Online Doctorate of Education With a Concentration in Early Childhood Education Leadership

48 credit hours | In-state tuition: $480.90/credit hour | Out-of-state tuition: $590.53/credit hour

Available in an easily accessible 100% online format from ��Ƶ’s College of Education
Designed for individuals who wish to pursue professional doctoral studies focused on Early Childhood Education
Focuses on instructional leadership that advances culturally- and linguistically- sustaining and asset-based educare to nurture whole child development
Can be completed in less than 36 months with no GRE required

Become a powerful advocate for young children

The way children grow, learn, and develop in the beginning shapes the trajectory of the rest of their lives. For this reason, Early Childhood Education has a profound impact on individuals—and the future of society as a whole. The Ed.D. in Early Childhood Education Leadership is designed to produce scholar-practitioners who actively and effectively integrate academic knowledge (scholarship) and real-world professional experience (practice) to lead educational innovation. The program focuses on cross-disciplinary research and reflective practices related to teaching and learning, early childhood curriculum and instructional perspectives, and applied research methods utilized to produce responsive educational experiences that ensures the success of all children during their early years.

This degree is perfect for:

Educational leaders/ Program directors
Curriculum Developers
Training and Development Specialists
Instructional Coordinators

Students in this program will

gain advanced instructional leadership skills in Early Childhood Education
develop the knowledge and skills necessary for conducting applied educational research
help improve outcomes for students across the lifespan by optimizing early childhood pedagogy

Types of jobs students hold after graduation include:

Early Childhood Education director
Instructional coordinator
Curriculum/Program designer
Training and development specialist
Academic

Course Overview

Coursework is unique and includes

Practical assignments with pragmatic applications to schools and community educational settings
A mix of readings, videos, and multi-media resources
A cohort model that allow for deep engagement with classmates from diverse backgrounds, who speak a variety of languages, and who have experience engaging with young children /families from diverse backgrounds

To earn a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree in Early Childhood Education Leadership, you must successfully complete of 48 hours beyond a master’s degree of required coursework with a grade of “C” or better.

TED 6308: Leadership Theory for the Scholar-Practitioner

Focus on leadership, acquire a comprehensive overview of leadership theories, models, and approaches that may be adopted by scholar-practitioners to promote educational change. Study various conceptions of leadership, issues of power and context, leadership styles, and the use of applied educational research to positively impact school/program culture while effectively guiding pedagogical improvement and innovation. Develop a leadership philosophy statement as scholar-practitioners and educational leaders.

TED 6310: Learning Sciences

Learning sciences represents an interdisciplinary field that examines how people learn to understand, reason, and solve problems in diverse and complex settings. Examine how learning sciences has and continues to evolve as a research field that informs practice through the design of effective learning environments across socioculturally mediated contexts. Engage with foundational field perspectives to interrogate such ideas as the goals of education, learning design features, and social and cultural influences.

TED 6314: Educational Myths and Pedagogical Practices

Investigate pedagogical practices in light of the latest knowledge in educational research, psychology and neuroscience. Study the origin of common education-/neuro- myths as the justification of wide-spread teaching practices, as well as the most current state of the knowledge and its application. Through this exploration, gain the tools needed to critically evaluate past and current research for making informed pedagogical decisions.

TED 6340: Foundations of Educational Research

Acquire a comprehensive overview of the means and uses of educational research. Examine the rationale/ assumptions of different qualitative and quantitative methodological choices; methods for data collection, analysis and interpretation; and issues related to research integrity and ethics. Gain the knowledge and skills necessary to critically evaluate existing empirical literature and related educational research claims.

TED 6342: Scholar-Practitioner Inquiry

Focus on the disciplinary and academic traditions of applied educational research, including the constructs of the scholar-practitioner and formal contextualized inquiries of practice. Explore academic thinking and writing, and the assumptions/requirements of applied research used to lead educational change and innovation. Engage your professional interests, expertise and relevant current research knowledge to define issues of pedagogical practice and to start formulating the basis for your individual empirical study

TED 6348: Action Research

Acquire a comprehensive overview of the action research method. Emphasis is on its application for practice-based problem solving, designing and implementing effective action research inquiries, and how to use data for decision-making to address real-world problems/needs in educational settings. Gain skill in identifying action research questions, collecting and analyzing data, and interpreting/reporting results.

