Davidson EdD Program: Full Time

The full-time doctoral program (EdD) of the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education is designed to prepare students for senior roles as researchers, academicians, and administrators in the field of Jewish education. As a rule, students will not be considered for admission to the doctoral program in Jewish education unless they have had a minimum of four years of full-time experience working in the field of Jewish education.

The information below reviews the policies and procedures by which doctoral students in the school will be guided.

Admissions Procedures

The Davidson School accepts and reviews applications for admissions and funding on a rolling basis until June 1 of each year. Applications that are not completed by June 1 will not be reviewed. It is in the applicant's best interest to apply as early as possible as space in the class does fill up and funding, though merit-based, is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Matriculated students are only accepted in the fall.

Download the student application.

An applicant for admission as a degree candidate must submit the following:

  • A completed application form together with the $65 fee
  • An official transcript of academic records from all colleges and universities previously attended
  • Official scores of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or Miller Analogies Test (MAT)
  • Three letters of recommendation, at least two of which must be academic references
  • Two academic writing samples that reflect the candidate's writing and research skills

One of the most important skills a doctoral student must have is the ability to write clearly. Please submit two writing samples that you feel represent your skills as a researcher and writer. If you have earned an academic degree in the last ten years, please submit two academic papers written for that degree. If you have been out of school for more than ten years, please see the list below for some examples of what you might want to submit. Please submit one from List A and one from List B or two from List B. Both pieces should be substantial works, directed at an adult audience and written by you in the last ten years.

List A

  • Curriculum or teacher's guide
  • Classroom report
  • Parent newsletter
  • Other field-based work

List B

  • Published article
  • Original research paper with citations, on the topic of your choice, to be approved by the director of Admissions (minimum length: ten pages)

Applicants whose native language is not English, and who have not been educated at a college where English is the language of instruction, may submit TOEFL scores instead of GRE or MAT scores.

Students accepted to the doctoral program must possess a substantial, graduate-level knowledge in both education and Judaica. This can be demonstrated through a master's degree or other equivalent academic work. In some cases, students may be able to make up for deficiencies in these areas through additional course work taken while enrolled in the doctoral program. An interview with the admissions committee and dean is required.

Funding

Students may receive generous fellowships that will cover tuition costs and may also receive generous living stipend.

A student's fellowship and living stipend may be renewed for up two additional years after the first year review, providing the student remains in good standing.

Terms and conditions of full-time doctoral fellowships and stipends

Fellowships for the full-time doctoral program provide the following benefits:

  • Full tuition for three years of course work
  • A living stipend for each year of the fellowship
  • Half of the fellowship is awarded at the beginning of each semester

Requirements:

  • Carrying and completing a full course load (minimum 12 credits) each semester until coursework is completed
  • Devoting eight hours per week to research and/or service projects designed to further graduate education

The fellowship and living stipend are renewed for up to three additional years providing the student remains in good standing and in compliance with this agreement and the policies of The Davidson School, and there are funds available.

JTS announces new tuition rates each academic year and student contributions, as well as the fellowship if extended, are adjusted to reflect the changes.

The Davidson School website specifies grade requirements regarding academic standing and academic probation.

Upon graduation, any student who has received fellowship monies is required to work in a Jewish educational setting for a comparable number of years.

It is the student's responsibility to either accept or decline JTS health insurance each semester. If the health insurance is accepted, it is the student's responsibility to pay for it. If health insurance is waived but the student is negligent in declining it, The Davidson School is not in any way responsible for paying for it.

All student fees and fines for late registration are the responsibility of the student throughout the course of study

All students are required to provide information about any other funding they receive for the period of this fellowship, and failure to do so may jeopardize fellowship status. The Fellowship Committee reserves the right to reduce the size of the award in cases where the fellow has received another grant.

Permission from the dean of the school is required if the student intends to seek part-time employment while holding a Davidson fellowship. Failure to obtain such permission may jeopardize the fellowship.

