Revised February 27, 2006
Application information can be obtained online. Successful completion of the following requirements (some in addition to the Graduate School's application requirements) recommends the candidate for admission to pursue graduate study leading to the qualifying examination for the Ph.D. degree in Secondary Education:
Admission to candidacy occurs upon satisfactory completion of the qualifying examination and submission of a letter from a qualified faculty member indicating a willingness to serve as the applicant's advisor.
Applicants for the Ph.D. degree are considered on the basis of the applicant's total profile including test scores, previous academic record, career objective, and interviews. The interview process was initiated to provide an opportunity for faculty review of an applicant's individual qualifications and aspirations. Credentials presented by all applicants are reviewed with the understanding and commitment that no candidate is excluded on the basis of a single criterion. Deadlines for application are twice a year: October 1 for attendance during the following Spring or Summer term; March 1 for attendance during the following Summer or Fall term.
Each student applying to the Ph.D. in Secondary Education Program shall accompany his or her application with a Letter of Intent. In the Letter of Intent, the student shall briefly outline:
Final decision to admit, reject, or postpone the students application to the Ph.D. in Secondary Education Program leading to the Doctoral Qualifying Examination shall be made by the Graduate Faculty of the Secondary Education Program.
Secondary English educators interested in pursuing a doctorate should
consider the Language and
Literacy Ph.D. Program under the advisement of Dr. Mary Styslinger.
The candidate will select and have appointed a program advisor from the area of Secondary Education who will serve as the advisor for his/her doctoral program of course work. This should be accomplished as soon as possible after admission and no later than the end of the first semester of graduate work beyond the Masters degree.
Upon admission to the doctoral program, the candidate must complete or have completed fifteen semester hours in the five foundation areas of education. Three semester hours must be selected from each of the five areas below:
1. Philosophical/Historical: EDFN 743, 744, 749, 843, or 847
2. Psychological: EDPY 705, 706, or 835 or another acceptable educational psychology course
3. Research: EDRM 710 or another acceptable educational research course
4. Curriculum: EDLP 725 or another acceptable curriculum course
5. Administration: EDLP 700 or another acceptable educational administration course.
The student will select and have appointed a program advisor from the area of Secondary Education who will serve as the advisor for his/her doctoral program of coursework. This should be accomplished as soon as possible after admission and no later than the end of the first semester of graduate work beyond the master's degree (approximately 50 hours including the masters).
During the second semester of graduate work toward the doctorate (after 12 to 15 semester hours to be taken at USC beyond the Masters), the candidate will apply to take the doctoral qualifying examination.
The qualifying examination is a written paper to be used to assess the candidate's aptitude for completing the doctoral program. The candidate receives the exam on a Thursday at 4:30 p.m. and returns a completed response by noon on the following Monday.
The Secondary Education Graduate Faculty will determine the content of the examination and will score the results of the examination as "pass" or "fail." The candidate shall be allowed to take the examination a second time, should he/she fail the first administration. The candidate's program advisor will make recommendations concerning future doctoral work on the basis of the qualifying examination.
The candidate must make application to take the qualifying examination through the Office of Student Affairs. To be eligible to take the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination a candidate must:
Admission to degree candidacy is valid for only three years beyond the last USC enrollment. Thereafter, the candidate must re-apply for admission to degree candidacy under criteria in effect at the time of application.
Upon admission to degree candidacy, the candidate may form his or her doctoral committees. Four committees guide and evaluate a candidate's doctoral study:
Program Advisory and Dissertation Committees
After completion of all admission requirements and the doctoral qualifying examination, the candidate will select and request formal appointment of his/her doctoral Program Advisory Committee and Dissertation Committee. Both committees must have at least three members. Often the same faculty member serves on both committees, but this is not required. At this stage in the program, the candidate is eligible to request that faculty members meeting the following qualifications serve as his/her doctoral Program Advisory and Dissertation Committees:
The applicant must have a reading knowledge of one foreign language or an approved alternative selected from the Department of Instruction and Teacher Education Language/Research Tool Options.
Members of the Program Advisory Committee determine the candidate's doctoral Program of Study.
Requirements for doctoral programs are determined by Graduate Faculty at the program level. All program requirements must meet general Graduate School requirements. A candidate's Program of Study must be approved by the candidate's Program Advisory Committee, the Graduate Director of the College of Education, and the Dean of the Graduate School. Eligibility for graduation will be judged on the basis of completing this document.
The development and approval of the candidate's Program of Study leading to the Ph.D. Degree in Secondary Education shall be planned with the major advisor. A typical doctoral degree program consists of 90 semester hours including hours completed in a masters program and dissertation preparation hours; the last 30 semester hours of which must be completed no more than 8 years prior to graduation.
The candidate is required to complete a minimum of 36 semester hours in a major specialty area which includes nine semester hours of course work in an area of emphasis within the College of Education, but outside this major area of emphasis. The area will be designated as the "inside cognate". Foundation courses taken prior to the qualifying examination but after the masters degree may count toward the major specialty area. The candidate is expected to have the equivalent of a masters degree in a content area which includes at least 15 semester hours of study in an area outside of the College of Education to be designated the "outside cognate." The Graduate School requires that a minimum of 30 semester hours must be taken upon acceptance to the doctoral program and after the masters degree.
