Northern Cohort Ed.D. Handbook
for students entering summer 2004

Preliminary Examinations

Written and oral preliminary examinations are required components of doctoral programs offered by the University of Minnesota. Each doctoral student must pass these examinations in order to advance to candidacy for a doctoral degree. Candidacy allows students to engage in the field study process and to begin registering for thesis credits.

Ed.D. students must complete one written preliminary examination and one oral examination.

Written Preliminary Examination
- Purpose
- Eligibility
- Exam Structure/Format
- Faculty Consultation
- Expectations /Criteria
- Grading
- Pass
- Feedback
- Re-writes
- Re-takes

Oral Preliminary Examination
- Preliminary Oral Examination Committee
- Scheduling the Examination
- Submitting Paper to Committee Members
- Structure/ Format of the Exam
- Expectations/Criteria
- Vote by Committee

Written Preliminary Examination

Purpose

The Ed.D. preliminary examination is designed as a comprehensive assessment of the student’s knowledge, integration, and application of the program curriculum. It is intended to test a student’s capacity for informed, coherent, and critical reflection on dimensions of educational leadership and policy such as conceptual approaches to thinking about leadership and educational organizations.

Eligibility

To be eligible to write the preliminary examination, students must have completed or be currently enrolled in the last of their department and program core courses, have an “active” status with the Graduate School (maintained by registering every fall and spring), and be in good standing with the Graduate School. Students do not need to be enrolled for course credit at the time of the writing of the preliminary examination.

Exam Structure/Format

The written preliminary examination is a four-hour closed-book monitored examination. Typically, all cohort members will take the exam on a single date, scheduled on a Saturday early in fall semester of their third year.

The semester before a student expects to sit for the examination, s/he will be provided with a menu of between six and ten examination questions that have been prepared by the EdAd faculty. The content focus of the questions is drawn from all the required coursework in the Ed.D. program.

Once a student has been provided with the menu of questions s/he is expected to sit for the next scheduled examination. In the event of serious health or other crisis situation, students may petition to postpone taking the examination.

Students are allowed to bring to the exam a hard copy of up to four pages of notes that are single-spaced and no less than 12-point font.

On the day of the scheduled examination, three of these questions will be presented to the student, of which s/he will select and respond to two questions. (Note: The questions presented on the day of the examination may not be worded in the exact manner as the preparatory questions although the same content bases will be addressed and similar response qualities expected.)

The examination does not seek to test students’ memory for fine detail. The questions will be broad in that synthesis and integration of core knowledge is required. Students are expected to present well-written, well-reasoned, critical, integrative discussions. Outlining one’s response to a question in advance of writing is highly recommended. Students can choose to complete the examination using computer or paper and pencil (a computer is preferred). Answers will be scored on quality, not length. References to the core literature and key authors are expected.

Faculty Consultation

Students are expected to prepare for the exam without faculty consultation.

Expectations/Criteria

Responses to the Written Preliminary Examination are expected to demonstrate:

• Clarity in framing issues, elucidating ideas and structuring arguments;
• Grounding in relevant, scholarly literature; with references to key readings (not encyclopedic but general);
• Reasonable completeness regarding main points and themes;
• Coherent reasoning from assumptions to conclusions;
• Thoughtful use of evidence to support assertions; and
• Appropriate as well as correct use of English language.

Grading

Responses to the Written Preliminary Examination will be graded and students notified within approximately six weeks. Each of the questions will be read anonymously by two faculty members selected by the director of graduate studies in consultation with the program area faculty. Each reader will independently evaluate the essay response of the respective question and assign a score as follows:

Pass = Meets or exceeds department expectations for doctoral preliminary examinations.

Re-write = Falls below department expectations for doctoral preliminary examinations but the student will be allowed one opportunity to revise the response.

Fail = Falls significantly below department expectations for doctoral preliminary examinations.

When the two readers do not assign the same grade, the response to the respective question will be read anonymously by a third reader. The final grade will be determined as the grade assigned by two of the three readers.

Pass

Passing each question requires two “pass” grades by each of two readers.

Feedback

When a question is not passed, general feedback about areas of inadequacy is provided. At this point in the doctoral program, students are expected to prepare essay responses and questions without extensive guidance from faculty.

Re-writes

In the event that a student receives a “re-write” for one or both questions, one re-write is allowed for each response that is graded as "re-write. The student will be instructed about whom to contact to receive the feedback for each response that must be rewritten. The contact person is usually one of the readers of the respective response. Students schedule a re-write exam time by calling or emailing the EdPA Graduate Studies Office. The format of the re-write session is a sit-down, closed-book session, with two hours for each question. Students are allowed to bring to the exam a hard copy of one page of notes that is single-spaced and no less than 12 point font. Rewrites will be graded as pass or re-take.