Students must register as JTS students each semester until the degree is conferred. This is true even after course work is complete. Please consult The Davidson School website for more information. Failure to register results in additional penalty fees and may result in dismissal from the program.

In the doctoral dissertation, the student is expected to include the following acknowledgment: "This dissertation was made possible in part by funds granted by Mr. William Davidson (z"l). The statements made and the views expressed are solely the responsibility of the author."

Students need to acknowledge the acceptance of the fellowship with its attendant conditions by signing and returning the fellowship letter to the dean's office.

Program Plan

The letter of acceptance into the doctoral program, which the student receives from the dean, specifies the course requirements (prerequisites) beyond the general requirements for the doctorate in Jewish Education. It also includes the name of the student's program adviser. This adviser will assist the student in developing a program of study that will address the student's research interests and doctoral degree requirements. While The Davidson School faculty values the work experiences of doctoral candidates in education and related fields, it is not the policy of the school to give course credit for such experiences.

Program Requirements

The full-time EdD program offers two areas of concentration: (1) teaching and learning; and (2) leadership and administration. In so doing, it prepares students for the practical work in administration, supervision, curriculum development, and educational research, as well as for academic careers in the field of Jewish education. View the EdD course grid.

The doctoral program requires 63 credits beyond the master's degree. Students accepted to the doctoral program must possess a substantial graduate-level knowledge in both education and Judaica. This can be demonstrated through a master's degree(s) or other equivalent academic work. In some cases, students may be able to make up for deficiencies in these areas through additional course work taken while enrolled in the doctoral program. An interview with the Admissions Committee and dean is required.

Completion of Requirements

A candidate must complete all requirements for the doctoral degree including courses, comprehensive examination, and the deposit of the dissertation in no more than seven years from the date of formal admission to the program. In most cases, students take courses during the first two to three years, study for the comprehensive examination during the third or fourth year, write the proposal, and dedicate the last years to research and writing of the dissertation.

The dean regularly reviews student files to ascertain that appropriate progress is being made toward the completion of degree requirements. However, candidates engaged in the writing of the dissertation may apply in writing to the dean for an extension, which ordinarily cannot exceed two years.

Residence Requirement

As a rule, two consecutive academic years of full-time residence are required of all students in the full-time EdD program. Full-time residence demands that advanced study, including research and service projects, be the student's principal responsibility. Students in full-time residence may engage in outside employment only with the permission of the dean of the school.

After the first semester of residence, but no later than the beginning of the third semester, the candidate, with the assistance of the program adviser, completes a program plan that details the student's projected course of study to satisfy requirements for the EdD degree.

This plan includes:

  • Courses at JTS, UTS, Teachers College, as well as courses transferred from other institutions (see section on study at other institutions for instructions on taking courses at outside schools)
  • Proposed research and field experiences that are required in light of the candidate's professional and academic goals. Each student's program plan must be submitted to the dean and will be reviewed by the doctoral committee and signed by the candidate, the adviser and the dean.

Course of Study

As described above, in creating the program plan, courses are selected in consultation with the program adviser and with the dissertation adviser. The purpose of the consultations is to strengthen the student's background knowledge and to build expertise in areas that are crucial to the preparation of the student's dissertation proposal.

Hebrew Language
All entering students must take the Hebrew placement examination. In order to receive the doctoral degree, students must demonstrate a proficiency in Hebrew language equivalent to Hebrew 5303 (Advanced Hebrew). Students must register for Hebrew every semester that they are in residence, until this level of proficiency is attained.

Judaica (15 credits)
Students are required to take at least five advanced graduate-level courses in Judaica beyond the MA. (These do not include any prerequisite courses indicated in the student's letter of acceptance.)

Education (27 credits)
Courses will be selected in consultation with the program adviser and dissertation adviser and should reflect a balance among the following areas: History and Philosophy of Education, Curriculum and Instruction, Administration and Supervision.

Research Methods (9 credits)
Doctoral students are expected to attain competence in understanding and conducting research through the completion of at least three semester-long courses in statistics, research methodology, and research design to be selected in consultation with the dissertation adviser. Taking three research methods courses, students will gain an understanding of educational research and develop facility in applying research skills through enrollment in three types of courses and seminars, as well as through their involvement in research projects related to their work in The Davidson School.

