PhD in Educational Studies

Doctor of Philosophy

Educational Studies

CREDITS
50 hours
FORMAT
On Campus | Hybrid
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The 50-hour PhD in Educational Studies curriculum will take effect for students enrolling in Fall 2025

The Doctor of Philosophy program in Educational Studies incorporates particular concept areas to expand your professional capacities in research and educational leadership. You will be challenged to integrate faith and learning at every step of the program as you engage these areas in a variety of experiences and academic seminars.

Admission requirements to the PhD/EDS assume that you have completed one or more graduate degrees and have recent experience in an educational ministry. Many participants remain in their places of employment during the program experience, while others are in the midst of career transitions. All participants are encouraged to move through the program at their own pace.

Program design

The PhD/EDS is designed to be a 4–5 year program (50 semester hours). Full-time participants may complete seminar work in two years followed by a year of comprehensive exam and proposal preparation and a year of dissertation research. The recommended full-time enrollment is 9 semester hours each term. The program operates on a year-round basis, with full-load enrollment available in each of two semesters and normally, summer. Completion of 18 hours constitutes one academic year. Program seminars are offered in two-week modular, week-long modular, and weekend formats.

Program Values

The international EDS learning community practices a fundamental commitment to and reliance on God’s truth as revealed in the Bible and Jesus Christ, God’s redemptive purposes in Christ, and the sustaining work of the Holy Spirit. The EDS community seeks to act on the reality that all persons are created in God’s image. Participants engage one another professionally, academically, and personally. They share resources and ideas and consult one another concerning specific issues and situations related to their ministry. The program style is collaborative rather than competitive, and mutual respect for colleagues and the diversity of perspectives is evident.

Learning is seen as lifelong, formal, and nonformal in context, linear and narrative in approach, and participatory. The interdependence of theory and practice, the processes of dialogue and disciplined inquiry, and the integration of theology and the social sciences are viewed as normative. Faculty are committed to the effective progress and completion of the participants and, through the experiences of the program, seek to foster the cultivation of sustainable habits in thought, spirit, relationships, and service.

Why TEDS?

Trinity has been entrusted with the gospel since 1897, and every day we are called to live with purpose. Our purpose as a divinity school is to know the gospel, live the gospel and make the gospel known. In today’s ever-changing culture, Trinity immerses students in a community of biblical orthodoxy and practical living. Trinity faculty historically are among the most widely published in evangelical academia and has deeply influenced the leaders shaping the present and future of evangelical Christianity across the globe.

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Core Competencies

Four foundational areas of professional competency provide the academic focus of the program:

  1. researching as an educational leader;
  2. collaborating as an organizational colleague;
  3. reflecting theologically as a practitioner;
  4. engaging complex cultural frameworks as a global Christian.

The available linkages between the PhD (Educational Studies) and the PhD (Intercultural Studies) provide opportunity to relate principles from theology and the social sciences to education, mission, and leadership.

The Learning Culture

The appropriate outcome of doctoral education is seen to be the development of refined, sustainable habits of scholarship and professional leadership. Participants are expected to enter fully into the community of scholarship: giving and receiving ideas, information, sources and materials; entering fully into seminar discussions; and participating constructively in open hearings—their own and their colleagues’ oral comprehensive examination, presentation of the research proposal, and dissertation defense.
Written work at the doctoral level has moved well beyond typical term paper preparation. Participants are expected to read and research with a view to making a contribution to the literature of the field and to ongoing discourse— with doctoral colleagues and other academic professionals. Much that is written in the program should be considered as potentially publishable. Participants are expected to use the network of seminary and university libraries in the Chicago area and to engage the members of this international community in discussion about research and writing projects. In this way, the program provides opportunities for participants to broaden their perspectives beyond their own traditions and cultures.

The dissertation research design in the PhD/EDS program is normally executed through qualitative research methodology. Qualitative research is a good fit for our participants’ dissertations because of the types of studies participants engage in and the desired lifelong learning skills participants acquire during the process. Participants produce excellent dissertations that often are published as entire books or peer-reviewed journal articles that serve the academy and the church.

The preferred learning environment is one that fosters a community in which all participants, students and faculty alike, are engaged in further development. It is also inherent in the program’s philosophy of cooperative learning that healthy interpersonal relationships enhance the academic endeavor. Therefore, faculty and participants, along with family and friends, are invited to take advantage of scheduled and spontaneous opportunities for social fellowship.

Financial Aid

Did you know that nearly 95 percent of our students receive some form of financial aid? At Trinity we offer scholarships, grants, rebates, and other aid options to help pay for the cost of schooling. Learn more about what is available below or by contacting the Financial Aid Office at [email protected].

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Prerequisites

Applicants for the PhD (EDS) program are required to:
  • Have earned an appropriate master’s degree (at least 36 semester hours).
  • Submit an electronic sample of published writing or a recent academic research paper if as yet unpublished.
  • Have completed at least four years of vocational experience in ministry with evidence of relevant gifts and abilities.
  • Have earned a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale) in previous graduate studies.
  • Provide recommendations from a ministry supervisor, professor from recent graduate studies, professional colleague, and lay person from the student’s church.
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Curriculum

The 50-hour PhD in Educational Studies curriculum will take effect for students enrolling in Fall 2025
  • Core – 15hrs.
  • Research Methods – 9hrs.
  • Electives – 15hrs.
  • Orientation – 1hr.
  • Comps, Proposal, Dissertation
    • 9975: Comprehensive Exams prep – 2hrs.
    • 9990: Dissertation Proposal prep – 2hrs.
    • 9991: Dissertation – 6hr.

TOTAL: 50hrs.

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International Applicants

All international PhD/EDS program students, including students from Canada, are now required to enter the United States with an F-1 visa. PhD/EDS residential students (i.e., living in Deerfield and registered for full-time attendance) must comply with the same visa requirements as residential master’s-level applicants (see Admissions section).
PhD/EDS nonresidential students (i.e., commuting to the Deerfield Campus for each modular class) must also obtain an F-1 visa. This requirement represents a major change to immigration policy in the United States. Students who enter the United States to pursue the PhD/EDS degree without the F-1 visa potentially jeopardize their ability to complete the degree and reenter the United States. F-1 visas will remain valid as long as reentry into the United States for the purposes of study occurs at least once every five months. A new visa will be required if reentry does not occur within this time period.
In order for a Certificate of Eligibility (I-20) to be issued for PhD/EDS nonresidential students, the following conditions must be met:
  1. Applicants whose first language of instruction is not English must demonstrate English Language competency as measured by a qualifying score on the TOEFL.
  2. Applicants must be admitted to the PhD/EDS program as a nonresidential student.
Applicants must submit a special PhD/EDS nonresidential Certification of Finances.

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Combining unrivaled academic rigor with a wholehearted commitment to gospel fidelity and an abundance of flexible options, TEDS offers a theological education that equips you to serve Christ with wisdom and grace, in truth and love.

Educational Studies Faculty

Full-Time Faculty

Deborah A. Colwill ProfileDonald C. Guthrie ProfileMimi L. Larson Profile