Completion of at least 64 credit hours beyond the master's degree including:

• At least 12 hours in the major subject and concentration courses.
• Elective courses of 36 hours with no more than 12 hours of independent student (595) credit.
• Twelve hours of research methods courses. The first will be CI/EPOL/EPSY/SPED 550, Methods of Educational Inquiry, a research course introducing the student to a variety of educational research methodologies. The second and third courses should be selected to improve the student's area of professional expertise and should help prepare the student to complete their expected dissertation study. Students are encouraged to identify courses in consultation with their advisor.
• A minimum of four hours and a maximum of 16 hours of dissertation research (599) credit will be counted toward the degree.

A student who has completed coursework as part of the requirements for the Certificate of Advanced Study in Education at the University of Illinois may petition for the application of not more than 24 hours of such work toward the program leading to the Doctor of Education provided the coursework has been taken within five years of the date of the petition and the Certificate of Advanced Study has not been granted. 

The College of Education follows the Graduate College's rules on residence credit. In addition, residence credit for online programs is met by taking 16 hours over 4 consecutive semesters of study.

For students entering a doctoral program already holding a master's degree (Stage II), transfer of credit from outside institutions into this degree is not allowed.  This is in accordance with the Graduate College's policy on transfer credit.   

The General Field Exam

All Ed.D. students will take a General Field Examination covering the field of study embraced by the home department or program area.

The Special Field Exam

All Ed.D. students will take a Special Field Examination covering an area of specialization proposed by the student with the concurrence of the advisor. The Special Field should be a scholarly specialization more broadly conceived than the anticipated dissertation topic. The advisor will be responsible for developing questions for the Special Field exam, drawing upon the expertise of other faculty when needed. 

Formats should be decided well in advance of exam dates. In particular, students should discuss the format of the Special Field Exam with their advisors to arrive at a recommendation that best meets student needs as well as the expectations of the advisor and the Department. The three formats are:

1. On-Site Format. A room and proctor are scheduled by the department.  The time limit is set by each department (or division or program area). Normally, the General Field and the Special Field are each scheduled for a four-hour block of time.
2. Take-home Format. A take-home format may be used for the General Field exam and for the Special Field exam. In the take-home format the student, with the approval of the advisor, writes the exam at a place of their choosing with no restriction on books or other written materials to be used. Because the purpose of the qualifying examination is to assess individual competence, students should not discuss the exam with anyone other than their advisor after they have received the questions. The time limit for this take-home exam is set by the student and advisor.
3. Portfolio Format (Special Field only). This format consists of assembling a focused collection of 3 or 4 high quality papers and/or projects, which are then defended before three faculty readers. The number, subject and lengths of the required papers or projects are decided by the advisor in consultation with the student. Portfolio submissions can include collaborative work, but independent work must also be reflected in the portfolio. The portfolio may include work completed to satisfy other requirements for the doctoral degree such as course papers, early research papers, master’s theses, and research area approval papers. The portfolio must be submitted with an original, independently written synthesis paper that defines the special field and articulates how each piece of the portfolio connects or contributes to the special field and its literature. If the portfolio option is selected, the student will discuss this work at an oral defense before the three faculty readers, after which the readers will determine whether the student has demonstrated competence in the special field.

1. Student will confer with advisor to determine exam format, dates, and readers.  Readers should be contacted prior to submission of the Qualifying Examination Information Form to determine availability.
2. Student will submit the Qualifying Examination Information Form at least two weeks prior to the start of the exam(s).
3. Staff in the Graduate Student Services Office will confirm dates and reader agreements.  All readers must respond before an exam question is administered.
4. For a take home format:
   • Advisor will email the question(s) no less than three days prior to the first date of the exam to the Graduate Student Services Office, unless prior arrangements are made.
   • The Graduate Student Services Office contact will email question(s) to the student, unless prior arrangements are made.
   • Students will submit their qualifying exam via email to the Graduate Student Services Office by 5 pm on the deadline date.
   • The Graduate Student Services Office will send the exam and evaluation form to the faculty readers.
   • Faculty readers will have 2 weeks to submit their evaluations unless prior arrangements are made.
   • The Graduate Student Services Office will notify the student and advisor of passing exam results, including comments.  If revisions are required, the Graduate Student Services Office will contact the advisor and the advisor will work with the student and readers to determine revision requirements and deadlines. 
   • A copy of the exam and reader comments will be placed in the student’s file.
5. For an on-site or portfolio format:
   • The Graduate Student Services Office contact will schedule a room once the Qualifying Examination Information Form has been received.
   • Following the exam, the readers of the exam will be notified to complete the evaluation form.
   • The Graduate Student Services Office will notify the student and advisor of the exam results.
   • A copy of the exam and exam results will be placed in the student’s file.

