimum work experience: Three years in a related field
• Professional resumé: Must summarize work and education history, include an outline of your educational/academic skills with examples such as research and teaching experience, affiliations, publications, certifications, presentations, and other professional skills.
• Faculty recommendation: Must be from a faculty member in your previous graduate program who can attest to your readiness for doctoral work. If you are no longer acquainted with a faculty member, please choose a professional who can speak of your academic capabilities to engage in doctoral-level research and writing. Recommendations should be presented as a letter attached to the general recommendation form.
• Two professional recommendations: Must be from individuals who have either academic or professional knowledge of your capabilities, a supervisor, mentor, or colleague. It is preferred that one letter of recommendation come from your current employer and/or supervisor. Recommendations should be presented as a letter attached to the general recommendation form.
• Proof of English language proficiency: ONLY for students for whom English is not their primary language.

Are You an International Student? Find out what additional documents are required to apply.

Admissions Details Learn more about the College of Professional Studies admissions process, policies, and required materials.

Admissions Dates

Our admissions process operates on a rolling basis; however, we do recommend the application guidelines below to ensure you can begin during your desired start term:

Domestic Application Guidelines

International Application Guidelines *

*International deadlines are only applicable if the program is F1 compliant.

Industry-aligned courses for in-demand careers.

For 100+ years, we’ve designed our programs with one thing in mind—your success. Explore the current program requirements and course descriptions, all designed to meet today’s industry needs and must-have skills.

View curriculum

The core of the mission of the program is to allow educators to remain in the places they work, focus on a problem of practice, and through experiential learning and site-specific research opportunities in the program, make an immediate impact in their professional environments. The program explicitly integrates research and practice for professionals so they develop the requisite skills for conceiving, designing, conducting, and producing original site-based research in order to effect ethical change related to real-life problems of practice.

Our Faculty

Northeastern University faculty represents a broad cross-section of professional practices and fields, including finance, education, biomedical science, management, and the U.S. military. They serve as mentors and advisors and collaborate alongside you to solve the most pressing global challenges facing established and emerging markets.

Joseph McNabb, PhD

Cherese Childers-McKee, PhD

By enrolling in Northeastern, you’ll gain access to students at 13 campus locations, 300,000+ alumni, and 3,000 employer partners worldwide. Our global university system provides students unique opportunities to think locally and act globally while serving as a platform for scaling ideas, talent, and solutions.

Below is a look at where our Education & Learning alumni work, the positions they hold, and the skills they bring to their organization.

Where They Work

• Boston Public Schools
• Chicago Public Schools
• NYC Department of Education
• Lockheed Martin
• Veterans Affairs
• Johns Hopkins
• Columbia University

What They Do

• Media Consultant
• College President
• Chief Information Officer
• Instructional Designer
• Diversity Officer
• Founder-CEO
• VP of Student Services
• Community Services Director

What They're Skilled At

• Experiential Learning
• Team Building
• International Education
• Change Agency
• Entrepreneurship
• Urban Education
• Strategic Management
• Student Engagement

Learn more about Northeastern Alumni on  Linkedin .

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Education (Online), EdD

School of education.

To address the dramatically changing landscape of education in the 21st century, which includes new research on the science of learning, advances in technology, and the emergence of a for-profit education sector, the Johns Hopkins School of Education offers an innovative online Doctor of Education degree program. This EdD program is designed to prepare an exceptional corps of educational practitioner-scholars, both nationally and internationally, who can set a high standard for transformational leadership in education, apply evidence-based practices to improve educational outcomes, and meet the vast challenges associated with improving learning outcomes in both public and private educational environments.

For more information about the EdD program, please visit  https://education.jhu.edu/academics/edd/ . If you have any questions about the EdD program, please contact  [email protected] .

Admission Requirements

At minimum, applicants to the EdD program should hold a master’s degree from an accredited college or university. Previous degrees must document high academic achievement (a minimum GPA of 3.0) in an area of study closely associated with the objectives of the program. If the earned degree or credit is from an educational institution abroad, the candidate’s academic record must be evaluated by a credential evaluation agency before consideration for admission. Applicants must submit the online admission application form, application fee, official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended, a curriculum vitae (résumé), online interview, and two letters of recommendation signed by each recommender. These letters should include the following:

• A professor with whom the applicant worked in their master's program who can speak to the applicant's competency to conduct rigorous scholarly work, and
• A colleague/supervisor from the applicant’s professional context/industry who can attest to the applicant's qualifications to pursue a doctorate, the applicant's impact on the recommender’s  professional practice, and knowledge of and support for the applicant's proposed area of research/Problem of Practice.

Additionally, applicants will submit a personal statement including responses to the following:

• Describe a significant Problem of Practice relevant to your current context/industry of professional practice.
• Indicate the importance of this problem within the applicant’s industry and/or their specific context of professional practice.
• Discuss the potential underlying causes for or contributing factors related to this Problem of Practice.
• Discuss the ways in which this problem aligns with at least one or two areas of interest.

All applicants who meet the entrance requirements will be asked to submit video and written responses to question prompts.

International students must fulfill the general requirements for admission and complete additional requirements—see  https://education.jhu.edu/admission-financial-aid/admissions/international-applicants/ .

Note: This program is not eligible for student visa sponsorship .

Students who enter the program will be required to successfully complete a series of pre-orientation modules prior to enrollment in the program. All students are expected to show competence in the content areas of these modules.

Please note that for the online EdD program, an offer of admission is for the specific cohort to which an application is submitted. Students may accept or decline the admission offer only; deferring to a future cohort is not an option.

Program Requirements

Program structure and requirements.

Program requirements include a minimum of 90 graduate credits. Students must enter the program with a master’s degree with a minimum of 36 graduate-level credits, which will be transferred into the EdD program. If a student does not have the required 36 master’s credits, the student will be admitted on a conditional basis and must complete the additional graduate-level credits at an accredited college or university. Students with post-master’s graduate credit in related education content completed prior to admission to the EdD program may petition to transfer in an additional six credits of equivalent coursework with appropriate documentation and with the approval of the EdD program director. Thus, students must complete between 48 and 54 credits at the doctoral level at JHU. The program includes the following required coursework components (subject to change):

• Foundations of Education (15 credit hours)
• Applied Research & Evaluation (12 credit hours)
• Areas of Interest / Electives (15 elective credit hours)
• Doctoral Dossier Research (12 credit hours)*

In addition to successfully completing all the coursework requirements, candidates must also satisfy written assessments and an oral comprehensive examination that document attainment of competencies. They must also complete either an Applied Dissertation or a Dossier Style Dissertation research project, depending upon the year the candidate was admitted to the program as per the following table:

Students who extend their program of study may be required to enroll in additional independent study credits.

With permission, students admitted between Fall 2013 and Fall 2020 may opt into the Dossier Style Dissertation if they choose not to do an intervention.

Problems of Practice and Doctoral Dossier

Students examine a Problem of Practice (POP)—an area of concern they have observed within their professional context—that becomes the focus of the student's Doctoral Dossier, which consists of three main projects described below.

As part of our commitment to social justice, the EdD program does not privilege one form of communication over another. Thus, all components of the Doctoral Dossier can be communicated in a modality of the student’s choosing: video, oral, scholarly writing, or public-facing writing. The Doctoral Dossier is embedded within the EdD program coursework, providing students the unique opportunity to examine an issue important to their field.

To begin their Doctoral Dossier process, students will spend their first year working on a Scholarship of Integration project (Project 1) that focuses on exploration and identification of underlying causes of and factors associated with their chosen POP. Using systems thinking, which includes perspective-taking, and the research literature, students will document their exploration in an introductory narrative that provides the rationale and supporting evidence for their decision to further pursue their research topic throughout their doctoral journey.

During the second year, following completion of the Scholarship of Integration project, students will choose one of the following two options for Project 2:

1. Scholarship of Application: Demonstrate the application of the research to practice. The purpose of this project is to a) consider how the research perpetuates and/or disrupts oppression, b) critique relevant systems, structures, and institutions, and c) determine avenues to effectively disseminate evidence to a wider audience and stakeholder group.

Example projects include: historical analysis of a topic, curriculum creation, community organization, autoethnography, instructional pedagogy, and others.   

2. Scholarship of Teaching: Development and improvement of pedagogical practices. Students examine teaching processes and assessments improve practice.

Example projects include : autoethnography of one’s teaching, innovative teaching materials, curricula, development of new courses, or development of a new pedagogical framework.   

During the third year, following completion of Project 2, students will choose one of the following:

• The scholarship option NOT chosen for Project 2, or
• Scholarship of Discovery: Search for new knowledge. Students conduct evidence-based research that leads to knowledge creation.    

Example projects include: written, oral, or other modalities of research, scholarly publications, empirical study, working paper, or book chapters.                

During the fourth year, students will complete Project 3, write an Executive Summary that ties their three projects together, and write a final reflection of their doctoral journey. The Doctoral Dossier will be presented and assessed during the fourth year.

Students are expected to complete four years of coursework and independent research concurrently. This program is cohort-based, thus if students require a leave of absence for any reason, they will return in the appropriate course sequence with the next cohort the following year.

Problems of Practice and Dossier Style Dissertation (for students admitted Fall 2021 and Fall 2022*)

Students examine a Problem of Practice (POP), which is an area of concern that they have observed within their professional context. This POP becomes the focus of the student's Dossier Style Dissertation. The Dossier Style Dissertation is embedded within the EdD program coursework, which provides students with a unique opportunity to examine an issue important to the organization in which they are employed.

During the first year in the program, students synthesize research literature to understand factors relevant to the POP from a broader systems perspective. During the second year of the program, students conduct an empirical project to investigate their POP within their professional context. Students are expected to collect and analyze data to further understand and refine their identified problem. Based on the evidence in the literature review and empirical project, students will engage in a final project that may further explore an aspect of their POP or articulate a potential solution.

Students will demonstrate mastery of first- and second-year competencies through written and oral comprehensive assessments, which will serve as indicators of readiness for conducting their applied research. Students will then evaluate the effectiveness of this solution as their Applied Project (Year 3). Characteristics of the Dossier Style Dissertation that make it unique to this program include:

• Written assignments within courses that focus on the student's POP.
• Coursework that leads students to consider applications that hold the potential for significant change or impact within their organization and/or have implications for policy.
• Dossier Style Dissertation components that are embedded within coursework and distributed across the three years of the program.

Although somewhat different from a traditional dissertation in its completion and focus, students are nevertheless expected to demonstrate mastery of the relevant literature, to obtain extant and/or collect additional data, and to interpret the results in light of previous studies. The Dossier Style Dissertation will be presented at a final oral defense before a Dossier Style Dissertation Panel.

Typically, we expect that students would complete three years of coursework and independent research concurrently. It is possible that some students may need more than three years to complete their research, in which case they will be required to enroll in at least one credit hour per semester after completion of the required 90 credit hours.

*Students admitted Fall 2021 can choose to complete either the Dossier Style Dissertation or the Applied Dissertation described below. Fall 2022 students may only complete the Dossier Style Dissertation.

Problems of Practice and Applied Dissertation (for students admitted Fall 2013-2021*)

Students examine a Problem of Practice (POP), which is an area of concern that they have observed within their professional context. This POP becomes the focus of the student's Applied Dissertation research. The Applied Dissertation is embedded within the EdD program coursework, which provides students with a unique opportunity to examine an issue important to the organization in which they are employed.

During the first year in the program, students examine their articulated POP to identify underlying causes and associated factors. During the second year of the program, students develop a potential solution, such as an intervention or policy change, and a plan to study the implementation of this intervention as well as proximal outcomes. Students will demonstrate mastery of first- and second-year competencies through written and oral comprehensive assessments, which will serve as indicators of readiness for conducting their applied research. Students will then evaluate the effectiveness of this solution as their Applied Dissertation (Year 3). Characteristics of the Applied Dissertation that make it unique to this program include:

• Coursework that leads students to consider solutions that hold the potential for significant change or impact within their organization and/or have implications for policy.
• Dissertation components that are embedded within coursework and distributed across the three years of the program.

Although somewhat different from a traditional dissertation in its completion and focus, students are nevertheless expected to demonstrate mastery of the relevant literature, to obtain extant and/or collect additional data, and to interpret the results in light of previous studies. The dissertation will be presented at a final oral defense before the student’s Dissertation Advisory Committee.

Typically, students will complete three years of coursework and independent research concurrently. It is possible that some students may need more than three years to complete their research, in which case they will be required to enroll in at least one credit hour per semester after completion of the required 90 credit hours.

*Students admitted Fall 2013-2020 must complete the Applied Dissertation. Students admitted Fall 2021 can choose to complete either the Dossier Style Dissertation or the Applied Dissertation. Fall 2022 students may only complete the Dossier Style Dissertation.

Learning Outcomes

Program goals.