The candidate is also required to enroll in a minimum of 12 semester hours in Dissertation Preparation (EDTE 899). EDRM 897 may be substituted for three of those hours. In order to receive the Ph.D. degree, the candidate must earn a grade point average of 3.0 in all courses completed at USC and in all courses in the candidate's approved program. Four grades below "B" (C+, C, D+, D, F), or any combination thereof on graduate course work attempted at the University of South Carolina will disqualify the candidate for the Ph.D. degree.
A maximum of six semester hours of EDUC 6XX courses may be part of a graduate
degree Program of Study, provided that the assigned advisor approves the
inclusion of such courses.
In the final stages of the candidate's doctoral program, the candidate is required to take a written and oral comprehensive examination. The candidate is required to first take the written doctoral comprehensive examination (9 to 12 semester hours). The content of this examination will be determined by the candidate's doctoral and dissertation chairperson in association with the remainder of the candidate's Program Advisory Committee and the candidate himself/herself. Within one month of completion of the written examination, an oral examination shall be administered by the Oral Comprehensive Examination Committee and will be based in part on the content of the written examination. Both the doctoral written and oral exams are conceived of as an opportunity for the candidate to integrate and synthesize his/her graduate work. Application to take the comprehensive examinations must be made via a letter with the candidate's dissertation chairperson. In accordance with program schedules, the doctoral committee chair will schedule a comprehensive examination consisting of a written and an oral portion. The result of the comprehensive examination is either "pass with honors," "pass," or "fail." If a candidate fails the comprehensive examination, he or she may re-take the examination. A second failure eliminates the candidate from the Ph.D. program.
The dissertation proposal will be submitted in accordance with program policies to the candidate's Dissertation Committee. Work on the dissertation proposal should not begin until the candidate has successfully completed the doctoral Comprehensive Examination. Prior to writing the dissertation, the degree candidate develops and successfully defends the dissertation proposal before his or her Dissertation Committee. At the time of the review the committee may either, (a) approve the proposal or (b) recommend reworking the proposal to be followed by another committee review. The committee indicates its approval of the proposal by signing the proposal cover sheet. A copy of the proposal and the signed cover sheet is placed in the candidate's file in the Secondary Education Program office. The degree candidate then conducts the original research described in the proposal and proceeds to develop the dissertation under the guidance of his or her Dissertation Committee.
Each candidate must undertake original research and prepare a dissertation based on the research. All dissertations in the College of Education will carry single authorship. All work related to the candidate's dissertation will be specified and coordinated by the candidate's Dissertation Committee and advisor. The candidate must realize that he/she must coordinate the research portion of the dissertation through the research committee in Research and Measurement or work closely with a member of his/her committee who is knowledgeable in the type of research design and analysis required by his/her dissertation. The research must be conducted under the supervision of the candidate's Dissertation Committee, and the dissertation must be approved by both the committee and the Dean of the Graduate School. The dissertation must be completed and defended within five years after the candidate has successfully completed the comprehensive examination. Failure to complete all requirements for graduation, including the dissertation, within this period of time will necessitate retaking or revalidating successfully the comprehensive examination.
Each candidate must defend successfully the dissertation before the Dissertation Oral Examination Committee of no less than four persons. The oral defense of the candidate's dissertation will be required upon successful completion of the doctoral Comprehensive Examination, completion of the writing of the candidate's doctoral dissertation, and at least thirty days prior to the date that the degree is to be awarded. All provisions for the scheduling an evaluation of the oral defense shall be made by the candidate with his/her committee, through his/her dissertation chairperson. The dissertation must be completed and defended within five years after the candidate has successfully passed the comprehensive examination (failure to do so will require the retaking of the comprehensive examination). The dissertation defense is scored either "pass" or "fail" by the candidate's doctoral committee which serves as the examining committee. If the majority of the examining committee does not pass the candidate on the first administration, a new examination committee will be appointed and the examination will be administered again. If the candidate fails the second examination, he or she shall be disqualified from further graduate study toward the Ph.D. in the College of Education.
The granting of a doctoral degree by the University of South Carolina presupposes a minimum of three full years of graduate study (or equivalent) and a minimum of 30 graduate hours of study after admission to the doctoral program. The doctoral residency requirement may be satisfied only after admission to a doctoral degree program and must be fulfilled by enrollment in at least 18 graduate credit hours within a span of three consecutive semesters (excluding summers). Enrollment in a summer term is not required to maintain continuity, but credits earned during summer terms will count towards residency.
In order to receive the Ph.D. degree, the candidate must earn a grade point average of 3.0 in all courses completed at USC and in all courses in the student's approved program. four grades of C, D, F, or any combination thereof on graduate coursework attempted at the University of South Carolina will disqualify the candidate for the Ph.D. degree.
All credits and examinations applicable to the student's Ph.D. program must be completed within an eight-year period. Courses may be re-validated by examination after approval by the student's committee and the Director of Graduate Studies. Master's degree credit that is applicable to the Ph.D. degree is re-validated by successful achievement on the doctoral qualifying examination.