To pass the examination, the student must receive excellent or satisfactory ratings from all faculty readers on each of the General Field and Special Field exams. There are three possible ratings for all sections of the qualifying exams.

1. Excellent doctoral work. This rating is given for excellent doctoral work. If more than fifty percent of a student's ratings are excellent, the student is given a letter of special commendation by the department head/chair.
2. Satisfactory doctoral work. This rating is given for work that demonstrates competence expected of advanced students in the field.
3. Unsatisfactory doctoral work. This rating is given for exam papers that may range from work with significant gaps in knowledge to work that is completely unsatisfactory. Depending on the nature of the unsatisfactory evaluation, a faculty reader will have three recommendation options for an unsatisfactory paper:
   • Unsatisfactory doctoral work - revision of original exam required: The recommendation is that the student be given an opportunity for revision of the unsatisfactory portion(s) of the exam paper. This rating is given for work that demonstrates competence but requires significant revisions in content and/or the development of ideas to be considered satisfactory as a doctoral examination.
   • Unsatisfactory doctoral work - rewrite with new question required:  The recommendation is that the student be given an entirely new exam question for a complete rewrite of the exam paper. This rating is given for work that the committee member does not consider well-developed to the degree that revisions alone could lead to a satisfactory outcome.
   • Unsatisfactory doctoral work - student fails exam.

If the examination is rated "unsatisfactory" by any member(s) of the committee, the member(s) making that evaluation shall communicate the major deficiencies with the advisor and make a collective decision as to the format and scope of the revised or new examination, if applicable. All faculty readers who rated the first exam "unsatisfactory" will evaluate the revised exam.  A satisfactory or excellent rating must be awarded unanimously for the student to pass the revised examination, and should one or more readers judge the second exam unsatisfactory, the readers shall meet to review the student's performance. If extenuating circumstances exist that warrant a third attempt, the advisor may request approval from the department head/chair or designee. Students shall normally be permitted two attempts to pass each of the qualifying examinations.

Promptness of Evaluations 

Students shall receive results within three weeks from the submission of the exam. The department will ensure timeliness of review and communicate results to students and to the advisor.

Faculty have two weeks upon receipt of the qualifying exam to submit their results to the Graduate Student Services Office (GSSO).  Shortly thereafter, GSSO will send the results to the student, copying the Director of Graduate Studies and advisor.

The first person a student should consult concerning the qualifying exams is their advisor. If irreconcilable differences arise between the student and advisor concerning scheduling, format, content, or rating procedures, the student should consult the department head/chair or designee. If the problem cannot be resolved, consult the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs. Normal grievance procedures can be used (see Grievance Policy and Procedures section of this handbook). If a student wishes to postpone a scheduled examination, the request should be made through the advisor to the Graduate Student Services Office.

Students should begin appointing the committee and scheduling the preliminary examination (prelim) at least four weeks prior to the expected date. The committee must meet the preliminary examination committee requirements of the Graduate College including:

• The chair must be a member of the Graduate Faculty.
• The committee must include at least four voting members, at least three of which must be members of the Graduate Faculty, and two of which must also be tenured.
• If there are more than four voting members on the committee, at least half of the voting members must be members of the Graduate Faculty.

In addition to these requirements, College of Education requirements must be met:

• At least one member must be from outside the graduate concentration of the student and advisor.