Upon successful completion of the EdD, we expect that graduates will:

• Participate as a self-reflexive, social justice-oriented learner within diverse educational or learning communities.
• Analyze and critique educational practice and research from a social justice and systems perspective.
• Apply relevant methodologies to address critical challenges in education.
• Demonstrate a curiosity for, and a systematic approach to, at least one major topic of study within education resulting in an emerging expertise.
• Integrate research and practice-based knowledge to develop research-informed decisions and opinions about educational experiences, processes, policies, and institutions.
• Communicate effectively to diverse audiences about educational research, experiences, processes, policies, and institutions.

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• Doctor Education Leadership Innovation

Online Doctor of Education (EdD) in Leadership and Innovation

Admissions requirements.

• Ways to Save on Tuition
• Career Outcomes

Doctor of Education in Leadership and Innovation Overview

It’s time to take your education career even further. Become a change agent ready to make a difference in your workplace. Earn an EdD degree online in leadership and innovation.

• Prepare for leadership roles within all areas of education, including postsecondary, government, corporate, and nonprofit institutions.
• Take doctoral courses 100% online and complete a research project you can apply to your workplace, community, or area of expertise.
• Get the credit you deserve. Save up to $12,600 (or 33%) on tuition and graduate in 2 years by transferring up to 30 credits from your master’s.
• Find resources and support every step of the way, including a Faculty Advisor and Consultant, access to a comprehensive online library, writing support, and more.
• Gain leadership, diversity and inclusion, and research skills to create innovative and transformative learning environments.

See Notes and Conditions below for important information.

Purdue Global Is Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission

The HLC ( HLCommission.org ) is an institutional accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

A master’s degree in a related field is required to enroll in a postgraduate program. You will need to provide an official transcript that shows completion of your master’s degree from an accredited institution, though an unofficial copy may be provided during the application process. Refer to the University Catalog or speak to an Advisor to learn more.

What Courses Will I Take?

The 100% online courses for the EdD degree build your skills in leadership and innovation, with diversity, equity, and inclusion principles integrated throughout. Topics include diversity, equity, and inclusion; transformative learning; ethics and accountability; and more. Your studies culminate in an applied research project, which you can complete at your workplace or in your community.

Sample Courses

• Trends, Patterns, and Ethical Issues That Impact Education
• Research in Responsive Curriculum Design and Development Learning and Professional Practice
• Transformative Learning Environments
• Creativity, Innovation, and Intrapreneurship in Education

Program Requirements

Upcoming start dates.

We offer multiple start dates to give you flexibility in your education, life, and work schedules.

Develop with Faculty Expertise and Support

Our faculty are pioneers and leaders in online higher education and are dedicated to supporting you on your educational journey. You will be assigned a faculty member who will guide you. A Faculty Advisor will review your master’s degree and discuss your career goals to ensure alignment of your EdD cognate electives.

During your final four applied research courses, a Faculty Consultant will be there to assist you in choosing a research project that focuses on a practical application in your field of expertise. The Consultant will help you with completing the Institutional Review Board process, choosing a methodology, collecting and analyzing data, and defending your research project.

Ways to Save on Time and Tuition

Purdue Global works with students to find ways to reduce costs and make education more accessible. Contact us to learn about opportunities to save on your educational costs.

Earn credit for prior coursework completed at eligible institutions.

Learn about federal financial aid programs available for many of our degree programs.

Learn about federal and state grants and loan programs that may be available.

Employees of Purdue Global partner organizations may be eligible for special tuition reductions .

Graduate tuition savings for military include a 17–30% reduction per credit for current servicemembers and, 14% per credit for veterans for graduate programs.

Earn credit for your military training . We offer credit for ACE-evaluated training and CLEP and DANTES examinations.

View the total cost of attendance for your program.

Calculate Your Time and Cost

Estimate how much your prior learning credits can reduce your tuition and time to graduation.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for administrators in postsecondary education is expected to grow through 2032. Opportunities for training and development specialists and instructional coordinators are also expected to grow during this timeframe. The online doctorate in education at Purdue Global equips you with the skills and knowledge to lead education-related organizations in a fast-changing landscape.

Average Salary

In Your State

General labor market and salary data are provided by Lightcast and may not represent the outcomes experienced by Purdue Global graduates in these programs. Purdue Global graduates in these programs may earn salaries substantially different or less than the amounts listed above. Salary and employment outcomes vary by geographic area, previous work experience, education, and opportunities for employment that are outside of Purdue Global's control.

Purdue Global does not guarantee employment placement, salary level, or career advancement.

Join an Extensive Alumni Network

Upon graduation, you’ll become part of the Purdue Alumni Association, a vast and prestigious network of professionals. You’ll be able to make connections and access alumni benefits.

Download the Program Brochure

Download our brochure to learn more about the Online Doctor of Education in Leadership and Innovation and the benefits of earning your degree at Purdue Global.

Prepare yourself for success with a doctoral degree in education.

Get to Know Our Faculty

Purdue Global faculty members are real-world practitioners who bring knowledge gained through the powerful combination of higher learning and industry experience.

Faculty members who have advanced degrees

Faculty members who hold a doctorate

Faculty publications in 2022–2023

Professional development hours logged by faculty in 2022–2023

Statistics include all Purdue Global faculty members and are not school- or program-specific calculations. Source: Purdue Global Office of Reporting and Analysis, July 2023. 2022–2023 academic year.

Your Path to Success Begins Here

Connect with an Advisor to explore program requirements, curriculum, credit for prior learning process, and financial aid options.

* Estimated Graduation Date and Average Completion: Estimated graduation date is based on the assumption that you will enroll in time to begin classes on the next upcoming start date, will remain enrolled for each consecutive term, and will maintain satisfactory academic standing in each term to progress toward completion of your program. Completion time is based on a full-time schedule. Programs will take longer for part-time students to complete.

Credit for Prior Learning: Estimate based on maximum cognate open elective credits available in degree plan. The EdD program is a new offering and thus historic data on credit for prior learning are not available. Exact transfer amount may vary. All credits must be validated on official transcript(s) to be eligible for transfer. Purdue Global does not guarantee transferability of credit. See the University Catalog for the Prior Learning policy.

Employment and Career Advancement: Purdue Global does not guarantee employment placement or career advancement. Actual outcomes vary by geographic area, previous work experience and opportunities for employment.

Postsecondary Education Administrator Job Growth and Openings: Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Postsecondary Education Administrators, www.bls.gov/ooh/management/postsecondary-education-administrators.htm . National long-term projections may not reflect local and/or short-term economic or job conditions and do not guarantee actual job growth.

Training and Development Specialists and Instructional Coordinators Job Openings: Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Training and Development Specialists, www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/training-and-development-specialists.htm ; Instructional Coordinators, www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/instructional-coordinators.htm . National long-term projections may not reflect local and/or short-term economic or job conditions and do not guarantee actual job growth.

Online Doctor of Education Degree

Online Doctoral Degree in Education: An Overview

• Special education. 
• Higher education administration. 
• Educational psychology.  
• Adult education.  
• Curriculum and instruction. 

Jobs for Education Doctorate Degree Holders

Degree requirements.

• Challenges in urban education. 
• Human lifespan development. 
• Diversity, equity and inclusion.  
• Applied research and evaluation. 
• Development and improvement of pedagogical practices. 
• Theories and practices of leading organizations. 
• Ethical leadership and social justice. 
• How will you pay for the degree? Do you qualify for scholarships, grants or other financial aid? Is your employer subsidizing all or part of your education expenses? Are you taking out a student loan, and if so, what are the terms of this loan, including interest?
• How much income will you have while in school?
• Will you take classes full time or part time? How long will it take you to complete your desired degree program?
• Is this degree required for your desired role?
• How soon after obtaining this degree can you reasonably expect to work in your desired role?
• What is the average salary for your desired role, and how does that compare with your current salary?
• Is your desired degree in a growing field or one with expected demand?

Example courses

• Leading organizational change
• Evaluation of education policies and programs
• Current issues and trends in education
• Online teaching and learning
• Introduction to research methods

Job Outlook and Salary

Pay for online doctorate in education degree .

US South Carolina

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Best Online Doctor of Education Programs for 2024

Online Doctor of Education programs have become as rigorous as their on-campus counterparts. For many Education Ed.D. candidates, an online degree might even be the smarter choice. Online programs offer flexibility, affordability, access to innovative technologies, students from a diversity of career backgrounds, and global opportunities.

This unranked list appears in alphabetical order.

Showing 1 - 25 of 63 results

Vanderbilt university - online doctor of education in leadership and learning in organizations, university of dayton - online doctor of education (ed.d.) in leadership for organizations, from the school, arcadia university - doctor of education in educational leadership (deel), university of south carolina - doctor of education, university of west georgia - ed.d. in school improvement, kennesaw state university - education doctorate in educational leadership (ed.d.), valdosta state university - ed.d. in leadership, florida state university - educational leadership & policy - ed.d. program, university of west florida - doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction, university of florida - online ed.d. (professional practice ed.d. in curriculum and instruction), st. thomas university - ed.d. in leadership and innovation, nova southeastern university - doctor of education (ed.d.), liberty university - online doctor of education (ed.d.) program, regent university - doctorate in education, virginia commonwealth university - ed.d. in leadership program, william & mary - executive ed.d. in educational policy, planning and leadership program, university of virginia - curriculum & instruction: ed.d. - doctor of education program, trevecca nazarene university - doctor of education in leadership and professional practice (ed.d.), johns hopkins school of education - online ed.d. program, union university - doctor of education (ed.d.), william carey university - educational leadership, drexel university - online doctorate in educational leadership and management (ed.d.), cabrini university - doctor of education (edd) in organizational learning and leadership online, spalding university - online doctorate of education in leadership (edd) program, morehead state university - doctor of education (ed.d.).

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Online Ph.D. in Literacy

Devote yourself to advancing literacy education.

Request more information.

100% online

2.5 years of courses + dissertation project to complete

2 specializations

61st Best Online Education Graduate Programs 1

Literacy is the foundation of all learning. Prepare to help students from diverse backgrounds overcome barriers to reading proficiency and succeed throughout their entire educational career with the Ph.D. in Literacy program at St. John’s University—one of the nation’s only online doctorate programs in literacy.

Graduate in as little as three years ready to enhance learning across all subject areas in partnership with students, teachers, and administrators.

Plus, you can enter the field confident that your training meets or exceeds that of your peers. The School of Education at St. John’s University is a member of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation , American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education , and University Council for Educational Administration .

“The information I am learning in the program is priceless. I truly appreciate the direction that is given by my professors. They are very helpful and knowledgeable. I believe this program will prepare me to advocate for both teachers and students in my field.” – Annamaria Miller, ESL Teacher/Instructor

Customize Your Learning

Take your career in a new direction by focusing your education in one of two areas:

Ph.D. in Literacy: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Combine your passion for literacy with specialized skills teaching English to speakers of other languages. This curriculum meets the International TESOL Association’s highest standards.

Ph.D. in Literacy: Literacy

Support literacy as the backbone of education from kindergarten to high school graduation, gain first-hand experience with expert faculty, and build a foundation for student success.

Find Your Future in Literacy

Equip yourself with a repertoire of literacy strategies that enhance teaching in a variety of environments, from the classroom or special education department to learning resource rooms and ESL teams.

Depending on your specialization, prepare for job titles such as:

Curriculum Focused on Reaching Diverse Learners

The entire 42-credit curriculum, through research, implementation, and instruction, is built around a holistic focus on helping students overcome the obstacles they face in literacy, no matter their background. You will:

• Broaden and increase your depth of knowledge on literacy for all learners, including diverse and at-risk populations.
• Develop your abilities as a literacy educator who sees diversity as an advantage.
• Gain forward-thinking perspectives on literacy research, theory, practice, and evaluation.
• Expand your capacity to conduct advanced research and inquiry.

The online Ph.D. in Literacy encourages proactive research to find solutions for literacy difficulties and advocates for equity and social justice. Through an independent research project, you address a critical area in literacy and harness what you learn to make an impact in this field.

Work with Dedicated Faculty

Learn from faculty with decades of experience in literacy education and take advantage of a dedicated advisor who supports your success throughout the program. Annual reviews of your progress, and mentorship from the program coordinator, ensure you make the most of your time at St. John’s University.

If you have any questions about St. John’s University’s online Ph.D. in Literacy, contact us at 844-393-1677 or request more information today!

• U.S. News & World Report, 2019
• O-Net Online. (2018) Education Administrators, Elementary & Secondary School. Retrieved on February 13, 2019, from https://www.mynextmove.org/profile/ext/online/11-9032.00 .
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2017 May) Adult Basic and Secondary Education and Literacy Teachers and Instructors. Retrieved on February 13, 2019, from https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes253011.htm .
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2017 May) Occupational Outlook Handbook: Post-Secondary Education Administrators. Retrieved on February 13, 2019, from https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/postsecondary-education-administrators.htm .
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2017 May) Occupational Employment Statistics. Retrieved on February 13, 2019, from https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes252059.htm .

