Agenda Item FA 19-65

New Degree Program Request:

Doctor of Education – Curriculum and Instruction

We are creating a new Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction that will complement the current Ed.D. in Educational Leadership. The new program will be targeted to PreK-12 educators who are interested in becoming scholarly practitioners who will serve as teacher leaders in their schools and districts. Like, the Ed.D. in Educational Leadership, the Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction will be based upon the guiding principles of the Carnegie Project for the Education Doctorate (CPED). We anticipate that some students currently enrolled in the Ed.D. in Educational Leadership will transfer into this program in Spring 2021. We will admit the first cohort to the program in Fall 2021.

The program is needed for several reasons. Nationally, there is an increasing emphasis within education on the development of teacher leaders who can positively impact the profession and increase student success. Locally, Duval County Public Schools educate 130,000 PreK-12 students. Conversations with school district leadership have indicated the need for an advanced degree in Curriculum and Instruction that would build upon content currently taught in UNF's undergraduate and master's level degree programs in education. The University of Florida has the only existing Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, and their program is entirely online.
The program will be comprised on 60 credits beyond the master's degree. Students will complete 12 hours of coursework in Curriculum and Instruction. Four new courses will be created in this core area. Students will also complete 9 hours in educational foundations and 18 hours in research methods (both of which are the same courses taken by students in the current Ed.D. in Educational Leadership). Students in the new program will also take 9 hours in a cognate area of their choosing and will complete a minimum of 12 hours of dissertation credits.
During the 2019-2020 academic year a professor line was allocated by the university to the COEHS for the purpose of facilitating the implementation of the C&I Ed.D. program (position number 339890). Endowed funding for the Dr. Bill Herrold Endowed Professorship has been secured to help offset the cost of recruiting for this position. Faculty assigned to teach in the program have room in their load due to declining enrollments in COEHS undergraduate teacher preparation programs. A graduate assistant will be assigned to assist with program coordination and recruitment. An office assistant will be hired for the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum. Part of their time will be devoted to the C&I Ed.D.
The library has extensive electronic journal and e-book holdings related to topics that will be taught in the program.

(View Proposal for Doctor of Education –Curriculum and Instruction #201908-66)