For committee members outside of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a letter of justification and curriculum vitae must be submitted by the chair to the Graduate Student Services Office who will then submit it to the Graduate College for approval. In appointing the committee, the student submits committee member information to the Graduate Student Services Office by completing the Request for Appointment of Committee Form. This form must be submitted at least four weeks before the examination. The Graduate Student Services Office will retrieve the appropriate approvals.

The student must present the dissertation to the prelim committee for reading two weeks before the examination; in some cases, it may be more reasonable to allow three weeks. Failure to do so may result in delaying or canceling the prelim. 

Remote participation for the preliminary or final exam is permitted for both on campus and online Doctor of Education students. 

For on campus students, the chair, student, and at least one additional voting member of the committee must be physically present for the entire duration of all oral components of the examination. If the committee has more than one chair, all chairs must be physically present; in these cases, no additional voting member is required to be physically present. All voting members of the committee must be present in person or participate via teleconference or other electronic communication media during the examination, deliberation and results determination.

The chair obtains the Preliminary Exam Result (PER) form from the Graduate Student Services Office prior to the examination and returns the form immediately after the examination. All voting members must sign the PER.

Decisions of the prelim committee must be unanimous. The committee may make one of the following decisions:

1. Pass the student to candidacy.
2. Fail the student. A program may, but is not required to, grant the student another opportunity to take the examination after completing additional course work, independent study, or research, as recommended by the committee. However, if a second attempt is given, a new committee must be appointed by the Graduate College. The new committee may, but does not have to, consist of the same members as the original committee.
3. Defer the decision. If this option is chosen:
   a. the same committee must re-examine the student,
   b. the second exam must occur within 180 calendar days of the date of first exam, and
   c. the outcome of the second exam must be pass or fail.

The result of the examination is communicated to the student and the Graduate Student Services Office as soon as possible at the conclusion of the examination. 

Number of Attempts: After a fail result, a student will only be allowed to take the prelim one additional time while working toward the completion of any one program of study. 

The prelim must be retaken if the final examination is not passed within five years of the original prelim.

The Graduate College requires that all doctoral students be registered for the entire academic term during which they take the prelim. Additional Information on registration requirements can be found on the Graduate College web site under Requirements and Policies for Doctoral Degree.

The dissertation must be prepared using one of the following commonly accepted editorial styles:

• American Psychological Association. (2019). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
• Harvard Law Review Association. (2020). The bluebook: A uniform system of citation (21st ed.). Cambridge, MA: Author.
• Modern Language Association. (2021). MLA handbook for writers of research papers (9th ed.). New York, NY: Author.
• Turabian, K. L. (2016). A manual for writers of term papers, theses, and dissertations (9th ed.). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
• University of Chicago. (2017). The Chicago manual of style (17th ed.). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago.

NOTE: LaTex is not an acceptable editorial style. However, this typesetting system can be used in conjunction with one of the above editorial styles.

The student will consult with the advisor and dissertation committee members to choose the style to be used.  In exceptional circumstances, style manuals not listed above may be used with prior approval of the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs.  In addition, the Thesis & Dissertation policies and procedures issued by the Graduate College must be followed. In the case of explicit differences between the Graduate College instructions and the style manual selected, the Graduate College instructions take precedence.  For example, students choosing the APA style manual should follow the Graduate College instructions rather than those included in the APA manual for insertion of tables and figures. Every dissertation in final manuscript form must be reviewed and approved by the dissertation director of research and/or chairperson of the dissertation committee to ensure that the dissertation meets the Graduate College and departmental requirements for deposit.

Abstracts for dissertations in the College of Education must include a synopsis of the following information to describe fully the completed study:

1. The problem and its theoretical and educational significance.
2. The research design and/or approach employed (include here appropriate descriptions of subjects and methods).
3. An overview of the results.
4. Conclusions, recommendations, and/or implications.

Students (also known as "candidates" at this stage) should begin appointing the final examination (final) committee and scheduling the final at least four weeks prior to the expected date.  The committee must meet the final examination committee requirements of the Graduate College including:

• The chair must be a member of the Graduate Faculty.
• The committee must include at least four voting members, at least three of which must be members of the Graduate Faculty, and two of which must also be tenured.
• If there are more than four voting members on the committee, at least half of the voting members should be members of the Graduate Faculty.