Doctor of Philosophy in Education

Additional Information

• Download the Doctoral Viewbook
• Admissions & Aid

The Harvard Ph.D. in Education trains cutting-edge researchers who work across disciplines to generate knowledge and translate discoveries into transformative policy and practice.

Offered jointly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Ph.D. in Education provides you with full access to the extraordinary resources of Harvard University and prepares you to assume meaningful roles as university faculty, researchers, senior-level education leaders, and policymakers.

As a Ph.D. candidate, you will collaborate with scholars across all Harvard graduate schools on original interdisciplinary research. In the process, you will help forge new fields of inquiry that will impact the way we teach and learn. The program’s required coursework will develop your knowledge of education and your expertise in a range of quantitative and qualitative methods needed to conduct high-quality research. Guided by the goal of making a transformative impact on education research, policy, and practice, you will focus on independent research in various domains, including human development, learning and teaching, policy analysis and evaluation, institutions and society, and instructional practice.   

Curriculum Information

The Ph.D. in Education requires five years of full-time study to complete. You will choose your individual coursework and design your original research in close consultation with your HGSE faculty adviser and dissertation committee. The requirements listed below include the three Ph.D. concentrations: Culture, Institutions, and Society; Education Policy and Program Evaluation; and Human Development, Learning and Teaching . 

We invite you to review an example course list, which is provided in two formats — one as the full list by course number and one by broad course category . These lists are subject to modification. 

Ph.D. Concentrations and Examples

Summary of Ph.D. Program

Doctoral Colloquia  In year one and two you are required to attend. The colloquia convenes weekly and features presentations of work-in-progress and completed work by Harvard faculty, faculty and researchers from outside Harvard, and Harvard doctoral students. Ph.D. students present once in the colloquia over the course of their career.

Research Apprenticeship The Research Apprenticeship is designed to provide ongoing training and mentoring to develop your research skills throughout the entire program.

Teaching Fellowships The Teaching Fellowship is an opportunity to enhance students' teaching skills, promote learning consolidation, and provide opportunities to collaborate with faculty on pedagogical development.

Comprehensive Exams  The Written Exam (year 2, spring) tests you on both general and concentration-specific knowledge. The Oral Exam (year 3, fall/winter) tests your command of your chosen field of study and your ability to design, develop, and implement an original research project.

Dissertation  Based on your original research, the dissertation process consists of three parts: the Dissertation Proposal, the writing, and an oral defense before the members of your dissertation committee.

Culture, Institutions, and Society (CIS) Concentration

In CIS, you will examine the broader cultural, institutional, organizational, and social contexts relevant to education across the lifespan. What is the value and purpose of education? How do cultural, institutional, and social factors shape educational processes and outcomes? How effective are social movements and community action in education reform? How do we measure stratification and institutional inequality? In CIS, your work will be informed by theories and methods from sociology, history, political science, organizational behavior and management, philosophy, and anthropology. You can examine contexts as diverse as classrooms, families, neighborhoods, schools, colleges and universities, religious institutions, nonprofits, government agencies, and more.

Education Policy and Program Evaluation (EPPE) Concentration

In EPPE, you will research the design, implementation, and evaluation of education policy affecting early childhood, K–12, and postsecondary education in the U.S. and internationally. You will evaluate and assess individual programs and policies related to critical issues like access to education, teacher effectiveness, school finance, testing and accountability systems, school choice, financial aid, college enrollment and persistence, and more. Your work will be informed by theories and methods from economics, political science, public policy, and sociology, history, philosophy, and statistics. This concentration shares some themes with CIS, but your work with EPPE will focus on public policy and large-scale reforms.

Human Development, Learning and Teaching (HDLT) Concentration

In HDLT, you will work to advance the role of scientific research in education policy, reform, and practice. New discoveries in the science of learning and development — the integration of biological, cognitive, and social processes; the relationships between technology and learning; or the factors that influence individual variations in learning — are transforming the practice of teaching and learning in both formal and informal settings. Whether studying behavioral, cognitive, or social-emotional development in children or the design of learning technologies to maximize understanding, you will gain a strong background in human development, the science of learning, and sociocultural factors that explain variation in learning and developmental pathways. Your research will be informed by theories and methods from psychology, cognitive science, sociology and linguistics, philosophy, the biological sciences and mathematics, and organizational behavior.

Program Faculty

The most remarkable thing about the Ph.D. in Education is open access to faculty from all Harvard graduate and professional schools, including the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Harvard Kennedy School, the Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Learn about the full Ph.D. Faculty.

Jarvis R. Givens

Jarvis Givens studies the history of American education, African American history, and the relationship between race and power in schools.

Paul L. Harris

Paul Harris is interested in the early development of cognition, emotion, and imagination in children.

Meira Levinson

Meira Levinson is a normative political philosopher who works at the intersection of civic education, youth empowerment, racial justice, and educational ethics. 

Luke W. Miratrix

Luke Miratrix is a statistician who explores how to best use modern statistical methods in applied social science contexts.

Eric Taylor

Eric Taylor studies the economics of education, with a particular interest in employer-employee interactions between schools and teachers — hiring and firing decisions, job design, training, and performance evaluation.

Paola Uccelli

Paola Ucelli studies socio-cultural and individual differences in the language development of multilingual and monolingual students.

View Ph.D. Faculty

Dissertations.

The following is a complete listing of successful Ph.D. in Education dissertations to-date. Dissertations from November 2014 onward are publicly available in the Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) , the online repository for Harvard scholarship.

• 2022 Graduate Dissertations (265 KB pdf)
• 2021 Graduate Dissertations (177 KB pdf)
• 2020 Graduate Dissertations (121 KB pdf)
• 2019 Graduate Dissertations (68.3 KB pdf)

Student Directory

An opt-in listing of current Ph.D. students with information about their interests, research, personal web pages, and contact information:

Doctor of Philosophy in Education Student Directory

Introduce Yourself

Tell us about yourself so that we can tailor our communication to best fit your interests and provide you with relevant information about our programs, events, and other opportunities to connect with us.

Program Highlights

Explore examples of the Doctor of Philosophy in Education experience and the impact its community is making on the field:

Reshaping Teacher Licensure: Lessons from the Pandemic

Olivia Chi, Ed.M.'17, Ph.D.'20, discusses the ongoing efforts to ensure the quality and stability of the teaching workforce

Lost in Translation

New comparative study from Ph.D. candidate Maya Alkateb-Chami finds strong correlation between low literacy outcomes for children and schools teaching in different language from home

Online EdD in Education Policy and Leadership

Request Information

Complete the form below to download a brochure and learn more about American University’s online education programs.

The online EdD in Education Policy and Leadership (EdD) program at American University is proudly part of The Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED). The vision of the CPED is to inspire all schools of education to apply the CPED framework to the preparation of educational leaders to become well-equipped scholarly practitioners who provide stewardship of the profession and meet the educational challenges of the 21st century.

Join Our Alumni Network: Advance with Our Online Doctor of Education Program

American University’s School of Education believes education shouldn’t just focus on what students learn—it should provide students with an opportunity to reach their full potential and be a force for positive social change. Education should give students hope. Antiquated policies and structures have made hope hard to find in modern education, and the United States needs a new approach to education leadership and policy to bring hope and action to its schools.

The online Doctorate in Education Policy and Leadership (EdD) is a response to this need, empowering education leaders who have the practical experience and theoretical knowledge to effect widespread, progressive change in education. Whether they pursue opportunities in educational instruction, senior learning specialist jobs, organizational leadership, or policymaking, EdD graduates will be better prepared to change education for every student.

Required Credits

40 credits beyond an approved master’s degree

Estimated Time to Completion

Less than three years

Practitioner-Focused Coursework and Research

Resulting in a dissertation of practice

Three On-Campus Residencies

In terms 1, 4, and 6

Online EdD Program Pillars

Graduates of the online EdD program are equipped with the skills every education leader needs to be effective, including strategic budgeting, collaborative inquiry, talent management, partnership building, learning science, and program evaluation. We strive to hone students’ knowledge and develop their skills and beliefs in the following four domains:

Systems Change

Personal leadership, social justice and antiracism.

Policy and Research

These domains serve as the backbone of our program and live out in each course, module, and residency experience our students engage in. After completing their coursework and problem of practice dissertation, students will have the policy, leadership, and research skills necessary to serve in senior positions in school district central offices, independent schools, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, advocacy organizations, senior learning specialist jobs, and more.

The Doctorate of Education Online Cohort Experience

Peer learning and a sustained learning network are essential hallmarks of the online EdD program. As a result, students will progress through the program as part of a cohort, taking the same courses and accomplishing program milestones together. We intentionally build a diverse cohort of students to contribute to the dynamic learning environment in the program. Learning will occur through robust dialogue, shared learning experiences, and presenting current professional work and doctoral research.

I chose American University’s doctorate in education policy and leadership program because I want to apply my understanding of how to influence and change systems to produce research that highlights the steps for enacting policy changes that produce equitable outcomes for young children and the educators within this system. I want to continue to foster my skills in policy and research to be able to evaluate progress toward systems change. Shayna Cook Senior manager at education policy firm from Washington, DC

Synchronous

Live online classes with remote students in your cohort attended according to a specific schedule.

Asynchronous

Self-paced courses or work completed according to your schedule.

Assignments

Homework, projects, research, etc.

14-16 Hours

Total Hours Weekly

Hours are estimates and subject to change per term course.

EdD Domains & Competencies

Personal Mastery

Social Justice / Antiracism

System Thinking

Doctorate of Education Residency

Students will participate in a residency, enabling them to interface with peers and faculty. The program will include three (3) required DC residencies, encapsulated in the EDU-798 course.

Residency #1 Term 1 4 Days (Thurs to Sun) Washington, DC This residency will provide students with the engagement and opportunities to connect and build a strong cohort and professional network. Presentations from academic resources and supports offered throughout their program will assist students with navigating the tools needed to be successful as an online doctor of education student. During the residency, students will participate in a public narrative workshop and begin to forge relationships with faculty they may partner with in the future.

Residency #2 Term 4 4 Days (Thurs to Sun) Washington, DC This residency will include an opportunity for education system leaders to present their own problem of practice to graduate students and faculty, demonstrating their commitment to antiracist research. Students will have time to engage with their committee chair for their dissertation. Students will be in DC and across cohorts and able to engage with each other. Multiple cohorts will be in attendance, allowing students to engage in cross-cohort interaction.

Residency #3 Term 6 4 Days (Thurs to Sun) Washington, DC This residency will include an opportunity for education system leaders to present their methodological approaches and pilots from a critical race lens to their colleagues and faculty. Breakout sessions will include a review of research methodologies, designated time to prepare for Internal Review Board (IRB) clearance, and preparation for students’ defense of their proposals.

40 Credits | 3 Required DC Residencies

Antiracism, Systems Thinking, Policy, Research

In order to be effective educators, practitioners, and administrators who are committed to fostering equitable, inclusive, and antiracist educational environments, it is important to be engaged in discussions on these topics on a regular basis. Having a clear understanding of equity, inclusion, and antiracism in the context of education as well as its limitations is only a starting point for engaging in more deeply involved issues related to achieving social justice and equity for all who participate in education. This course serves as a venue through which students act as both learners and teachers, requiring them to think deeply about their own positionality, understand the unique processes by which students develop across multiple social identity dimensions, and recognize the challenges and opportunities educational organizations face when enacting commitments to equity, inclusion, and antiracism. Usually Offered : fall, spring, and summer. Grading : A-F only. Prerequisite : EDU-702.

Personal Mastery, Antiracism Systems Thinking

Collaborative Inquiry through Systems Thinking is about systems thinking and change—building knowledge of some key frameworks and applying the frameworks to cases and to our own personal contexts, including ourselves, the organizations we work in, and our doctoral cohort. Systems thinking involves the capability to conceptually examine the whole, the sum of parts, rather than the individual parts separately. And systems thinking propels thinkers and leaders to be able to act with a view of both the current reality and the future.

During this course, we will explore many of the concepts that undergird the entire doctoral program: organizational change, social justice, personal leadership, and policy research. We will focus with a strong emphasis on the first three (organizational change, social justice, personal leadership) in this course, and systems thinking and change will serve as a springboard into our doctoral program in education policy and leadership.

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Build conceptual knowledge of systems thinking frameworks, including Senge’s five disciplines, Heifetz’s technical and adaptive leadership approach, and Bolman and Deal’s Four Frames
• Apply systems thinking frameworks to your current organizational context and your own personal reflection
• Utilize systems thinking to generate proposals for shared case analysis

Research, Personal Mastery, Antiracism

School of Education system leaders present their problem of practice to students to demonstrate the variety of disciplinary and methodological approaches to educational inquiry. The course also reviews research and statistical methodologies.