Re-takes

In the event that a student fails one or both questions, s/he may re-take the exam. The student is not allowed to rewrite on the same original exam question/s. For each failed question, the student will be presented with one question from the original set of study questions to which s/he will respond. Students schedule the retake session through the EdPA Graduate Studies Office. Each re-take will be graded pass or rewrite or fail.

In the event that a retake response is graded as a fail, the student will consult with his or her faculty adviser to determine whether to complete graduate studies with an education specialist degree or, under exceptional circumstances, to petition the Graduate Studies Committee for a second retake (third writing.)

A second re-take is graded pass or fail. Students must pass a second re-write to continue in the program. If a student fails, s/he may choose to change degree objective to the education specialist and will be assigned a faculty adviser to guide completion of the specialist degree.

Oral Preliminary Examination

All doctoral students are required to pass a preliminary oral examination in the major field. The examination is conducted in accordance with Graduate School policy. It is centered around the students chosen area of thesis study but examination questions can be drawn from any and all of the Ed. D. program and coursework. The purpose of this examination is demonstration of oral competence in the presentation of scholarly work and coherent, well-articulated responses to inquiries made by the graduate school faculty who serve as the student's doctoral committee members.

After a successful oral examination, the student becomes a candidate for the Ed.D. degree and may then register for thesis credits (Note: the total of 24 thesis credits must be taken over at least two semesters or may include a summer term).

Eligibility

The following three conditions that must be met before students are eligible to take exam: (1) the student has active status in the Graduate School; (2) the student’s program form has been approved by and is on file with the Graduate School; and (3) the student’s Preliminary Written Exam form (GS Form 17) is on file with the Graduate School.

Preliminary Oral Examining Committee

The preliminary oral examining committee includes all four members of the student's doctoral examining committee: the three EdPA (inside members) and the one outside member. The student's adviser usually serves as the chairperson for the preliminary oral examining committee.

Scheduling the Examination

Students are responsible for contacting all committee members to determine an examination date and time. It is highly recommended that students begin early (e.g., a month or more in advance) to schedule for the oral preliminary examination. It can be difficult to coordinate committee member schedules. A time period of two hours should be scheduled for the oral preliminary examination.

Students also are responsible for informing the Graduate School of the scheduled date and time so that the appropriate forms are sent to the committee chairperson well in advance of the meeting.

Submitting Paper to Committee Members

In preparation for the oral preliminary examination, the student prepares an integrated review of the literature focused on the thesis topic. (In most cases this paper serves as chapter two of the thesis.) The student provides each of the four committee members with a copy of this paper at least two weeks prior to the scheduled exam date. This paper informs committee members about the student's area of research interest and provides a sample of the quality of the student's work.

Structure/ Format of the Exam

At the scheduled committee meeting, the student first introduces him/herself, shares relevant professional background experiences, and describes her/his interest in the thesis topic (2-3 minutes). The student then presents a brief overview of the literature, emphasizing key findings, as well as gaps in the literature (10-12 minutes). The presentation ends with the problem statement and research question/s that will guide the thesis research (1-2 minutes). After the presentation, committee members pose questions to the student that are related to the thesis topic but that can draw on any coursework from the EdD program. The student should also provide a copy of his/her program form so committee members are knowledgeable about the student's specific course of study.

Expectations/Criteria

The student is expected to present a clear, concise overview of the literature and the problem that frames her or his area of research. This presentation must emphasize key scholarly work in the field and include a critique of the quality of the research base. A rationale about the significance of the topic and specific problems of interest must also be articulated.

The student is expected to respond to questions posed by committee members in a coherent, scholarly, and professional manner that includes:

• clarity in framing responses;
• grounded and well reasoned assumptions; and
• appropriate use of scholarly literature as supporting evidence.

Vote by Committee

After the questioning, the student is excused and committee members independently vote by ballot to "pass", "pass with reservations", or "fail" the student’s examination. Members then engage in discussion about the student’s examination and finally, vote a second time. To pass the examination, the student must receive at least three of four pass votes at the second voting. A "pass with reservations" qualifies as a "pass" for vote counting purposes but the exam outcome is recorded as "pass with reservations".

A "pass with reservations" outcome requires that the committee chairperson, in consultation with committee members construct a letter to the Graduate School that indicates the specific nature of the reservations and the steps that must be taken for the reservations to be removed. The student receives a copy of the letter. The final oral defense may not be scheduled or conducted until the Graduate School receives a letter indicating that the reservations have been removed.

At the end of the oral preliminary exam, Graduate School form #18, Final Oral Examination Report, must be signed by all committee members and delivered to the Graduate School within 24 hours of the examination. The student should make two additional copies of the signed form, one to be submitted to the director of graduate studies in the department and one for the student's own files.

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Updated June 2004