Doctoral Seminar (four semesters, 3 credits/semester)
All doctoral candidates participate in a weekly seminar for each semester of their residency. The four semesters of the doctoral seminar will continue on a "rolling basis" and will consist of the following content:

  • One semester on research questions and "What is a good research question?" It will also deal with the relationship between research questions and research methods. It will read examples of research in general and Jewish education and study them more for their attention to questions and method than for their specific findings. It will also include selected JTS education doctoral dissertations of the past.
  • Two semesters on selected readings from the comps list to help students prepare and to help build group togetherness, inspiring study groups organized by the students themselves down the road. The specific readings will be divided up so that the two semesters will read different materials.
  • One semester will be an in-depth look at a topic of interest—mostly led by the doctoral students themselves. The professor will choose a topic of general interest and the class will divide up responsibilities for leading the discussion and "teaching" the class for each session. This will be a way of doing a somewhat more advanced course in classic seminar style. It will fulfill the "social" dimension of the seminar but will also advance students' thinking in other areas and give them experiences as seminar session teachers.

Study at Other Institutions

Consortium

All matriculated students in The Davidson School may take courses offered through Teachers College, Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary. Students must receive approval from their adviser and register for these classes through JTS by filling out the JTS consortium registration form.

Transfer Credit

A student who wishes to transfer credit for graduate-level courses taken at other institutions of higher learning must submit an official transcript with complete course descriptions to The Davidson School Admissions Office, which will consult with the appropriate department. Credits counted toward another degree will not be considered. The maximum number of credits accepted for transfer is 9. No credit will be accepted for transfer from courses in which a grade lower than B was earned.

Summer Study

Courses offered during the summer sessions may be used to fulfill program requirements. Summer school is also open to graduate students in Jewish studies and related fields from other academic institutions. For information and application forms, contact the Summer Sessions Office at (212) 678-8886.

First-Year Review
The candidacy of all first-year doctoral students will be reviewed during their second semester of residence. The doctoral committee and the dean will review the progress the student has made to date and assess the student's potential to complete the degree. Occasionally a review may result in a recommendation to terminate the student's candidacy in the program.

Comprehensive Examination

Upon completion of course work, doctoral candidates are required to take a written and oral comprehensive examination. Doctoral students taking the comps after July 1, 2007, will now use the following revised procedure and the list of readings that are appended to this handbook. Download the doctoral exam comprehensive reading list.

The Doctoral Comprehensive exams are designed to accomplish two goals: 1) to assess the knowledge and familiarity that the student has of the relevant scholarly literature in relationship to the field of Jewish education in general and to the student's own arena of specific interest; 2) to serve as a precursor to the writing of a dissertation. Familiarity with this academic literature helps create a framework and bank of resources that the student can draw upon in his or her future dissertation work.

Students are required to take a comprehensive exam composed of two sections, the General exam selected with the adviser from the list of readings in the last section of this handbook and the Specific exam. The reading lists for the Specific exam are developed with one's adviser. Both are taken at the same time, as a "take-home" (see below). Students work with their adviser to create questions for both exams using the process described below. The school appoints an examining committee including the student's adviser and two other faculty members. The examining committee refines the questions and following the written exams there is an oral exam with the committee.

The candidate, working with his or her adviser, develops sample questions for each section and submits them to the examining committee. For the General section the committee takes two of the candidate's questions and adapts them for the exam. A third question is written by the examining committee. For the Specific section the student submits two questions and the committee adapts these questions (or adds a question of its own choosing). Approximately two weeks after the written examination is completed, the candidate meets with the committee for a one to one and a half hour oral examination about what he or she has written. The oral examination may also include questions about other readings from the lists.