Personal Mastery, Antiracism

Leading in today’s educational context necessitates practitioners embrace and deploy the highest versions of their whole self while engaging in the practice of leadership. Exercising this type of leadership requires a deeper consciousness of self and the roles our identity, emotions, and adult development play during the leadership process. Practicing conscious leadership balances the “being and doing” of leadership by honoring and releasing a more healed educational practitioner ready to take on the most complex education issues of our times. This course uses blogs, reflective papers, self-assessments, journals, and executive coaching to serve as the “mirror” for diagnosing students’ leadership defaults, strengths, and blind spots. Supplementing the mirror, this course utilizes diverse research, texts, and ways of knowing to provide students with a robust toolkit of self-reflective frameworks, practices, and inclusive tools that shifts mindsets, behaviors, and practices (internal and external) on behalf of creating a more just education system for all.

At the completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Explain current issues and practices of leadership development in order to formulate a holistic view of today’s educational context
• Develop a comprehensive understanding of your personal leadership style, including default behaviors
• Apply conscious leadership concepts, practice, and theories to personal leadership strategy
• Examine personal change toward conscious leadership to continue enhancing leadership potential
• Demonstrate an ability to exercise conscious leadership within your educational context to facilitate meaningful change
• Recognize the role that power, identity, mindset, emotional awareness, adult development, and equity play during the leadership process

Policy, Systems Thinking, Strategy, Antiracism

This course will offer you the opportunity to learn and apply policy analysis tools and management science to develop and successfully implement education policy. You will analyze historical and present-day education policies from intent to implementation. The course will begin with an exploration of policy basics and frameworks, then continue an intentional path through problem identification and problem-solving to case studies and policy analysis. You will learn how policy at the federal, state, and local levels influences and impacts American PK-12 education and the issues and challenges that educators face as a result of these policies. Several policy authors will offer insight into their own experiences through guest speaker sessions.

The EdD in Education Policy and Leadership domains are: Systems Thinking, Personal Leadership, Social Justice and Antiracism, and Policy and Research. Although this course touches on all the identified domains, Education Policy and Change will place an emphasis on Policy and Research. Additionally, the competencies for the EdD program are:

• Personal Awareness and Mastery: The ability to understand one’s self—one’s strengths, one’s reasoning, and one’s ability to connect with others. Ability to build a learning community.
• Commitment to, Practice of, and Fostering in others Antiracist and Social Justice Beliefs and Action: The ability to engage in authentic conversations and action around personal, organizational, and systemic social justice and antiracism.
• Systems Thinking, Organizational Change and Organizational Learning: The ability to diagnose, observe, and act with knowledge of systemic variables and thinking. Ability to lead and manage systemic change efforts and learning.
• Research Methods, Practice, and Knowledge: Skill and competence with qualitative, developmental, and quantitative methods, analysis, and research design methods.
• Policy Writing, Implementation, and Navigation: Knowledge and skill of policy history, policy implementation, and political navigation.
• Strategy: Skill to create organizational strategic direction with a clear understanding and view of internal and external dimensions.

This course emphasizes competencies 3-6.

Systems Thinking Antiracism, Research

Within this course, we will dig into the creative process of exploring various focus areas for your practitioner research. This foundational course will equip learners with the virtual and physical environments to creatively explore, use design thinking and design research, and create multiple pathways for students’ personalized study and focus. This course will enable learners to narrow their interests and identify a focus area for the duration of their doctoral studies.

We will employ a disruptive innovation lens, a design research approach, design thinking principles, and an antiracist framework to identify and narrow our emerging problems of practice. Learners will experiment with potential problems of practice and narrow their practitioner-oriented research to guide their studies. Within your third semester as doctoral students, you will experiment and build your skills, frameworks, and questions to solidify your study.

The course will include a mix of creative exercises, reading, presenting, academic research, practitioner research, writing, and writing peer groups.

Personal Mastery, Systems Thinking, Antiracism

This course will explore the fundamentals of building a team culture and learning culture within an organization. We will explore the alignment and synergy between learning and efficacy; diagnose and assess the culture within our organizations; create plans for deepening a culture of learning and growth within an organization; and explore the connections between growth culture and equity. This course is meant to support the leadership development of students, provide them with theories and tools to employ in their current and future roles; and engage students in thinking about how individual and team learning intersect. Within the course, students will write reflective essays, engage in group learning simulations, and explore the ideas within their existing roles and organizations.

Through the course, students will engage in real-world teaming experiences with their EdD cohort colleagues, and they will have the opportunity to focus on applied projects within teams, supporting national organizations on existing challenges. We will also spend time during our residency weekend focused on teaming dynamics and project launch.

Research, Antiracism, Systems Thinking

This course falls as the mid-point course in a three-semester continuum, where doctoral learners build their skills as scholarly practitioners with an antiracist lens. Learners enter the course having identified a problem of practice for their scholarly research. And within EDU 710, learners will build their toolkit of practitioner research methods and approaches to support their general knowledge and to consider how to possibly apply toward their problem of practice. Within the course, learners will explore improvement science, participatory action research, ethnography, developmental, qualitative, and quantitative methods. During the course, students will learn about the methodological approaches and apply them in small-scale ways toward their problems of practice.

Antiracism, Strategy, Systems Thinking

This course surveys what education leaders need to know about learning sciences and provides an overview of approaches to administration, analysis, and interpretation of student-level, classroom-level, school-level, and system-level learning outcomes, attending specifically to issues of equity and educational opportunity. Students develop skills in implementation science as applied to problems of practice.

Personal Mastery, Antiracism, Strategy

In this course, students explore speechwriting, public speaking in victory and crisis, communicating from values, and working with social media and the news media. Students learn how to make every communication a dialogue, how to advance their goals and those of listeners, how speaking from the best of yourself gives confidence, and how to distill a message into one memorable sentence that captures listeners’ attention, moves your ideas forward, focuses the problem, and helps achieve your goals.

This course is the third in a series following EDU 703 and EDU 710. This course will begin with a bit more tool sharpening with participatory action research, qualitative methods, and developmental methods with an antiracist lens. Learners will explore a potential matrix of methods that they may employ for their own scholarly research. Learners will work with their doctoral committees and their peer support networks to solidify a scholarly practitioner approach to apply to their problem of practice. Students will gain practice in developing and piloting survey instruments as well as interview and observation protocols focused on the practices and experiences of education stakeholders. Students will also become familiar with strategies for drawing response samples. Finally, students will learn systematic approaches to, and tools for, qualitative data coding and analysis.

Systems Thinking, Antiracism, Policy

This course provides a structured environment for students to explore partnerships between educational institutions and community organizations, families, government agencies, businesses, and non-profit organizations. Existing structural and institutional barriers make collaborative partnerships between schools/education settings and community groups difficult to attain, particularly when leaders lack the skills and competencies to bridge the gap. The course incorporates literature, case studies, and problem-based learning exercises and encourages students to consider assumptions of community stakeholders, to clarify and challenge their own assumptions, and to explore the opportunities and risks associated with cross-sector collaboration and partnerships.

Systems Thinking, Policy, Research, Antiracism

The budget for any organization offers a glimpse into what efforts will be prioritized over a given period of time. The pursuit of excellence through equity in school systems may meet barriers in the budgeting process, as leaders allocate resources to best achieve district or system goals. Therefore, it is crucial that system leaders be able to strategically budget a district’s resources (time, money, and people). This course focuses on the tools, research, and best practices to help leaders be good stewards over an organization’s resources and deploy those resources to protect and maintain focus on district/system goals.

Select one of the following:

• Students are introduced to concepts and principles of social science research design. Observation, interview and survey design, literature reviews, development of problem statements and research questions, surveys of quantitative and qualitative data analyses, and formative and summative evaluation techniques are emphasized. Students demonstrate their competencies by engaging in a small-scale research study.
• Students examine organizational change and leadership in educational organizations, including K-12 schools, federal and state agencies, school districts, and charter school management organizations. Students analyze theories and approaches for management, strategic planning, decentralization versus centralization, organizational learning, stakeholder engagement, and personal leadership.
• Students learn how to use economic principles, such as productivity and return on investment, to evaluate education policies and programs. They apply these economic analytical approaches to education policies and programs such as value-added assessments, teacher compensation, early childhood education, and class-size reduction. Students also examine basic resource allocation and education finance, including costing-out models, school-district budgeting, Title I funding, and weighted-student formulas.
• Students examine major public policy issues and theories in American education through the three-phase lens of policy design, policy adoption, and policy implementation. They learn to describe tensions in federal, state, and local education policies with reference to historical and international comparisons, as well as to evaluate the use of various education policy tools. Policy issues considered include standards and accountability, whole-district reform, school choice, teacher quality, and college and career readiness.
• Students examine legal issues relating to reforming elementary and secondary education through an analysis of federal and state court cases. They identify important legal standards/rules and explore how legal precedents could be applied to different situations across the country. Students also analyze institutional reform litigation such as school finance and voluntary desegregation; federal and state educational authority, including civil rights enforcement; local educational authority, including school boards and collective bargaining agreements; and legal conditions for school improvements.
• Working in small groups, students serve as consultants to an educational organization on a pressing issue of policy or practice. During this field-based project, they apply skills developed through their program of study in education policy and leadership. Students learn approaches to project management, client relations, analytical design, and project presentation, as well as receive support for transitions into policy and leadership careers.
• Students learn about how educational organizations, including schools, school districts, and state agencies, implement education programs and policies. Students learn approaches to program management, including how to use data to set performance targets, make strategic improvement decisions, assess programs, and prioritize changes. Students are also introduced to basic grant writing and administration, including enforcement, monitoring, and support for education grants.
• Topics vary by section. Repeatable for credit with different topic.

Antiracism, Systems Thinking

While the EdD program is designed to be completed online, students are required to attend three (3) residencies at American University. Taking place over one weekend in Terms 1, 4, and 6, the residencies allow students to broaden their connections with faculty and advising staff, familiarize themselves with the various academic and professional resources American University offers, and deepen the relationships they have forged within their cohort through face-to-face interactions with one another. Students will also participate in workshops, dialogues, and in-person class sessions that will contribute to the development of their dissertations of practice and assist in the practical application of the knowledge gained through their studies.

Research, Antiracism, Personal Mastery, Systems Thinking, Policy, Strategy

May be taken by doctoral students who are advanced to candidacy with the approval of the faculty supervising the dissertation (or designee). It is a 9 credit course, but tuition is assessed at the 1 credit rate. The course is graded SP/UP and students will be deemed full-time. The Office of the Registrar must be notified when a student has advanced to candidacy.

Technology fee

Research, Anti-Racism, Personal Mastery, Systems Thinking, Policy, Strategy

Technology Fee

I was drawn to the program at AU because of the location, the emphasis on policy and leadership, and the entire application process, from the first information sessions to the individual and group interviews. I like how we meet as a cohort for virtual face-to-face sessions in addition to the asynchronous content we work on.

Brian Reilly

Special education administrator from Massachusetts

EdD Faculty Members

Cecily Darden Adams

Alida Anderson

Sarah Irvine Belson

Samantha Cohen

Amaarah DeCuir

Antonio Ellis

Annice Fisher

Reuben Jacobson

Anne Karabell

Edit Khatchatryan

Stefan Lallinger

Brian McGowan

Hannah Park

Carolyn Parker

David Rease

Kelvin Roldan

Robert Shand

Michele Shannon

Robert Simmons

William Thomas

Key dates & deadlines, connect with us, speak to an enrollment advisor.

Email:  [email protected] Call:  202-807-6173

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Check back soon for more upcoming events.

Schedule a School Tour

Our online students, as well as prospective students, are always welcome to tour our campus. Email: [email protected]

This program is designed for working PK-12 leaders who want to connect policy to practice and gain the practical knowledge and skills to transform their organizations and education systems.

Students will participate in a residency, enabling them to interface with peers and faculty.

The program will include three (3) required DC residencies encapsulated in the EDU-798 course.

1st Residency: The first residency will occur from Thursday to Sunday in Washington, DC, during the first month of Term 1. This residency will provide students with the engagement and supports needed to commit to their problem of practice and the program. This begins with the opportunity to work face-to-face with their professors and peers, specifically in their first-term courses. Presentations from academic resources and supports offered throughout their program will assist students with navigating the tools needed to be successful in their composition of a dissertation. The end of the residency will conclude with a presentation of their problem of practice.

2nd Residency: The second residency will occur from Thursday to Sunday in Washington, DC, during the beginning of Term 4 and will include an opportunity for education system leaders to present their problem of practice to graduate students to demonstrate the variety of methodological approaches to educational inquiry. Breakout sessions will include a review of research methodologies, designated time to prepare for Internal Review Board (IRB) clearance, and preparation for students’ defense of their proposals.

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Fill out this form to schedule an appointment with one of our enrollment advisors, who is happy to help answer your questions.

