The online four-year, 60 credit hour scholar-practitioner degree focuses on advanced district level knowledge and leadership skills and prepares individuals for the growing variety of school and school district leadership positions.

Campus Code

Knoxville Campus
Distance Education

Admissions Standards/Procedures

• To be considered for admission to the EdD, applicants must meet the following minimum requirements:
  • Master’s degree (or equivalent) from a regionally accredited institution, an institution accredited by another organization recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), or an equivalent degree from a similarly recognized or accredited foreign institution
  • Cumulative GPA of 3.00 on all prior graduate work
  • Three years educational experience preferred
• Application materials contain both the Graduate School and the department application. The application materials are processed by the Graduate Admissions Office and forwarded to the academic department for review by the EdD Admissions Committee, which consists of all educational leadership faculty members serving in the program. In the admissions process, a number of factors are considered holistically, including:
  • GPA
  • Resume/CV
  • Statement of Purpose Essay
  • Three reference letters. One must be from a supervisor familiar with the candidate’s leadership experience.

Credit Hours Required

60 graduate credit hours post Master’s (exclusive of thesis credit hours) or EdS

Required Courses

• Educational Leadership Core (9 credit hours)
  • EDAM 610  
  • EDAM 670  
  • EDAM 680  
• Educational Leadership Foundations (9 credit hours)
  • ELPS 695 - Special Topics  (History and Philosophy of Education)
  • ELPS 695 - Special Topics  (Comparative Studies in Global Leadership)
  • EDAM 629  
• Research Foundation (9 credit hours)
  • ELPS 615  
  • EDPY 577  
  • ELPS 695  
• Specialization (21 credit hours)
  • ELPS 618  
  • EDAM 630  
  • EDAM 631  
  • EDAM 632  
  • EDAM 646
  • EDAM 650
  • Elective
• Doctoral Applied Research (12 credit hours)
  • ELPS 601  

Additional Course Requirements

• To meet the Graduate School requirement of 72 total graduate credit hours, students may list on the Admission to Candidacy Application up to 12 credit hours of previous graduate course work (from the Master’s or EdS degree) exclusive of thesis credit hours.

Non-Course Requirements

• Comprehensive Examination
  • At the completion of the formal course work (48 graduate credit hours), students will be required to pass a comprehensive examination administered by the EdD faculty. The purpose of the examination is to assess the student’s mastery of the material and ability to synthesize and apply what was learned to practice-based settings and problems.
  • In order to sit for the comprehensive examination, students must have at least a 3.00 cumulative GPA from course work. Successful passing of the comprehensive examination is requisite to advancing to formally working on an applied problem of practice within the framework of the Doctoral Applied Research course. Current rules of the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences and the Graduate School will apply to degree requirements and readiness to advance to the doctoral applied research portion of the degree.
  • The comprehensive examination for the EdD degree will follow the department’s procedures for the PhD degree. The examination will be developed by the student’s doctoral committee and guided by the chair of the committee. The student will have 6 weeks to prepare answers to the questions before submitting them to the committee. The student will arrange for an oral defense of the comprehensive exam no sooner than two weeks from the date of the submission of the responses to all members. At the oral defense, the committee will question the student about the responses submitted and vote on whether the student has passed or failed the comprehensive exam. The report of the outcome of the examination will be formally reported to the Graduate School.
• Admission to Candidacy
  • The student will be admitted to degree candidacy upon successful completion of the following requirements:
    • Submission and approval of the Admission to Candidacy application.
    • Successful completion of 48 graduate credit hours (27 doctoral core and foundation credit hours, 21 specialized credit hours).
    • Successful achievement of a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or above in the doctoral program, with no more than two grades below a “B” grade.
    • Successful passage of the comprehensive examination.
    • To meet the Graduate School requirement of 72 total graduate credit hours, students may list on the Admission to Candidacy Application up to 12 credit hours of previous graduate course work (from the Master’s or EdS degree) exclusive of thesis credit hours.

Additional Requirements for Graduation

• Approved Admission to Candidacy Application
• Successful completion of a minimum of 12 credit hours of ELPS 601  
• Successful defense (Pass) of the work from ELPS 601