Course requirements: The candidate's program is planned jointly by the student and the adviser. A minimum of 72 semester hours beyond the bachelor's degree is required. Some of the required courses listed below encompass substantive areas within educational psychology. Other required courses are a proseminar that orients students to educational psychology as a profession and to key readings in the field, a research practicum in which students will assist with and eventually design and carry out original research, and several courses in statistics and measurement. Some requirements may be waived for students who begin the Ph.D. program with a master's degree or coursework from another program.

Required courses: All of these (or equivalents)

Minor area requirement:12 s.h.
A minimum of 12 semester hours that constitute a coherent program of coursework outside the Educational Psychology program and beyond the courses listed above. The minor area may be in a foundational discipline such as psychology or in another area of education such as mathematics education, educational philosophy, or program evaluation. Coursework may span departments and colleges as long as it reflects a plan approved by the student's adviser. To satisfy this requirement, courses must be listed at the 200-level or above.

Other Electives: up to 12 s.h.
The semester hours in this category may include additional coursework from any of the categories above.

Total hours of required coursework: 72 s.h.

Second-year research project:
As part of their second year of participation in the Research in Educational Psychology course, 7P:230, Ph.D. students are required to complete a research project of modest scope. This project will be completed under the direction of a faculty member and presented in both oral and written form to the program faculty and students. First-year students may assist second-year students with data collection and other research activities, and projects may be designed and conducted in collaboration with other students. The written report must be completed by the end of the student's second academic year in the program. Students may re-enroll in this course beyond their second year. Students who enter the Ph.D. program after having completed an M.A. or M.S. degree with an acceptable empirical thesis will be exempted from 7P:230 and the second-year research project.

Comprehensive examination:
The Ph.D. comprehensive examination in Educational Psychology emphasizes competencies rather than courses. Further, whereas the master's comprehensive exam emphasizes breadth, the Ph.D. exam emphasizes depth in one or more narrowly defined areas of research and theory. There are three options. Choice among options is made by the student in consultation with his or her adviser and with the approval of the examining committee of five faculty members (which may or may not be the same as the dissertation committee). The options are (a) a review article, (b) an extended research activity, and (c) a traditional comprehensive examination.

(a) Students who choose this option must first submit a content outline and brief description of the proposed integrative review article to the committee. The committee reviews the outline and suggests modifications and revision. The student then independently writes the review article and submits it to the committee for review. The article should be integrative and scholarly, should adopt a point of view with respect to the literature reviewed, and if possible, should address both substantive and methodological issues in the area. The committee evaluates the article and gives copies of their evaluations to the student. An oral presentation and defense of the revised article is then scheduled. When taken together, the review and the oral exam are intended to be an inclusive examination over the student's major field of study, including the tools of research used in that domain. As a final step, we encourage the student to discuss with his or her adviser how the comprehensive exam paper or some modification of it could be published in a professional journal.

(b) Students choosing this option must complete an extended research activity that is separate from but possibly related to the dissertation. This research activity must be distinct from the project completed during the second-year Independent Research course, but may grow out of it. A proposed program of research must first be submitted to the committee and the approval of the committee obtained. Research activities include independently conducting and reporting one or more research studies or developing and validating an instrument. Research may also be presented at state or national conferences, or it may be the basis of a grant submission. A written report of each product or activity as it is completed in the proposed program must be submitted to the committee, who will suggest modifications and revisions. A final document containing a summary of the project activities must be distributed to committee members at the completion of the project. An oral presentation or defense of the activity is then scheduled. When taken together, the research activity and the oral examination are intended to be an inclusive examination over the student's major field of study and the tools of research used in that domain.

(c) Students who elect to write traditional comprehensive exams write nine hours of examinations. The proposed exam must be approved by the student's adviser and by the examining committee. The examination is intended to be an inclusive evaluation of the student's mastery of the major field of study, including the tools of research used in that domain.

An unsatisfactory evaluation on a first attempt at any of the above alternatives allows the individual student the option of retaking the examination. A retake of the examination also implies the right to change the format of the examination. However, a student may attempt the examination (regardless of form) only twice.