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Online Ed.D. in Education Administration | OU Online

Online Doctor of Education in Education Administration

Become a changemaker for education., make informed decisions in complex settings.

The OU Online Doctor of Education in Education Administration is a 100% online, 54-credit-hour program that takes 36 months to complete. Led by renowned educational leaders and scholars from OU’s Jeanine Rainbolt College of Education, the program emphasizes relationship-building in a cohort model through community groups, networking events, and collaborative projects. The program, accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), culminates with a problem of practice dissertation completed during coursework in the program's third year.

*The summer and fall cohorts for this program are currently at capacity. 

Choose from the following tracks:

Pk-12 educational leadership.

Learn cutting-edge research and leadership skills to help advance your career in PK-12 school district-level education, including assistant, associate, and superintendent positions and human resources administration.

Higher Education Leadership

Apply current scholarship and research skills to advance your career in colleges, universities, and nonprofit organizations. You’ll be prepared for positions in student affairs, student support services, institutional research, and higher-level positions like dean or provost.

Request Information

Admission deadline.

Rolling admissions (applications due 14 days before the intended start date).

Program Start Terms

Fall, Summer

Academic Calendar

Stay up to date with OU holiday closings, deadlines, and more.

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Benefits of the Education  Administration Doctoral Degree

Meet today’s growing demand.

As today’s educational landscape grows increasingly complex, there is a growing need for quality leaders who can meet these new challenges. Become equipped with the advanced knowledge and skills others lack and become an educational change agent in your organization.

Strong Career Growth

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of postsecondary administrators is projected to grow 4 percent by 2032. An estimated 15,300 job openings are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of these openings will result in the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or retire.

Flexible Format

Learn in a flexible, online program designed for working professionals. You’ll engage in discussion with professors and fellow students with opportunities to work together and collaborate.

OU Online graduates find employment within six months after graduation

OU Online graduates report earning an annual salary of $75,000 or more

OU Online students say the skills they gained in their program made them more competitive in their career field

Pursue Your  Education  Administration Doctoral Degree

Take the next step in your career with a degree from the University of Oklahoma. Applications are reviewed year-round for fall, spring, and summer sessions. Choose your program, choose your start, and apply today.

Program Breakdown

OU Online’s Doctor of Education in Education Administration program is structured to prepare students for job advancement and leadership by cultivating a deeper understanding of challenges in today’s educational settings. Students will learn how to lead change in their careers and gain the tools necessary to make positive and lasting changes in the organizations and educational settings in which they interact.

The program hosts monthly coffee chats each Friday where students can network with faculty and industry leaders. After completing year two, students will have the option to attend an immersion experience on campus.

This program offers two tracks – PK-12 Educational Leadership or Higher Education Leadership. Students can begin their curriculum in summer or fall terms. Courses will contain both asynchronous and synchronous components. Synchronous sessions are optional and will be recorded for playback.

PK-12 Educational Leadership Track

• Applied Quantitative
• Theoretical Paradigms in Education
• Visionary Leadership
• Qualitative Inquiry for Practitioners
• Program Evaluation
• Instructional Leadership in Educational Administration
• Dissertation Development & Advisory
• Educational & Community Relations
• Strategic & Financial Planning in Education
• Special Education Law
• Prospectus Development
• Advanced Inquiry
• Readings for Prospectus
• Policy Planning and Development

Higher Education Leadership Track

• Administration of Adult & Higher Ed
• Educational Technology Leadership
• Critical Literature in Adult & Higher Ed
• Diversity Issues in Higher Ed

How to Apply

Admissions to the online Doctor of Education in Education Administration are selective. To be considered, you must have a conferred master’s degree from an accredited institution.

To apply, students must:

• Complete the online application at  https://gograd.ou.edu/apply/
• Submit a current resume
• Provide official college transcripts from all institutions for both undergraduate and graduate degrees
• Background on the setting (e.g., school district, higher education institution, or non-profit organization)
• Description of the problem of the practice
• Importance of your problem of practice
• It is understood that the dissertation topic/interests may change, so you are not locked into this proposal if you are accepted into the program.  
• International students must demonstrate English proficiency.

The admissions committee operates under a rolling admissions process, and admissions may continue until two weeks before classes start. The program strives to respond to applicants within one week of submitting a completed application.

For more information about the admissions process, please complete the contact form below, and an admissions counselor will be in touch shortly.

If you would like to compare the estimated cost of your program with a typical financial aid package, use the  cost calculator  on our OU Online financial aid page. 

Graduate tuition waivers cannot be applied to OU Online programs. OU Online programs qualify for the OU Faculty/Staff Tuition Waiver & Fee Exemption, and we encourage you to check your eligibility.  

Tuition waiver and fee exemption package application

If you have questions regarding financial aid for your online program, please get in touch with the Online Aid office by emailing  [email protected]  or calling 405-325-2929.

Same Academic Excellence

Like every OU Online program, the Ed.D. in Education Administration is built on the foundation of world-class University of Oklahoma faculty mixed with professors of practice providing valuable instruction. By linking industry experts with our online programs, we offer the most advanced curriculum and prepare students for future career success.

An Investment in Your Future

Earning a Doctor of Education in Education Administration from OU Online gives you the advanced knowledge necessary to make informed and effective decisions in complex educational settings. You’ll learn to develop and implement strategic plans that drive positive change and innovation in educational organizations, gaining an expanded professional network as part of the global OU alumni community.

Tuition and fees for the program are $29,700 ($550 per credit hour). Books and additional materials are not included.

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When you graduate from an OU Online program, you’ll join the network of 250,000 OU alumni and be forever part of the OU family. Become part of the tradition of excellence that OU has established in its 130-year history.

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2024 Best Online PhD in Teaching Programs

An online PhD in Teaching allows you the opportunity to develop your expertise in the education industry.

A PhD program can help put you on the path toward pursuing senior leadership positions in academia. In addition, PhD graduates often qualify for careers in research as well as postsecondary teaching.

Editorial Listing ShortCode:

By pursuing a Ph.D in Education online, you can receive advanced training for this impactful and rewarding field.

Universities Offering Online PhD in Teaching Degree Programs

Methodology: The following school list is in alphabetical order. To be included, a college or university must be regionally accredited and offer degree programs online or in a hybrid format.

Ball State University

Ball State University offers a PhD in Educational Studies. Students may choose between 3 specializations: Curriculum, Educational Technology, or Cultural and Educational Policy.

The program requires 91 credits to graduate. Applicants must have a master’s degree with a minimum GPA of 3.2 and should submit GRE scores, 3 letters of recommendation, and a statement of purpose.

Ball State is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

Capella University

Capella University offers a PhD in Education with 5 specializations, including Special Education Leadership and Leadership for Higher Education. The requirements to graduate differ for each specialization. Some require internships, while others require dissertations. Applicants must have a master’s degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0.

Capella also offers an online EdD in Curriculum and Instruction .

Capella University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

Colorado State University

Colorado State University offers a PhD in Education and Human Resources with a Higher Education Leadership specialization.

Students must complete 60 credits, 2 comprehensive exams, and a dissertation and have a juried publication or presentation to graduate. Applicants must have a master’s degree with a GPA of 3.0 or higher and 2 years of relevant work experience.

Colorado State  is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission.

Columbia International University

Columbia International University offers a Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership. The program requires 60 credits to graduate and can usually be finished within 4 years. Applicants must have a minimum GPA of 3.2 and need to submit 2 references, a letter of evaluation, and an academic writing sample.

CIU  is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Concordia University – Chicago

Concordia University—Chicago offers online education degree programs leading to a PhD. Options include a Principal Preparation program and an Educational Leadership program.

Each program can typically be completed in 4 years, with 61 to 67 credits required to graduate. Applicants must have a master’s degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0, GRE scores, and 2 years of teaching experience. Concordia University Chicago  is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

Indiana State University

Indiana State University offers an online program for a PhD in Educational Administration with a specialization in Higher Education Leadership.

To graduate, students must complete 63 credit hours, including 18 dedicated towards a dissertation. Applicants must have a master’s degree with a grade of B+ or higher. Official transcripts, GRE scores, and 3 letters of recommendation must be submitted when applying.

Indiana State University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

Johns Hopkins University

John Hopkins University offers an online Doctor of Education program. The program is completed part-time and usually takes 3 to 7 years to finish. A total of 90 credits are needed to graduate. Applicants must have a master’s degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0, a personal statement, and 3 letters of recommendation.

Johns Hopkins University  is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

Liberty University

Liberty University offers an online PhD in Education program. Students may choose to add one of 5 specializations to their degree, including Educational Law or Curriculum and Instruction. Each course lasts for 8 weeks. Applicants must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher and need to submit all official college transcripts to be eligible for the program.

Liberty University  is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

National University

National University offers a Doctor of Philosophy in Education. Students must obtain 60 credit hours to graduate.

The program can be started at any time and usually takes 37 months to complete. Those interested in the program must complete an online application and submit official transcripts from all previously attended post-secondary institutions.

National University is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission.

Northwest Nazarene University

Northwest Nazarene University offers an online program for a Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership.

Students must complete 41 credits, which can be added to 30 obtained from a qualifying Ed.S degree, to graduate. Applicants must have an Ed.S degree with a GPA of 3.5 or higher. An interview with the doctoral program director and 2 references are also required.

NNU is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

Notre Dame of Maryland University

Notre Dame of Maryland University offers a PhD in Higher Education Leadership for Changing Populations. Students must complete 51 credits, including 12 dedicated to a dissertation, to graduate. Applicants must complete an online application and provide official transcripts, 2 letters of recommendation, a personal statement, and GRE scores.

Notre Dame of Maryland University  is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

Old Dominion University

Old Dominion University offers an online PhD in Educational Leadership program. Students must complete 33 credit hours and 120 internship hours to graduate.

Applicants must be currently employed by a school district and have 3 years of experience to be eligible for the program. Official transcripts, an essay, and 3 references must be submitted when applying.

Old Dominion University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

Regent University

Regent University offers an online PhD in Education program. It requires students to complete 67 credit hours and a dissertation to graduate. Students may choose one of 11 different concentrations to add to the degree, including Adult Education and Educational Psychology. Applicants must submit an academic writing sample and transcripts.

Regent University  is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

Texas Tech University

Texas Tech University offers an online program for a Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction. Applicants must submit transcripts and test scores to be eligible for the program.

Specializations that can be pursued in this program include Curriculum Studies and Teacher Education, Language, Diversity, and Literacy Studies, and STEM. Each specialization requires students to obtain 63 credit hours to graduate.

Texas Tech University  is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

University of Arizona

The University of Arizona offers an online Doctorate in Education program. To graduate, students must complete 59 credits, with 11 dedicated to either a capstone project or dissertation, and have a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Courses last for 6 to 9 weeks. Applicants must have a master’s degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0.

The University of Arizona  is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

University of Arkansas

The University of Arkansas offers an online program for a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership.

The program requires the completion of 42 credit hours and a dissertation and can usually be completed in 3 years. Classes are held in cohorts. Applicants must submit official transcripts, a writing sample, 3 letters of recommendation, and a copy of their teaching or administrator’s license.

The University of Arkansas is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

University of Idaho

The University of Idaho offers a Doctor of Education and a Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction. Students may choose to add one of nine specializations to their degree, including Exercise Science or Career and Technical Education. Applicants must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher, 3 letters of recommendation, and a writing sample.

The  University of Idaho  is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

University of Nebraska

The University of Nebraska offers an online PhD in Educational Studies program. Students must complete 108 credits, including the credits earned from a master’s degree.

At least 45 semester hours must be obtained from the University of Nebraska. Applicants must have a master’s degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0, GRE scores, and 3 letters or recommendation.

The  University of Nebraska  is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

University of Toledo

The University of Toledo offers an online program for a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Special Education.

Students must complete 60 credit hours and an internship to graduate. Applicants must have a master’s degree with a minimum GPA of 3.25 in previous graduate work, 3 letters of recommendation, and 2 years of teaching experience.

The  University of Toledo  is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

Walden University

Walden University offers an online program for a PhD in Education with 11 different specializations. Specialization options include Early Childhood Special Education and Reading, Literacy, Assessment, and Evaluation.

Up to 45 qualifying credits can be transferred into the program from other schools, work experience, or examinations. Applicants must submit an online application with official transcripts and previous employment history.

Walden is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission.

Online PhD in Teaching Programs

An online PhD in Education can open up opportunities for senior leadership positions in academia. A PhD degree path focuses primarily on research.

Leadership roles in academia include:

• College president
• Chief learning officer
• Senior academic administrator
• Academic dean

Though courses vary from school to school, you’ll likely find yourself learning about the following topics:

• Educational pedagogy
• Leadership in education
• Advanced educational psychology
• Advanced curriculum study

You may also find yourself immersed in research projects. These projects are catered to your concerns or interests in the educational industry, demonstrating your commitment to positive change. Many programs also require examinations or dissertations. It’s strategic to look at the program requirements for each school that interests you.