The comprehensive exams will follow the following procedure:

  • The exam will now consist of a two-part take-home exam
  • Students will have ten days to complete the exam
  • Page limits will be specified for each question
  • The General exam will consist of three questions determined in the manner described above
  • The Specific exam will now consist of two questions determined in the manner described above
  • Students will work with their adviser to choose a set of forty-five to sixty readings from the General list
  • The readings are now divided into eleven areas. Students must choose some readings from all areas, but the choices need not be perfectly balanced. It is the responsibility of the adviser to make sure that the student has chosen a varied-enough list
  • In a case in which the student's Specific list is the same as one of the categories in the General list (e.g., if a student chooses "Moral education" as his or her Specific area), the student will not be responsible for that area on the General exam
Dissertation

Upon approaching completion of all courses and comprehensive examinations, the candidate:

  • Formally selects a dissertation adviser from among the faculty members of the Department of Jewish Education and requests approval of the dean
  • With the guidance of the dissertation adviser, develops an appropriate dissertation topic and proposal
  • Presents a preliminary version of the proposal at a session of the doctoral seminar
  • When the adviser approves the written proposal, a hearing is scheduled with the dissertation committee

The dissertation will be written under the direct guidance of the candidate's dissertation adviser and of a second member of the faculty selected by the adviser and the student with the approval of the dean. The committee will consist of at least five members. In most cases the dissertation committee includes the same individuals who were on the proposal hearing committee, but in certain cases changes in the makeup of the final dissertation committee can be made. The dissertation committee usually includes two outside readers—one from another institution and one from a different department (e.g., Talmud, History, etc.) at JTS. The committee will be selected by the dean, the adviser, and the student.

Proposal Hearing
The proposal is presented to the dissertation committee. Doctoral students in the school may be invited as observers. Committee members must receive copies of the proposal at least two weeks before the committee hearing. After the hearing, the student will receive written notice as to whether the proposal is accepted or rejected, along with a summary of the issues the committee suggests that the student address. A copy of the letter must be filed with the dean. After the proposal has been vetted, two final copies are to be given to The Davidson School Office; one is to be kept in the student's file and the other is to be kept in the communal proposal bank.

Scheduling the Hearing, Advanced Seminar, and Defense
After approval by the adviser and the second reader, a defense is scheduled through the Office of the Dean. A student must apply for permission to defend the dissertation during the registration period of the semester in which he or she plans to defend. Copies of the approved dissertation must be submitted to the office of The Davidson School for distribution to the members of the committee at least four weeks before the defense.

The dissertation committee may approve the dissertation as submitted; accept it with minor or major revisions, or reject it. If major revisions are required, a subcommittee will be appointed by the dissertation committee chair in consultation with the dean to review the revised dissertation. Rejection of a dissertation automatically terminates the student's participation in the program.

After final approval by the dissertation committee or the subcommittee, the dissertation shall be prepared in final form for deposit at least six weeks before commencement. Guidelines for the preparation and deposit of doctoral dissertations are available in The Davidson School Office.

Special Registration Categories

Students who are not taking courses are required to register for one of the following categories until the resumption of course work, the completion of all other degree requirements, graduation, or official withdrawal from JTS:

Extended Residence
Students in the EdD program who have finished all course work but have not yet completed all comprehensive exams must register for this category.

Matriculation and Facilities
Students in the EdD program who have finished all course work and completed all other requirements except for the dissertation must register for this category.

Defense Semester
Students in the EdD program who plan to defend their dissertations must register for this category.

Maintaining Matriculation
Students who have completed all requirements for the degree but must wait for the next commencement exercises before receiving their degrees must register each semester for this category until their degrees are awarded. Although this category carries no fee, it does require the submission of a registration card each semester until the degree is awarded. Confirmation in writing from the dean of the school is required. Full payment of the commencement fee is due at spring registration.

Academic Standards

Attendance
Regular attendance is expected. Instructors shall have the right to stipulate attendance requirements and penalties that may be incurred as a result of failure to comply with these requirements, provided that students are informed within the first two weeks of the semester.

Grades
The grading system is as follows: A, excellent; B, good; C, fair; D, poor; F, fail. No credit will be given for grades of C- or lower.

