Secondary and Middle Grades Education, Ed.D.

Contact Information

Program Description

The Ed.D. with a major in Secondary and Middle Grades Education is designed for candidates who possess a teaching certificate and hold a master’s degree in a Georgia Professional Standards Commission recognized area of certification.

The program of study provides skills necessary to integrate theory and practice by examination of local and global education issues; theory-based curriculum development; and equitable, democratic, humane, and socially just theories of education. Guided electives and cognate serve to deepen expertise in a chosen area of study. Through this program, candidates develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions to serve as learner-centered specialists engaging in scholarly inquiry and research.

The Ed.S. with a major in Secondary and Middle Grades Education is fully embedded in the Ed.D. program. Those students who complete the Ed.S. with a major in Secondary and Middle Grades Education at Kennesaw State may apply their entire program of study to the Ed.D.

To complete the program, candidates take 15 credit hours in Education and Research Core courses; 36 credit hours in Major Areas 1 and 2, teaching field pedagogy and content courses; 6 credit hours in guided electives/cognate; and 9 credit hours in dissertation.

Admission Requirements

The following are requirements beyond the general Graduate Admissions  requirements. 

• An earned Master’s degree in professional education or a related field;
• A clear and renewable Georgia Teaching Certificate or departmentally-approved equivalent.
• At least, three years of professional teaching or administrative experience or both in P-12 education (current full-time employment as a professional educator is preferred);
• Research Response & Analysis writing sample. The applicant will select from two recent research articles in their area of content expertise and provide a 3-5 page written response to the article. Click here for the specific instructions.
• A competitive Graduate Record Exam (GRE) score and Graduate GPA. The GPA and GRE will be utilized with other admission criteria to determine program eligibility. Although no minimum scores are required, candidates are encouraged to prepare and score well since admission to the program is competitive. Please note: The Analytical/Writing score one receives as part of the GRE exam is used competitively in the admission review process. It is strongly encouraged for applicants to do well on this portion of the exam.

Admission Criteria for Unique Cases

Currently there are no exceptions to the admission requirements.

Transfer Credit

SMGE Graduate Bridge: candidates who complete their M.Ed. in SMGE at KSU may apply up to 9 credit hours from the M.Ed. (a 36 credit-hour program) to their Ed.D. (a 66 credit-hour program). Students who have completed their Ed.S. at another institution will be eligible to have their transcripts analyzed and can possibly receive up to 17 hours credit toward the Ed.D.

Petition to Graduate

Each candidate must petition to graduate online. For more information, please view the corresponding section of Academic Policies.

Program of Study