If you wish to advance your teaching career or use your educational experience in a meaningful way, an online doctorate in education offers meaningful coursework to enhance your training and skill set.

Specializations

When pursuing an online PhD in Education, you have the opportunity to focus on a specialization that best aligns with your interests and career goals. Here are some common specializations:

• Higher Education Leadership : This specializations helps you develop the necessary skills to take on administrative roles in higher education and in government institutions.
• Curriculum and Instruction : This specialization focuses on the research, development, and implementation of impactful curriculum changes. By studying statistics of student achievement and recognizing where gaps need to be filled, you may impact curriculum development.
• Organizational Leadership : This specialization helps prepare you for leadership roles within an educational institution. You can learn how to prepare strategic development ideas for your organization and also how to aid in employees’ professional development.
• Special Education : This specialization focuses on the individual needs of a unique population of an educational organization. You can learn to create accommodating environments and instruction for these high-need students, and you can learn to better understand students’ differences, disabilities, and gifts.
• K-12 Education : With a focus on primary and secondary education, a K-12 education specialization allows you to advance your leadership and administrative skills in order to oversee educational institutions.

These specializations are extremely diverse. Your previous educational experience and long-term professional goals can help you determine which path is best for you.

Teaching & Education Careers & Salaries

Ph.D programs in education can lead to a vast range of career paths, depending on your interests and long-term goals. What degree you need to be a teacher at the K-12 level is a bachelor’s, earning a PhD can help you qualify for positions in research and postsecondary institutions as well.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , employment for education, training, and library occupations is projected to grow 5% in the next ten years.

The majority of these roles require extensive research and administrative skills. Many of these careers can be found in postsecondary or government educational institutions. In regards to the salary for postsecondary teachers, the average pay can vary depending on the subject taught.

How to Choose an Online Doctoral Program in Education

Here are a few factors you may consider when you’re selecting which online doctoral programs to pursue:

• Program length . Perhaps you have a few years to dedicate to this program, or maybe you wish to finish more quickly in order to advance your career. This is a factor to look into when making your selection.
• Your schedule . Do you have the time available to dedicate yourself to a full-time course load? Perhaps you wish to continue working while you take a part-time course load. It’s helpful to select a program that adapts to your life.
• Specialization focus . Do your prospective schools offer the specialization that aligns with your career goals?
• Accreditation . It’s important for a program to be from an accredited institution.
• Credit transfers . Schools can have varying credit transfer policies. Enrolling in a program that allows you to transfer your credits may be beneficial in the long run.

In addition, it’s strategic to check admission requirements to ensure that you meet or exceed the basic requirements of your potential school. You can also inquire as to whether an internship or residency placement can work toward your course credits.

Education Doctorate Curriculum

The degree specialization you choose can radically change the courses you find yourself in. Here are a few basic courses you may encounter when pursuing doctorate degrees in education:

•   Educational Pedagogy : This course is the study of all the different aspects of teaching and teaching methods. You reflect on teaching, consider how it is constructed, collaborate to improve it, and develop plans to integrate these new methods.
• Leadership in Education : You’ll learn the necessary skills and characteristics for management roles in educational institutions. You’ll research leadership in the context of education and learn the necessary skills to implement toward the development of schools.
• Advanced Educational Psychology : This course focuses on the analysis of classroom strategies used to help students succeed. It looks at psychological theories and learning research and seeks to use inquiry-based practice to solve instructional and administrative problems.
• Advanced Curriculum Study : Looking at the principles of curriculum development and implementation, you’ll learn to research and study data on how to improve curriculum for student success. This course also seeks to help you better understand how to administer curriculum and program design improvements to your professional team.
• Gifted and Special Education : Looking at the needs and differentiation required by students in a high-needs population, you’ll develop the necessary skills to become leaders in the special education department.
• Teaching Adult Populations : Teaching students of the adult population differs in both planning and approach. If you wish to pursue professor roles in postsecondary institutions, the skills and management learned in this course can be beneficial.
• Advanced Educational Research Practices : In order to become highly skilled in research specific to the education industry, you’ll learn the foundational basics for studying data, analyzing statistics, and conducting effective studies.
• Problems and Issues in Education : This is a beginner’s course to help you understand the basic needs and struggles of both curriculum and teaching in all educational industries. You’ll learn the necessary methods to formulate questions and inquiry-based studies to help improve education.
• Instruction Technology and Methodology : You’ll learn how to implement and facilitate technology-based teaching to enrich the learning experience. There is a focus on how to modernize and improve education through technology as well.
• Administration : If you’re looking to take on a leadership or administration role, you may benefit from the management skills and organizational strategies developed through this course.

This is only a sample of what courses you may encounter as you pursue your degree. Most PhD programs also include a dissertation requirement.

Admissions Requirements

Schools that offer an online PhD in Teaching program can have varying admission requirements. It’s beneficial to look into each of your prospective school’s requirements. Here are some common criteria you may encounter when you’re looking to apply:

• Bachelor and masters degree in a relevant subject, or completion of combined masters and teaching credential programs
• Official college transcripts
• Resume or CV
• Letter of intent

Some schools may request a GME or GMAT score for graduate admissions, but a number of schools no longer require this in their admissions process.

Accreditation

Regional accreditation of a school and program is an essential factor to look for. Regional accreditation ensures that the school is up to educational standards and that your degree will be recognized across the United States.

Accreditation is often a requirement for credits to be eligible for transfer as well. A school’s accreditation status affirms that its standards are of high academic quality and accountability, according to the expectations established by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) .

You can also check CHEA’s database of accredited institutions to make sure that the school you’re interested in is listed.

Financial Aid and Scholarships

Most students who pursue an online PhD in Teaching already have experience in the education industry. If you’ll be looking for financial aid for your doctoral journey, you may want to start by asking your organization if they offer sabbaticals or scholarships.

There are also numerous scholarships available for students pursuing degrees in education, so you may be able to find and apply to these scholarships if you qualify.

Filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is another place to start when seeking financial aid. Some schools set deadlines for how long they’ll accept FAFSA applications, so it’s necessary to apply prior to this deadline. The FAFSA determines your eligibility for financial aid provided by the federal and state governments.

Education Professional Organizations

Professional organizations are not mandatory, but they can offer you unique professional support and numerous professional growth opportunities.

Here are a few education professional organizations you may want to consider joining:

• American Association of School Administrators (AASA)
• Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
• National Education Association (NEA)

A professional organization allows you to be part of a connected support network, to have access to free resources, and to be informed about conferences and workshops that can benefit your growth in the industry.

What Is an EdD?

Doctor of Education (EdD) is a professional degree for those looking to take on leadership roles in the education industry. This type of degree is catered for experienced educators who are looking to find career growth or make impactful change in their organization.

An Ed.D. is primarily practice-based and involves collecting and analyzing data in order to implement new strategies in K-12 organizations. It’s a strategic path for educators seeking administrative roles in student and organizational success.

What Is a PhD in Education?

A PhD in Education is a degree that helps qualify you to pursue a role in academia and research at a postsecondary level.

It’s a very research-heavy, theoretical-based program that helps equip students to become leaders in the education industry. The work or research a PhD graduate does may impact the work an EdD graduate implements in their administrative role.

A PhD in Education is strategic if you want to work in academia as a postsecondary professor and pursue tenure.  A PhD is also beneficial if you want to focus on research.

What Can You Do with a PhD in Teaching?

There are numerous roles in academia, research, or administration that you may pursue with a PhD in Teaching.

Common careers in this field include postsecondary professor, postsecondary or senior academic administrator, chief learning officer, college president, academic dean, and educational research analyst.

Academic dean positions may be limited per institution, but administrators, professors, and learning officers continue to be needed as more students enter universities and postsecondary institutions.

How Long Does It Take to Get a PhD in Teaching?

A PhD generally takes 3 to 5 years to complete. The length of a program can depend on the number of credit hours required as well as how long it takes you to complete your dissertation.

If no dissertation is required, a doctoral program can generally be completed in 3 years with full-time study. If you take a part-time course load or work while pursuing your degree, you can expect your timeframe to be extended.

How Much Does It Cost to Get a PhD in Teaching?

Although tuition varies, you can expect to pay between $350 to $800 per credit hour when pursuing a teaching PhD.

A typical program requires around 90 credits, which means that tuition may range from $31,500 to over $72,000, depending on the school and program requirements. There are also additional fees to consider, such as textbooks, workshops, conferences, or additional certification programs that you may encounter while pursuing your degree.

What’s the Difference Between a PhD vs. Doctorate in Education?

Though they are both doctoral degrees, there are a few differences between a PhD and a professional doctorate in education.

It can help to think of your long-term career goals when deciding between online doctoral degrees in education.

What’s the Difference Between an EdD vs. PhD in Education?

There are quite a few key differences between a Doctor of Education (EdD) and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Education.

Time and cost can be important factors to consider when deciding between these two degrees.

Is a PhD in Teaching Worth It?

Yes, a PhD in Teaching is worth it for many professionals. This terminal degree may lead to impactful work in the industry of education. It can help you develop the necessary skills to obtain work in research as well as academia. Graduates tend to go on to become teachers or administrators in the education field.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 5% job growth for education, training, and library occupations. Employment for those working in postsecondary education administration is expected to grow 4%. Postsecondary teachers are expected to experience 9% job growth.

Getting Your PhD in Teaching Online

If you wish to be immersed in the research that helps define changes in education on a national level, then you may want to consider getting your PhD in Teaching online.

Many online teaching degree programs , including both online doctorate and online masters programs in teaching , offer you the flexibility to work around your schedule and lifestyle while you advance your skill set and work toward your career goals in academia.

With your advanced training, you may find yourself taking part in the future of education. If you’re ready to begin your terminal degree, you can start by comparing accredited online doctoral teaching programs to find the one that best suits your schedule and professional goals.

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Teaching, learning, and teacher education, doctor of philosophy (ph.d.), you are here, a doctoral program preparing education researchers, teacher educators, curriculum specialists, and instructional leaders..

The Ph.D. in Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education focuses on the preparation of researchers and teacher educators in universities and colleges. Focal areas include teaching and learning, research and practice in teacher education, mathematics education, science education, and the study of urban education and urban contexts. 

What Sets Us Apart

About the program.

The Ph.D. in Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education focuses on the preparation of researchers in education. The program includes formal courses, mentored research, and informal seminars.  The program is designed to draw together coursework, research apprenticeship, and other professional academic activities to build a complete professional program that is tailored to your interests and needs.

Fall: 3; Spring: 3

Culminating experience Dissertation

Coursework and research experiences address a range of practice-based and theoretical problems in schools and community settings from sociopolitical, cultural, philosophical, psychological, and historical perspectives. Taking an interdisciplinary stance, faculty and students explore issues of equity, social justice, and educational change in a range of formal and informal educational settings. You will build a program of study that includes courses in teaching and learning, social foundations, and research methods.  Applicants interested in the focal area of literacy are encouraged to consider the doctoral program in Literacy Studies .

Field-based research and collaborative projects with practitioners in schools or other educational settings are key components of the program. The program is designed to draw together coursework, research apprenticeship, and other professional academic activities to build a complete professional program that is tailored to your interests and needs.

As a full-time Ph.D. student, you are expected to be in residence and participate in practicum activities, courses, and other academic experiences throughout the first two years, where you will be enrolled in 3 course units per semester. Coursework and experiences are arranged around three areas or strands, including specialization courses, research methods courses, and electives/professional experiences, as well as a set of core courses. For more information about courses and requirements, visit the  Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education Ph.D. program in the University Catalog .

Research Apprenticeship Course (RAC)

The RAC is part of the Professional Experiences strand and is designed to assist you in developing, conducting, and presenting your own original research. The course focuses on the research interests of the students and requires participation in the scheduling of activities, presentations, and directing part of the RAC agenda as it pertains to the collective needs of the group. Students from the different stages of the doctoral program will serve as mentors to one another, with faculty oversight. You will participate in the RAC beginning in the spring of your first year and continue participation until the completion of your dissertation.

Annual Self-Evaluation : Each year, doctoral students complete a Professional Self-Evaluation that is used as part of the ongoing evaluation and planning process. You are introduced to the evaluation form in the proseminar and will work on it in the spring Research Apprenticeship Course (RAC). The deadline for the Professional Self-evaluation falls in mid-autumn or mid-spring.

Qualifying Examination : The Qualifying Examination is taken by all doctoral students, most often at the end of the first year. Passing this exam is an important step in being admitted to program candidacy. In order to take the qualifying exam, you need to have completed the Doctoral Proseminar, Doctoral Foundations of Teaching and Learning, Education, Culture, and Society, 1 RAC, and 1 research methods course.

