Educational Administration

Doctoral Program

Opportunities for graduate studies

The University of North Texas' Department of Teacher Education and Administration in the College of Education offers the doctor of education and the doctor of philosophy degrees with a major in educational administration.

The Ed.D. program is for those planning careers as school administrators. This degree emphasizes the application of educational research and accepted management practice to educational administration. This program prepares you for leadership roles in education.

The Ph.D. program trains you to become an institutional researcher or policy analyst at the local or regional level, researcher and professor in higher education, or superintendent or other executive educational administrator who desires a specialization in research. You learn to evaluate and conduct research that will expand knowledge in educational administration and policy development.

Admission requirements

You must be admitted to the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies and meet the admission requirements of the specific program you intend to enter. Graduate school requirements can be accessed at www.unt.edu/catalog. Admission to the graduate school does not guarantee admission to the educational administration program.

Admission to the educational administration doctoral programs is based on the recommendations of the program faculty and the approval of the dean of the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies. Students are admitted once each year into the Ed.D. and Ph.D. programs. The application deadline is the first Friday in November.

You are required to submit the following items to the UNT graduate admissions office:

• official transcripts from all graduate institutions attended. Consult the graduate catalog for GPA requirements.
• official scores on the verbal, quantitative and writing sections of the GRE

You must submit to the program office an admissions portfolio that contains:

• a completed educational administration doctoral application form
• letters of reference from three persons, one of whom must be a college or university professor. The letters should describe the relationship of the writer to you, an assessment of your prior work as an academic professional, an assessment of your leadership potential and an assessment of your ability to do doctoral work.
• a detailed resume
• a three-page description of your two most important professional achievements, your future career goals and how securing a doctoral degree will help achieve the goals
• a sample of your best written published article, book chapter, research term paper or position paper. The writing sample helps demonstrate your ability to read scholarly material, conduct research and write at an advanced conceptual level.
• a three-page discussion of the two or three most important books that you have read recently related to the field of education

It is your responsibility to ensure that all items are submitted by the deadline. Only complete portfolios will be considered.

Ed.D. degree requirements

The Ed.D. degree requires a minimum of 63 hours beyond the master's degree. A maximum of 24 hours beyond the master's degree may be transferred from other institutions that offer the doctoral degree. Transfer credit must be approved by your major professor and the dean of the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies.

Educational administration courses (27 to 30 hours)

• EDAD 6100 Theoretical Foundations of Educational Administration
• EDAD 6510 Seminar in Advanced Education Law
• EDAD 6520 Personnel Administration in the Public Schools
• EDAD 6530 Educational Facilities
• EDAD 6570 Seminar in Advanced Educational Finance
• EDAD 6580 Administration and Supervision of the Instructional Program
• Educational administration electives (9-12 hours dependent on requirements of minor)
• EDAD 6032 Practicum or Field Problem
• EDAD 6110 Advanced Theory and Research in Administration
• EDAD 6200 Current Issues in Educational Administration
• EDAD 6310 Research Practicum
• EDAD 6400 Politics of Educational Administration
• EDAD 6540 Education and Public Relations
• EDAD 6550 Business Administration of the Public Schools
• EDAD 6590 The Superintendency
• EDAD 6900/EDAD 6910 Special Problems/Guided Research

Research/statistics courses (6 hours)

• EDER 6010 Statistics for Educational Research (Prerequisite EPSY 5210 or equivalent)
• EDER 6020 Research Methods in Education (Prerequisite EPSY 5210 or equivalent)

Minor (12-15 hours)

The minor field selected will depend on your career goals.

Dissertation (12 hours)

Residency requirement

You are required to enroll in at least 18 semester hours during three consecutive semesters (6 hours per semester) to meet the residency requirement for the Ed.D. program.

Ph.D. degree requirements

The Ph.D. degree requires a minimum of 66 hours beyond the master's degree. A maximum of 24 hours beyond the master's degree may be transferred from other institutions that offer the doctoral degree. Transfer credit must be approved by your advisory committee and the dean of the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies.

Educational administration coursed (30 hours)

• EDAD 6100 Theoretical Foundations of Educational Administration
• EDAD 6110 Advanced Theory and Research in Administration
• EDAD 6310 Research Practicum
• EDAD 6400 Politics of Educational Administration
• EDAD 6510 Seminar in Advanced Education Law
• EDAD 6570 Seminar in Advanced Educational Finance
• EDAD 6900 Special Problems/Guided Research
• Educational administration electives (9 hours)
• EDAD 6110 Advanced Theory and Research in Administration (if not taken as part of the core)
• EDAD 6200 Current Issues in Educational Administration
• EDAD 6310 Research Practicum (if not taken as part of the core)
• EDAD 6520 Personnel Administration in the Public Schools
• EDAD 6540 Education and Public Relations
• EDAD 6580 Administration and Supervision of the Instructional Program
• EDAD 6590 The Superintendency
• EDAD 6900 Special Problems/Guided Research (if not taken as part of the core)

Research/statistics courses (9 hours)

One course must be from a department outside the College of Education and approved by the major professor.

• EDER 6010 Statistics for Educational Research (EPSY 5210 or equivalent)
• EDER 6020 Research Methods in Education (EPSY 5210 or equivalent)

One course selected from:

• EDER 6210 Multiple Regression Analysis and Related Methods
• EDER 6230 Advanced Research Design
• EDER 6250 Advanced Educational Measurement Applications
• EDER 6280 Qualitative Research in Education



Minor (15 hours)

Five courses outside the College of Education in a field related to your research interests.




Dissertation (12 hours)




Research tool

To satisfy this requirement, you must demonstrate one of the following:

1. Competency in a foreign language determined by passing the Foreign Language Proficiency Examination administered each semester by UNT's Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. You must demonstrate that the language is relevant to the program of study and will be used in developing the dissertation.
2. 9 hours in research and statistics in addition to the research and statistics core courses
3. 9 hours of computer science taken from computer education or computer science



Residency requirement

To meet the residency requirement for the Ph.D. program, you must enroll full time (9 semester hours) during two consecutive semesters or one semester and two five-week summer terms.




Superintendent certificate requirements

You may attain a superintendent certificate by the completion of 15 to 21 semester hours of designated EDAD 6000-level course work.

These requirements are in addition to mid-management or principal certification. The doctorate is not required for superintendency certification, but it is encouraged if you are seeking high-level administrative positions in education. The superintendent TExES examination also is required.




Required courses

• EDAD 6033 Superintendency Internship (must be completed through the educational administration program)
• EDAD 6590 The Superintendency
• Three to five courses selected from:
• EDAD 6510 Seminar in Advanced Education Law
• EDAD 6520 Personnel Administration in the Public Schools
• EDAD 6530 Educational Facilities
• EDAD 6540 Education and Public Relations
• EDAD 6550 Business Administration of the Public Schools
• EDAD 6570 Seminar in Advanced Educational Finance

For more information about the superintendent certificate, contact Bill Camp at 940-565-2753 or John Brooks at 940-565-2756.