Ph.D.

in Education Program of Study

Program plan for Jacqueline Heller

Core Courses (30 credits which includes 12 dissertation credits)

1. General Culture (3)
EDUC 800 Ways of Knowing (spring 2015)

2. Research Methods (15)

EDRS 810 Problems and Methods in Education Research (summer 2015)
EDRS 811 Quantitative Methods in Educational Research (fall 2017)
EDRS 812 Qualitative Methods in Educational Research (spring 2016)
EDRS 818 Critical Discourse Analysis (summer 2016)
EDRS 824 Evaluation Methods for Educational Programs & Curricula (spring 2018)

3. Specializations (36)
Distribution of credits among specializations is based on size of program. Advisors must
contact the Ph.D. in Education office for clarification.
All 36 credits in specialization with the exception of 9-credit reduction (see below) must be at
the 800- level or above.
Primary Specialization (18-24): Literacy
EDRD 829 Foundations of Literacy (fall 2014)
EDRD 832 Research Methods and Trends in Literacy (fall 2015)
EDUC 896 Digital and New Media Literacies (summer 2017)
EDRD 830 Literacy: Birth Through Middle Childhood (fall 2018)
EDRD 831 Literacy Early Adolescence Through Young Adult (summer 2018 independent study)
EDUC 874 The Achievement Gap (fall 2016)
EDUC 994 Advanced Internship in Education (summer 2018)
Secondary Specialization (12-18): Teacher Collaboration
EDUC 876 Teacher Development and Education Policy (summer 2015)
EDUC 803 Teacher Preparation and Professional Development (spring 2018)
COMM 635 Organizational Communication (fall 2017)
COMM 653 Instructional Communication (spring 2017)
EDLE 801 Contemporary Organization Theory (spring 2019)
Upon permission of advising committee, student may receive a 9 credit reduction based on
applicable Master’s coursework. Please indicate course numbers and titles.

4. Dissertation Proposal and Research (12)

Upon successful completion of all coursework (core and specialization), and comprehensive
portfolio assessment, students are advanced to candidacy and enroll in EDUC 998.
EDUC 998 (3) Doctoral Dissertation Proposal (registered for summer 2019)
EDUC 999 (9) Doctoral Dissertation Research
PROPOSED DATE FOR COMPREHENSIVE PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT:

April 29, 2019

PROGRAM RATIONALE (please review the Program Guidelines for directions):

When I started the PhD program five years ago I was a very effective reading teacher but I could
not reach every striving reader and I was at the point in my career that I wanted to affect change
on a larger scale. That meant shifting my focus from teaching students to read to coaching teachers
how to better teach students how to read and even influencing administrators and school districts
to set up the conditions necessary for that to happen. My goal is to consult nationally and deliver
literacy professional development to teachers in the field, as well as to teach locally at the college
level to impact classroom teachers becoming certified in literacy. My primary specialization would
obviously be literacy but my secondary specialization fell somewhere between educational
leadership and teaching and teacher education, yet neither of those quite fit. Over the last dozen
years I had helped transform two elementary schools into award winning Professional Learning
Communities and believe strongly that no one teacher can meet the literacy needs of all her
students working in isolation so I crafted a secondary specialization focusing on teacher
collaboration within the context of professional learning communities. Research classes such as
EDRS 824 helped me analyze the effectiveness of collaborative professional development in
literacy and EDRS 818 helped me analyze transcripts of collaborative team meetings. I took
courses outside the education department such as COMM 635 and COMM 653 to understand the
impact of teacher communication on teacher collaboration and ultimately how that impacts their
ability to take on new learning from literacy professional development and use it in the classroom.
My current class, EDLE 801 is helping me better understand how to position myself as a leader in
education and what administrators might need from me in order to invest in literacy professional
development.

_______________________________
Student Signature Date

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Chair Date Margret Hjalmarson, Director Date
Doctoral Advising Committee PhD in Education Program

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Member Date
Doctoral Advising Committee (secondary specialization)

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Member Date
Doctoral Advising Committee