The Ph.D. in Special Education is intended for students interested in K-12 special education or early intervention. The program requires a minimum of 69 credit hours beyond the master’s degree, and it emphasizes four areas: generating knowledge to help shape the future of the field; sharing knowledge with others so that they can understand it and use it to improve their practice; facilitating strong professional relationships through collaboration; and creating, interpreting, and implementing special education policy and procedures. Students in the SES doctoral program are required to successfully complete all listed course work. Additional course requirements are determined on an individual basis and in consultation with the student’s major advisor and advisory/dissertation committee.

For information regarding deadlines and requirements for admission, please see https://grs.uncg.edu/programs/.

In addition to the application materials required by the Graduate School, applicants must submit a resume and a personal statement of goals, past experience and unique skills. Applicants must have three years of related professional experience.

Degree Program Requirements

Required: 69-75 credit hours

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
Core/Research Courses (36 credits)
SES 755	Systematic Review of Special Education Literature	3
SES 759	Grant Writing in Education	3
SES 761	Coaching and Supervision of Teaching and Learning	3
SES 775	Directed Research 1	6
ERM 780	Intermediate Statistical Methods in Education	3
ERM 781	Design and Analysis of Educational Experiments	3
TED 730	Qualitative Methods in Curriculum and Instruction	3
TED 738	Mixed Methods Research Design in Curriculum and Instruction	3
TED 749	Disciplined Inquiry in Teacher Education	3
TED 767	Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis	3
Select one additional quantitative or qualitative methods course (3 credits) 2		3
Specialization/Concentration Courses (21-27 credits)
SES 753	Issues and Trends in Special Education	3
SES 757	School Reform and Leadership in Special Education	3
SES 760	Single Subject Research Design	3
SES 763	College Teaching & Adult Learning Theory	3
Select a minimum of 9 credits from courses in a related area of interest 3		9-12
SES 749	Internship in Specialized Education (optional)	0 or 3
Dissertation (12 credits)
SES 799	Dissertation 4	12
Total Credit Hours		69-75

¹

Taken twice for a total of 6 credits.

²

Students must select a quantitative or qualitative course that aligns with their research interests with the advice and approval of their advisor.

³

Students are expected to work closely with the major advisor and advisory/dissertation committee members to identify a set of courses in a related area of interest that forms a specialization, including an internship. This course work may be in the areas of counseling, educational leadership, teacher education, early childhood, family studies, psychology, or others.

⁴

Each candidate for a doctoral degree must prepare and present a dissertation that focuses on some aspect of special education, that is, in one of the three areas noted above (early childhood, special education, deaf education). This product must demonstrate independent investigation and a synthesis of the skills learned in the program. The dissertation must be acceptable in form and content to the student’s dissertation committee and the Graduate School.

Required Milestones*

• Residency (Immersion)
• Plan of Study
• First Year Review
• Research Competency
• Comprehensive Exam (Written & Oral)
• Major Research Paper (Written & Oral)
• Dissertation Proposal
• Admission to Candidacy
• Dissertation Defense
• Filing the Final Approved Dissertation

*

General information about milestones for doctoral programs is available in Section III of the Graduate Policies page in the University Catalog. For information about how milestones are accomplished for a specific program, please refer to the doctoral program's handbook.