Once a grade has been received in the Office of the Registrar, it may be changed by the course instructor only upon written application from the instructor to the dean of the school. The dean's approval is required.

Full-time graduate students are permitted to take one course per year with a grade of pass/fail, with the permission of the departmental or program adviser.

Auditing
The grade R signifies that the student has attended classes and completed all course work except for the final exam and/or paper. Students must notify the Office of the Registrar, in writing, by the date stipulated in the academic calendar of their intention to audit. Failure to do so will mean that the course is being taken for credit. No credit will be given for courses taken for the grade R; such courses will not count toward fulfilling the requirements for the degree. Students cannot audit online courses.

Withdrawal
With the permission of their adviser, students may withdraw from a course by the date listed in the academic calendar. In such cases, the symbol W will appear on the transcript. Students are responsible for tuition and fees for classes from which they withdraw. Students who discontinue attendance in a course and who fail to withdraw formally within the designated period will receive the appropriate alternate letter grade.

Academic Probation
An EdD student who receives a grade lower than B will be placed on academic probation the following semester. To be restored to good standing, the student must register for the next semester and may neither receive a grade lower than B nor take an Incomplete during the semester of probation. Failure to meet this standard will constitute grounds for dismissal. The student shall have the right to appeal in accordance with the Student Disciplinary Procedures, available in the Office of the Registrar. No student will be permitted more than one semester of probation toward the degree.

Incompletes
A student who, for compelling reasons, finds it necessary to postpone the submission of required course work may petition for the grade of Incomplete (INC). The student must obtain a Request for Incomplete Form from the Office of the Registrar. This form must contain all information requested, including a description of the work to be completed and the due date, which cannot be later than the date specified in the academic calendar. The form must be signed by the student, instructor, and dean or academic adviser. The form must be returned to the Office of the Registrar. The last day to request an Incomplete and submit the form is indicated in the academic calendar.

All outstanding course work must be submitted to the Office of the Registrar by the date specified in the academic calendar. Generally, this date is six weeks from the end of the final examination period.

The registrar shall record that work has been submitted and provide a written receipt to the student for the work received. The registrar will transmit the completed work to the instructor. No work should be sent or given directly to the instructor by the student. The student is advised to retain a copy of all work submitted to the Office of the Registrar.

The grade of INC shall remain on the student's transcript until a grade has been submitted by the instructor.

If a student fails to submit the outstanding work to the Office of the Registrar by the specified due date, the grade of INC will be converted to the alternate letter grade previously submitted by the instructor. This alternate grade reflects the instructor's assessment of a student's performance, taking into account the fact that work is missing. Students should be aware that the missing work may have been counted as an F (or 0) in the computation of the final grade for the course.

In special circumstances, the dean has the authority to grant an extension for the submission of overdue work as long as it is agreeable to the instructor. This extension must be sent in writing by the dean to the Office of the Registrar.

Students may not request an INC for any course during the semester of their graduation.

Absence from Final Examinations
A student who, because of illness or personal emergency, cannot be present for a scheduled final examination must inform the Office of the Registrar as soon as possible to indicate the reasons for the absence. The Office of the Registrar will inform the instructor and the dean of the student's absence. The student must arrange with the instructor for a makeup examination if the student cannot be present for the regularly scheduled makeup examination day. The instructor will inform the Office of the Registrar of the arrangement and provide the office with the exam so that it can be given to the student.

Students may not request Incompletes in advance for an in-class final examination. The student must take the makeup examination as soon as possible, but no later than the date indicated in the academic calendar governing the completion of outstanding work.

Leave of Absence
Students who, for compelling reasons, are unable to take courses or continue with appropriate academic progress in a particular semester may request a leave of absence from the dean and must register for a leave of absence each semester until they resume their studies.

MA students may generally not be granted a leave of absence for more than one semester; doctoral students, for not more than two semesters. During the period of leave, a student may not take an examination, written or oral; be advised by the academic adviser; or submit any part of an essay or dissertation required for the completion of a degree.