Program Overview

EPP Course Schedule

EPP Program Plan Worksheet

The Ph.D. Specialization in Educational Policy and Planning (EPP) is a multi-disciplinary doctoral program offered through the Department of Educational Administration with the Public School Executive Leadership Program. The mission of this doctoral program is to prepare a new cadre of educational policy and planning specialists for policy research and policy leadership roles in education.

The primary goal of the Ph.D. specialization in Educational Policy and Planning is to prepare students for careers as policy analysts and researchers who will add to the capital of knowledge which is the basis for informed practice. In this process, the program also seeks individuals who will use this knowledge to assist them in their own self-development as they continue to pursue their own education throughout their professional life.

The EPP program achieves these goals by providing students with a strong understanding of educational foundations and leadership studies, social and behavioral sciences, and quantitative and qualitative analytical frameworks. It also provides an environment for developing critical ways of bringing such know-how to bear on the ill-structured problems inherent in a learning society entering the uncertain future of the 21st Century.

Educational Policy and Planning graduates are capable of demonstrating a strong understanding of the main bodies of intellectual work found in the program, and are committed to solving some of society's more intractable educational problems through a variety of roles in the educational policy and administration field. These roles include academic professor, policy analyst, and policy leader. Thus, depending on prior experience, training, and professional interests, graduates of the program are employed in universities, governmental agencies, local school districts, and in private or nonprofit research organizations.