ECED 6300: Theoretical Foundations of Early Childhood Education

Explore the theoretical foundations of Early Childhood Education. Focus on various perspectives of child development and conceptualizations of human motivation and learning that influence the care and education of young children. Critically evaluate the thinking of foundational theoretical leaders and related theoretical frameworks that serve as the basis for approaches, pedagogical practice, and empirical investigation within the field.

ECED 6302: Research in the Science of Teaching Reading and Early Literacy Development

Explore seminal research in the Science of Teaching Reading (STR), as well as research-based strategies for teaching reading. Study the components of skilled reading, reading development, issues in developmental reading impairments and how such issues may be supported through appropriate assessments and targeted interventions. Current research will be discussed in light of its application for teaching and learning across early, middle and later early childhood.

ECED 6304: Computational Thinking and Early Development

Explore the current research on computational thinking in the early years. Emphasis is on linkages between early computational thinking, instructional application of computer science education concepts and practices (unplugged and plugged, including Artificial Intelligence) and foundational growth/learning across developmental and academic domains. Explore frameworks and approaches for integrating Computational Thinking into Early Childhood pedagogy.

BED 6300: Borderlands Language Acquisition and Competing Ideologies OR STEM 6320: Research in Play-based and Game-based Learning

Explore foundational theories of language acquisition in educational practice in bilingual/ multilingual settings. Apply theories and research methodologies to study and explain empirical data in language acquisition. Examine language ideologies, tensions and dynamic debates in the fields of bilingual education, language acquisition, and literacy/biliteracy studies.

OR

Explore the research on pedagogical practices designed to engage and motivate students using such vehicles as toys, games, arts and sports. Use foundational concepts of learning in the fields of psychology, sociology and educational research as lenses for critically examining the current play-based and game-based learning literature. Examine a variety of issues related to play in human learning, as well as play-based pedagogical guidelines for diverse classroom settings.

TED 6344: Case Study Research

Acquire a comprehensive overview of case study research methodology, applied as a mode of systematic observational inquiry to increase holistic understanding within a natural context of educational practice. Emphasis is on theoretical foundations and the affordances of using case study research designs, as well as protocols for implementing effective case studies. Gain skill in identifying case study questions, collecting and analyzing data, and interpreting/reporting results

TED 6346: Data-Driven Secondary Analysis

Acquire a comprehensive overview of the data-driven secondary analysis approach to research using extant (already collected/publicly available) datasets, including methodological affordances and fundamental protocols. Emphasis is on how to best identify, obtain, and evaluate existing datasets. Gain skill in recognizing limitations in existing data, how to search data and refine research questions; managing and analyzing data; and interpreting/reporting results.

TED 6380: Qualifying Candidacy Seminar

Outline the major components of your contextualized inquiry of practice study through the creation of a Dissertation in Practice proposal. Students are expected to demonstrate a range of academic skills, including the ability to: frame an applied educational research question; undertake a focused literature review; identify an appropriate conceptual lens and research design given the applied research question; and define the type of analysis that makes possible the reaching of conclusions. Passing of this course qualifies students for doctoral candidacy.

Doctoral Dissertation in Practice - I

This doctoral capstone course provides the time and guidance needed for students to do applied educational research. Work under the advisement of their faculty committee to conduct a contextualized inquiry of practice study rooted in their interest and personal/professional context. Students must pass this course and subsequently enroll in and successfully complete their Dissertation in Practice in TED 6384 to graduate.

TED 6684: Dissertation in Practice - II

This doctoral capstone course provides the continued time and guidance needed to do applied educational research and to disseminate the results. Work under the advisement of their faculty committee to finish their contextualized inquiry of practice study and to complete their Dissertation in Practice. Successful completion of this course through faculty approval of the Dissertation in Practice is a requirement for graduation.

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