In addition to the Graduate College requirements, College of Education requirements must be met:

• The committee chair must be on tenure-track at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign or have active tenure status awarded by the Graduate College after retirement or resignation that includes graduate faculty membership at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 
• At least one member must be from outside the student’s field of specialization and the budgetary department of the student and chair.  If the student is a member of the Education Policy, Organization and Leadership department, at least one member must be from outside the graduate concentration of the student and advisor in place of the budgetary department.

For committee members outside of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a letter of justification and curriculum vitae must be submitted by the chair to the Graduate Student Services Office who will then submit it to the Graduate College for approval. In appointing the committee, the candidate submits committee member information to the Graduate Student Services Office by completing the Request for Appointment of Committee Form. This form must be submitted at least four weeks before the examination. The Graduate Student Services Office will retrieve the appropriate approvals.

The final is a public event to be conducted in a room that will accommodate the candidate, the committee, and any attendees. The public may not ask questions or give input during the examination. 

The candidate must present the dissertation to the final committee for reading two weeks before the examination; in some cases, it may be more reasonable to allow three weeks.

Remote participation for the preliminary or final exam is permitted for both on campus and online Doctor of Education students.

For on campus students, the chair, candidate, and at least one additional voting member of the committee must be physically present for the entire duration of the examination. If the committee has more than one chair, all chairs must be physically present; in these cases, no additional voting member is required to be physically present. All voting members of the committee must be present in person or participate via teleconference or other electronic communication media during the examination, deliberation and results determination.

The chair obtains the Final Exam Result (FER) and the Thesis/Dissertation Approval (TDA) forms from the Graduate Student Services Office prior to the examination and returns the forms immediately after the examination. All appointed committee members' signatures are required on the forms; signatories must sign for themselves. Committee members have the right to review the final copy of the dissertation before signing. The committee should meet in private before beginning the examination. At the conclusion of the examination, the committee will meet in private to discuss the results and then inform the candidate.

Results: Unanimous decisions are not required. Decisions of the committee for the final are recorded on the FER.  The voting members of the committee must make one of two decisions:

• Pass the candidate. The candidate passes the final if the Director(s) of Research vote pass and no more than one of the remaining committee members votes fail. The committee will indicate on the FER if revisions are required. The committee will sign the TDA after the completion of the final and the completion of any required revisions.
• Fail the candidate. The candidate fails the final if the Director(s) of Research votes fail or if two or more committee members vote fail. A program may, but is not required to, grant the candidate another opportunity to take the final after completing additional research or writing, as recommended by the committee. However, a new committee must be appointed by the Graduate College. The new committee may, but does not have to, consist of the same members as the original committee.

Number of Attempts: After a fail result a candidate will only be allowed to take the final one additional time while working toward the completion of any one program of study. 

After the passing the final examination, provide the dissertation in final form to the committee chair and visit the Graduate College Thesis & Dissertation web pages for further deposit instructions

All candidates who have successfully defended their dissertation must obtain departmental dissertation format approval prior to final deposit with the Graduate College Thesis Office. Departmental format approval consists of three parts:

1. Chair and dissertation committee,
2. Head/Chair of department/program or authorized signatory, and
3. Departmental thesis/dissertation format reviewer.  

Because revisions requested by the chair and dissertation committee may cause a change in pagination or format, students should submit a PDF of the dissertation to the Graduate Student Services Office only after all revisions have been approved by the chair, dissertation committee, and the head/chair of department/program or authorized signatory. The departmental dissertation review process will not begin until prior approvals have been received. Dissertations must be received by the Graduate Student Services Office contact two weeks prior to the Graduate College doctoral dissertation deposit deadline to allow an opportunity for revisions. Late submissions may result in a delay of the student's graduation and degree conferral. 

After the departmental format approval, the dissertation is deposited by the student to the Graduate College using the ETD process.