About Our Doctoral Programs
NCE’s doctoral degree programs prepare scholars and leaders to advance excellence in education. Whether you aim for district-level, systems, policy, or teaching leadership, NCE’s Teaching and Learning, Educational Leadership (PK-12), or Higher Educational Leadership Ed.D will engage you in advanced scholarship, research, and specialized training within our dynamic intellectual community.
Doctoral Degree Programs
Educational Leadership PreK - 12 (Ed.D.)
This program is for leaders and aspiring leaders in schools, districts and other complex learning organizations who want to earn a doctorate, cultivate a strong professional leadership identity and qualify for senior-level positions, including the superintendency. Integrating theory, research and applied practice, candidates conduct research and write a practitioner dissertation that engages in program evaluation and addressing specific problems of practice. Our graduates are prepared to develop, implement, and manage effective data-informed teaching and learning environments across multi-school educational systems and districts.
Strategic Educational Leadership (Ed.D.)
This program is designed for ambitious professionals working in a wide variety of organizations who aspire to add a graduate-level leadership credential to their content expertise documenting advanced capacities to create leadership vision, apply productive systemic thinking, cultivate a constructive organizational climate, lead high-performing teams, embrace diversity and inclusion, manage conflict, and produce continuously improving performance results.
Teaching and Learning (Ed.D)
With a sharp focus on social justice, equity, and inclusion, the four majors within the Teaching and Learning doctoral program are for scholars interested in leveraging research and inquiry to transform education. Our rigorous programs prepare thoughtful and passionate educational leaders who understand education within the larger social, cultural, political, historical, and economic contexts that influence educational policies, practices, and reform in the globalized world.
- Teaching and Learning: Disability and Equity Studies
- Teaching and Learning: Reading, Language and Literacy
- Teaching and Learning: Curriculum, Advocacy and Policy
- Teaching and Learning: Postsecondary Teaching
- Teaching and Learning: Linguistic Diversity and Equity
Doctoral Student Research and Scholarship
Learn more about current doctoral student scholarship, including upcoming dissertation defenses and the annual NLU Doctoral Research Symposium event, which showcases student research.