Program Candidacy : You are assessed for program candidacy after successfully completing the  Doctoral Proseminar, Doctoral Foundations of Teaching and Learning, Education, Culture, and Society, 1 RAC, and 1 research methods course, and passing the Qualifying Examination. You must be in good academic standing to receive program candidacy.

Preliminary Examination : The Preliminary Examination is taken after you have completed all courses and before you begin work on your dissertation. Passing the Preliminary Exam allows you to be admitted to doctoral candidacy. You may submit a Preliminary Exam from the start of the fall semester through April 1. A description of the Preliminary Exam is available from the Division Coordinator. 

Dissertation : To complete the Ph.D., you must design and undertake an original research study under the direction of your dissertation committee. Students should see Penn GSE and Penn-wide policies and speak with their advisor about the requirements of the dissertation.

Our Faculty

Affiliated Faculty

Ryan S. Baker Professor Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University

Bodong Chen Associate Professor Ph.D., University of Toronto

Matthew Duvall Lecturer Ph.D., Drexel University

L. Michael Golden Executive Director, Catalyst @ Penn GSE Ed.D., University of Pennsylvania

Zachary Herrmann Adjunct Assistant Professor Ed.L.D., Harvard University

Charlotte E. Jacobs Director, Independent School Teaching Residency Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania

Michael C. Johanek Senior Fellow Ed.D., Teachers College, Columbia University

Yasmin B. Kafai Lori and Michael Milken President’s Distinguished Professor Ed.D., Harvard University

Andrea M. Kane Professor of Practice, Education Leadership Ph.D., Northcentral University

Rand Quinn Associate Professor Ph.D., Stanford University

Sharon M. Ravitch Professor of Practice Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania

Susan A. Yoon Graduate School of Education Presidential Professor Ph.D., University of Toronto

"Penn taught me, Penn GSE especially, that if you have the right combination of ingredients—commitment from the structure, mentors, and colleagues—then risk-taking, innovation, and progress will for sure ignite."

Justice Toshiba Walker

Our graduates.

Our graduates are prepared for research and academic careers in education, psychology, and related human services fields.

Alumni Careers

• Adjunct Professor, Moore College of Art and Design
• Assistant Professor of Special Education, Villanova University
• Assistant Professor, Montclair State University
• Assistant Professor, Utah State University
• Director, Out of School Time Resource Center
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Temple University

Admissions & Financial Aid

Please visit our Admissions and Financial Aid pages for specific information on the application requirements , as well as information on tuition, fees, financial aid, scholarships, and fellowships.

Contact us if you have any questions about the program.

Graduate School of Education University of Pennsylvania 3700 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104 (215) 898-6415 [email protected] [email protected]

Noemí Fernández Program Manager [email protected]

Please view information from our Admissions and Financial Aid Office for specific information on the cost of this program.

All Ph.D. students are guaranteed a full scholarship for their first four years of study, as well as a stipend and student health insurance. Penn GSE is committed to making your graduate education affordable, and we offer generous scholarships, fellowships, and assistantships.

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Collaboratory for Teacher Education

The Collaboratory for Teacher Education at Penn GSE is a laboratory for the design, implementation, and study of experimental approaches to teacher education.

Core Practice Consortium

The Core Practice Consortium brings together teacher educators from across institutions, disciplines, and theoretical perspectives to grapple with questions about how better to prepare novice teachers. 

Our Students

Current students in the Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education program are researching a range of topics including mathematical practices, teacher education, maker-based project education, culturally responsive pedagogy, science education, and media making. 

View Doctoral Student Profiles

You May Be Interested In

Related programs.

• Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education Ed.D.
• Reading/Writing/Literacy Ph.D.
• Reading/Writing/Literacy Ed.D.
• Learning Sciences and Technologies M.S.Ed.
• Teaching, Learning, and Leadership M.S.Ed.
• Education, Culture, and Society Ph.D.

Related Topics

PhD in Higher Education – Educational Leadership Degree Shaping Organizations for Success

Credit Hours

View Courses

100% online, 8-week courses

Transfer in up to 50% of the degree total

Become an Authority in Academia with Liberty’s Online PhD in Higher Education Administration – Educational Leadership Degree Online

If you’re interested in pursuing a research-based career or opportunities in academia, Liberty University’s 100% online Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Higher Education Administration – Educational Leadership may be a great fit for you. Our higher education PhD online has been designed with your success in mind. Whether you’d like to become a department chair, the dean of a school, provost, or university president, our online doctorate in higher education administration can help you reach your career goals.

As of October 2020, 61.8% of high school graduates between the ages of 16 and 24 were enrolled at a college or university.* This statistic speaks to the importance of qualified higher education administrators. Millions of young Americans attend college in hopes of earning an education, boosting their earning potential, increasing their employability, and forging lifelong connections.

As a higher education administrator, you’ll play a crucial role in building and maintaining a university setting that students want to attend. The role of a university administrator isn’t just about negotiating with accrediting partners or providing feedback to department chairs — it’s about ensuring that the future of the world is in good hands.

*Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, at College Enrollment and Work Activity of Recent High School and College Graduates Summary (viewed online Dec. 2, 2022).

Ranked in the Top 10% of Niche.com’s Best Online Schools in America

• What Sets Us Apart?
• Private Nonprofit University
• 600+ Online Degrees
• No Standardized Testing for Admission
• Transfer in up to 75% of an Undergrad Degree
• Transfer in up to 50% of a Grad/Doctoral Degree

Why Choose Liberty’s PhD in Higher Education Administration Degree – Educational Leadership?

Maybe you’ve always wanted to work in an academic setting, or perhaps you already do. Either way, there are numerous job opportunities available in academia. Liberty’s educational leadership and higher education PhD online could be your ticket to a well-paying career in student services, academics, faculty research, or higher education administration.

We recognize that your personal responsibilities don’t stop when you enroll in a degree program, which is why our doctorate in higher education online is offered 100% online in mostly 8-week courses with no required intensives. That way, you won’t have to worry about traveling to campus for classes or spend time away from your job, family, or community.

What Will You Study in Our PhD in Higher Education – Educational Leadership Degree Online?

In our PhD in Higher Education Administration – Educational Leadership, you can learn about teaching the college student, college and university administration, historical perspectives of higher education, and the economic impact of higher education. You will also study the specifics of accreditation.

In the educational leadership specialization, you’ll study issues and trends in technology and learning as well as policy analysis. You’ll also be able to choose between two courses: organizational analysis and problem-solving for educators, or conflict resolution. Our educational leadership cognate is rounded out by an elective course, which allows you to study a topic you’re most passionate about.

Upon completion of your core courses, you’ll begin to venture into dissertation preparation. The research courses in our online doctor of higher education include advanced educational statistics, quantitative and qualitative methods of research, and a dissertation literature review. You will also study research concepts and methodology as part of your research courses.

And finally, the dissertation portion of your degree will consist of multiple courses. Through these courses, you will choose a topic, research your topic, and present your findings to our School of Education faculty.

Potential Career Opportunities

• College/university administrator
• Curriculum specialist
• Educational consultant
• Program coordinator
• Student affairs director

Featured Courses

• EDUC 758 – Teaching the College Student
• EDUC 759 – College and University Administration
• EDUC 782 – Historical Perspectives of Higher Education
• EDUC 784 – Assessment and Accreditation

Degree Information

• This program falls under the School of Education .
• View the Graduate Education Course Guides (login required) .
• View the Doctoral Advising Guide .
• Most of our PhD courses are offered in an 8-week format; however, the dissertation courses are full-semester in length.

Degree Completion Plan (PDF)

Not sure what to choose?

Speak to one of our admissions specialists to help you choose the program that best fits your needs.

• Tuition & Aid

Your success is our success, which is why we are committed to providing quality academics at an affordable tuition rate. While other colleges are increasing their tuition, we have frozen tuition rates for the majority of our undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs for the past 9 years – and counting.

Eligible current and former military service members and their spouses may qualify for a special rate of $300/credit hour ( learn more ) .

All Tuition & Fees

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Scholarship Opportunities

Admission Information for Liberty’s Online PhD in Higher Education Administration Online

Admission requirements.

• A non-refundable, non-transferable $50 application fee will be posted on the current application upon enrollment (waived for qualifying service members, veterans, and military spouses – documentation verifying military status is required) .
• Send official college transcripts (mailed as sealed, unopened copies or sent via a direct electronic transcript system). A regionally or nationally accredited master’s degree with at least a 3.0 GPA is required for admission in good standing.
• Applicants whose native language is other than English must submit official scores for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or an approved alternative assessment. For information on alternative assessments or TOEFL waivers, please call Admissions or view the official International Admissions policy .

Preliminary Acceptance

If you are sending in a preliminary transcript for acceptance, you must:

• Be in your final term and planning to start your doctoral degree after the last day of class for your master’s degree.
• Complete a Master’s Self-Certification Form confirming your completion date. You may download the form from the Forms and Downloads page or contact an admissions counselor to submit the form on your behalf.
• Submit an official transcript to confirm that you are in your final term. The preliminary transcript must show that you are within 6 credit hours of completion for a 30-48 credit hour master’s degree or within 9 credit hours of completion for a 49+ credit hour master’s degree.
• Send in an additional, final official transcript with a conferral date on it by the end of your first semester of enrollment in the new doctoral degree.

Transcript Policies

Official college transcript policy.

An acceptable official college transcript is one that has been issued directly from the institution and is in a sealed envelope. If you have one in your possession, it must meet the same requirements. If your previous institution offers electronic official transcript processing, they can send the document directly to [email protected] .

Admissions Office Contact Information

(800) 424-9596

(888) 301-3577

Email for Questions

[email protected]

Email for Documents

[email protected]

Liberty University Online Admissions Verification

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Lynchburg, VA 24515

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Liberty University is dedicated to providing world-class educational experiences to military students across the globe.

Who May Qualify?

• Active Duty
• Reserve/National Guard
• Veterans/Retirees
• Spouses of Service Members and Veterans/Retirees

Military Tuition Discount

We want to help you find the doctoral degree you want – at a price you’ve earned. As a thank-you for your military service, Liberty University offers eligible current and former service members like you or your spouse multiple pathways to earn a doctoral degree for only $300/credit hour . Find out how you can take advantage of this unique opportunity as you work toward your goal of reaching the pinnacle of your profession – for less.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the career potential look like for this field.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), postsecondary education administrators earned an average salary of $97,500 in 2020.** Demand for this career is expected to grow by 8% between 2020 and 2030, and the BLS projects that about 14,500 new postsecondary education administration positions will become available each year during the same time frame. If you’re interested in becoming a college administrator, our doctor of higher education is an excellent choice.

**Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, at Postsecondary Education Administrators (viewed online Sept. 29, 2021). Cited projections may not reflect local and/or short-term economic or job conditions and do not guarantee actual job growth.

What accreditation does Liberty University have?

Liberty University is accredited by SACSCOC , the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

What title can I use once I have earned this degree?

Upon successful completion of this degree program, you will have earned the title of “Doctor” – a title that commands respect in academic and business communities alike.

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Best Accredited Online Ph.D. Programs 2024

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Take our quiz and we'll do the homework for you! Compare your school matches and apply to your top choice today.

A Ph.D., or doctor of philosophy, is the highest level of academic degree that you can attain. Consisting primarily of research, a Ph.D. prepares you for a career in academia or research in the field you study.

Students who choose to pursue a Ph.D. online will find it can be completed in less time. Online students also get the added benefit of being able to complete their work from the comfort of home. The overall cost may also be less compared to an in-person program.

We’ve compiled a list of the best accredited online Ph.D. programs to help you start your search.

Are Online Ph.D. Programs Worth It?

An online Ph.D. program is an ideal choice if you want to balance your career and family responsibilities along with your education.

While there are some preconceived notions that online programs aren’t legitimate, as long as the program you choose is accredited, the degree is the same as one earned in person.

While the annual tuition cost to earn a Ph.D. online averages $12,394 for a public institution and $26,621 for a private university, doctoral graduates enjoy a lower unemployment rate and higher weekly salary than those with less education, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

Did You Know…

• According to the BLS , workers with a doctoral degree earned a median of $651 more per week than workers with a bachelor’s degree in 2022.
• Doctorate-holders boast some of the lowest unemployment rates at 1%.
• In 2019, research found that 39.8% of graduate students were enrolled in online learning.
• The number of doctorates awarded between 2020 and 2021 dropped by 5.4%.
• Not all Ph.D.-holders end up working in academia.

Top Schools for Online Accredited Ph.D. Programs

Capitol technology university.

• Campus + Online
• In-State $25,830
• Out-of-state $25,830
• Retention Rate 75%
• Acceptance Rate 47%
• Students Enrolled 796
• Institution Type Private
• Percent Online Enrollment 98%
• Accreditation Yes

Clemson University

• In-State $14,118
• Out-of-state $37,110
• Retention Rate 94%
• Acceptance Rate 49%
• Students Enrolled 27,341
• Institution Type Public
• Percent Online Enrollment 49%

Keiser University

• In-State $20,800
• Out-of-state $20,800
• Retention Rate 72%
• Acceptance Rate 96%
• Students Enrolled 19,861
• Percent Online Enrollment 50%

Mississippi State University

• In-State $9,110
• Out-of-state $24,790
• Retention Rate 81%
• Acceptance Rate 76%
• Students Enrolled 23,086
• Percent Online Enrollment 43%

Nova Southeastern University

• In-State $33,510
• Out-of-state $33,510
• Retention Rate 78%
• Acceptance Rate 93%
• Students Enrolled 20,898
• Percent Online Enrollment 52%

Old Dominion University

• In-State $7,029
• Out-of-state $26,664
• Students Enrolled 23,494
• Percent Online Enrollment 76%

Saybrook University

• In-State $0
• Out-of-state $0
• Retention Rate 0%
• Acceptance Rate 0%
• Students Enrolled 915
• Percent Online Enrollment 100%

Texas Tech University

• In-State $8,935
• Out-of-state $21,204
• Retention Rate 85%
• Acceptance Rate 68%
• Students Enrolled 40,542
• Percent Online Enrollment 68%

How We Rank Schools

Accredited Schools Online uses a custom ranking system to evaluate schools on their quality, affordability, and reputation.

We rank schools using factors like graduation rate, admission rate, tuition costs, financial aid, and program offerings. All our ranked schools hold institutional accreditation .

For this page, we created a directory of online accredited Ph.D. programs that meet our criteria. The list is organized alphabetically rather than ranked.

Learn more about how we create school rankings on our methodology page .

Does Accreditation Matter for Online Ph.D. Programs?

A college is accredited after being recognized by an independent institution that verifies the school’s courses and programs meet set quality standards.

The school you choose must be accredited in order for your Ph.D. to be recognized by employers , earn professional licensures, and qualify you for federal financial aid.

Legitimate accreditors are recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and/or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

How Much Does an Online Ph.D. Cost?

In general, you can expect to pay around $13,000-$30,000 per year in tuition and fees for your online Ph.D.

Several factors affect how much your Ph.D. program will cost, including:

• Whether the program is fully funded
• Whether your school is public or private
• Whether you’re an in-state or out-of-state student
• How long your program lasts (most Ph.D. programs take 5-7 years to complete)
• How much financial aid you get

While many in-person and online doctoral programs in the U.S. are fully funded, these tend to be highly competitive.

One way to save money on your online Ph.D. is to attend a program that offers in-state tuition to residents. Make sure you submit the FAFSA each year so you can secure federal financial aid .

You may also need to budget for occasional travel to and from campus and research sites, especially as you work on your dissertation.

What’s the Difference Between a Ph.D. and a Doctorate?

While a Ph.D. and a doctoral degree, or doctorate, both signify the same level of education completed, their uses are different.

Doctorate is the broader term — a Ph.D. is a type of doctorate. Specifically, a Ph.D. is an academic degree that prepares you for a career in research or teaching in your field of study (such as science, English, or economics).

Besides a Ph.D., other types of doctorates include a doctor of medicine (MD), a doctor of education (Ed.D.), and a doctor of psychology (Psy.D.). These degrees are typically used in either an academic or professional setting.

Online Ph.D. Programs That Don’t Require a Dissertation

A dissertation is a final written project culminating in a student’s original research at the end of their Ph.D. program. A dissertation is typically presented and defended by its author. It’s typically required for degrees with an academic or research focus.

Not all Ph.D. programs require a dissertation. For example, some Ph.D. programs in humanities, education, business administration, and criminal justice require simple or no dissertations for a quicker completion time .

What Jobs Can You Get After Earning an Online Ph.D.?

Once you finish your online doctoral program, you can explore a variety of career paths both within and outside academia.

Many Ph.D. graduates, especially those who studied the humanities, go on to become professors. Other popular roles include administrator, scientist, and psychologist.

Graduates of online Ph.D. programs earn a relatively high average base salary of $105,000 a year, according to Payscale .

Frequently Asked Questions About Online Ph.D. Programs

What is the quickest ph.d. to get.

The quickest Ph.D. to earn are those that award professional degrees and don’t require extensive research projects or dissertations at completion. These Ph.D. programs can include accounting, business, education, and media.

To finish your degree faster, you can also look for accelerated programs that quicken the pace of a program and shorten the time it takes to complete.

Are online doctoral programs legit?

If the online doctoral program is accredited, it is legitimate. Accreditation ensures that the program meets the rigorous educational standards of other comparative doctoral programs.

With accreditation, employers and other institutions of higher learning will recognize your degree. As more universities turn toward online programs to serve a more diverse student population, there are a growing number of legitimate, accredited online Ph.D. programs.

How long are online Ph.D. programs?

Online Ph.D. programs, like any other doctoral program, can vary in length but typically take 5-7 years to complete. A doctoral degree balances coursework with research. Usually, students must meet a certain number of course requirements before they can start original research.

While coursework may take only a year or two, writing a dissertation that meets the program requirements varies from candidate to candidate.

Can I earn my Ph.D. entirely online?

Yes, many accredited colleges and universities offer 100% online Ph.D. programs. That said, some programs may require on-campus experiences, such as library research and a dissertation defense.

What do employers think of online doctoral programs?

It takes a high level of discipline and persistence to obtain a graduate degree, no matter the context. Most employers will recognize and value the hard work it takes to get a Ph.D., whether you completed your doctorate online or in person.

Make sure you research potential programs. If you’re attending an accredited, well-regarded school, employers will value your online Ph.D. just as much as a traditional one.

Note: The insights on this page — excluding school descriptions — were reviewed by an independent third party compensated for their time by Accredited Schools Online. Page last reviewed November 20, 2023.

Online Ph.D. programs provide students with flexible schedules and affordable tuition. Check out the top-ranked programs in this comprehensive guide.

Best Accredited Online Master’s Programs 2024

Best Accredited Online Bachelor’s Degree Programs 2024

Shape your future with an online degree.

Connect with a community of peers, and find a program that will allow you to continue your education in a fast and flexible way.

Commencement Information for Graduate Students

Graduate celebration, thursday, may 16th, 2024, 5:00pm.

Location: Campus Center Auditorium 

The College of Education invites all graduating master, educational specialist and doctoral students to our annual Graduation Student Celebration.  The event will be held on Thursday, May 15th starting at 5:00pm in the Campus Center Auditorium.  Students will hear words from our Dean, department chairs and a student speaker.  This event is a great opportunity to catch up with your fellow classmates, faculty and guests as we celebrate and congratulate our amazing graduates.   

Light Refreshments will be served at the event.  

Graduate School Commencement

Friday, may 17, 2024, 10:00am.

Location: McGuirk Alumni Stadium

All graduating graduate students are invited to attend the Graduate School Commencement Ceremony.  The ceremony will be held on Friday, May 17th starting at 10:00am.  Graduate students who have earned a master’s, an education specialist, or doctoral degrees will be individually recognized by name.   

Graduate Students can pick up your regalia starting on May 6th at the Bookstore in the Campus Center.  Discipline-specific Doctoral Hoods will be available for purchase at the   Bookstore.   There is no charge for caps/tams, gowns or tassels, regardless of your degree.  For students who are unable to pick up regalia on campus prior to the ceremony:

• Have a friend pick up your regalia at the Umass Store beginning, Monday May 6th.  They should know your spire ID, height (for robe length) and field of study.
• Arrive early (8am) to pick up your on site at Lot 11 on the morning of the Graduate Commencement Friday, May 17th.  You do not need to order or reserve, there will be plenty of all kinds of regalia. 

Getting to Campus: Guests should plan to arrive on campus by 8:00am to ensure ample time to reach campus, park, and arrive at the stadium  via a shuttle bus or by walking.  Several roads will be partially closed or limited to one-directional traffic.  Please allow for additional time to navigate campus. 

Plan for at least for an hour of travel time once you arrive in the Amherst Area.  Police will direct traffic and parking on campus.   Parking will be directed by UMass Police based on the closest available parking lot.  Parking is free all weekend.

Accessible Parking: Disability Services will arrange for anyone with mobility issues to receive a parking pass for Lot 11, the accessible lot closest to the stadium.  

Please complete this online form to request a parking pass  https://www.umass.edu/commencement/form/accessible-parking.

All guests will be required to walk through metal detectors when entering the venue. To expedite the process, we ask guests and graduates to remove cell phones from their pockets. Small purses and diaper bags are allowed but will be inspected at all entrances. Outside food or beverages, weapons of any kind, and tobacco products are not permitted inside the arena. 

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A Chicago teen entered college at 10. At 17, she earned a doctorate from Arizona State

Dorothy Jean Tillman’s participation in Arizona State University’s May 6 commencement was the latest step on a higher-education journey the Chicago teen started when she took her first college course at age 10

CHICAGO — Dorothy Jean Tillman II’s participation in Arizona State University’s May 6 commencement was the latest step on a higher-education journey the Chicago teen started when she took her first college course at age 10.

In between came associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

When Tillman successfully defended her dissertation in December, she became the youngest person — at age 17 — to earn a doctoral degree in integrated behavioral health at Arizona State, associate professor Leslie Manson told ABC’s “Good Morning America” for a story Monday.

“It’s a wonderful celebration, and we hope ... that Dorothy Jean inspires more students,” Manson said. “But this is still something so rare and unique.”

Tillman, called “Dorothy Jeanius” by family and friends, is the granddaughter of former Chicago Alderwoman Dorothy Tillman.

When most students are just learning to navigate middle school, her mother enrolled Tillman in classes through the College of Lake County in northern Illinois, where she majored in psychology and completed her associate’s degree in 2016, according to her biography.

Tillman earned a bachelor’s in humanities from New York’s Excelsior College in 2018. About two years later, she earned her master’s of science from Unity College in Maine before being accepted in 2021 into Arizona State’s Behavioral Health Management Program.

Most of her classwork was done remotely and online. Tillman did attend her Arizona State commencement in person and addressed the graduating class during the ceremony.

Tillman told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she credits her grandmother and trusting in her mother’s guidance for her educational pursuits and successes.

“Everything that we were doing didn’t seem abnormal to me or out of the ordinary until it started getting all of the attention,” said Tillman, now 18.

There have been sacrifices, though.

“I didn’t have the everyday school things like homecoming dances or spirit weeks or just school pictures and things like that ... that kind of create unity with my peers,” she said.

She has found time to dance and do choreography. Tillman also is founder and chief executive of the Dorothyjeanius STEAM Leadership Institute. The program includes summer camps designed to help young people in the arts and STEM subjects.

She said her plans include public speaking engagements and fundraising for the camp, which Tillman said she hopes to franchise one day.

Tillman is motivated and has innovative ideas, said Manson, adding, “And truly, I think what is inspiring is that she embodies that meaning of being a true leader.”

Jimalita Tillman said she is most impressed with her daughter’s ability to show herself and her successes with grace, but to also understand when to “put her foot down” when choosing between social outings and her education.

Associated Press researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.

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“How to CAD Almost Anything” IAP course added to MIT OpenCourseWare

This January, AeroAstro PhD student Andy Eskenazi (Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment) taught a course called “How to CAD Almost Anything” during MIT’s Independent Activities Period. Following the course’s success and popularity, it has been added as a free resource to MIT OpenCourseWare. CAD (computer-aided design) software has become a tremendously important tool in design, with wide-ranging applications across engineering, manufacturing, architecture, art, and construction. While many MIT students learn and use CAD in a variety of settings throughout their academic careers, Eskenazi noticed that there was no single dedicated CAD course, and not every student had the opportunity to formally learn to use it. So he decided to create one! Split into nine sessions, “ How to CAD Almost Anything ” introduces CAD using the parametric modeling software SolidWorks, through various fun, hands-on examples focused on reverse engineering. In contrast to traditional mechanical design courses, the course emphasizes the design process itself, understanding how to plan and leverage available tools to arrive at the desired result. 

The OpenCourseWare version includes:

• a course website with session workshop details and instructions for hands-on learning activities
• a companion playlist of session recordings on YouTube
• an “ Instructor Insights ” page with additional details and resources 

“This class has been truly a dream come true, one where I got to be at the front of the classroom sharing my passion for mechanical design and Solidworks with other students,” Eskenazi wrote in a LinkedIn pos t. “But beyond teaching MIT undergrads (and a number of PhDs and postdocs), perhaps my main motivation behind this course has been to develop an open source educational platform, so that anybody could potentially learn how to CAD!”  This semester, Eskenazi taught highschoolers a Fusion 360 version of the class through MIT’s ESP/HSSP program. He’s also running an OnShape version this summer, open to anyone in the MIT community, over the course of eight 2-hour sessions. (Please use this form to find more details and express interest in the summer course.)

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