School of Psychological Sciences

Educational Psychology

The master's and doctoral programs are designed to prepare individuals for educational activities such as instruction, evaluation, test construction, educational research, educational consulting to business and public schools, and university teaching. All students must abide by the codes of ethics of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

Educational Psychology offers programs and service courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. The program faculty provide courses on psychological principles and theories and research methodologies as applied to the educational process. These applications range from everyday concerns in the public school classroom to basic research on learning and cognition, and the development of children, adolescents, and adults. Faculty and students have access to computers, a complete set of data analysis software packages and laboratory facilities available for both teaching and research purposes. Service courses are offered to support other university programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Accelerated (4 + 1) Psychology B.A. and Educational Psychology M.A.

Motivated and high-achieving students may seek to complete the requirements for the B.A. in Psychology and M.A. in Educational Psychology in five years. To obtain both degrees, students must complete all the requirements for the B.A. described in the Undergraduate Catalog and all of the requirements for the M.A. described in the Graduate Catalog. Completing the requirements for both degrees in the accelerated Master's program is made possible by taking 9 credits of graduate course work in the junior and senior years (paid for at the undergraduate tuition rate). These 9 credit hours will be counted towards both the B.A. and M.A. degree requirements. Students remain eligible for financial aid as an undergraduate; any Graduate School aid is not available until students are admitted as a Graduate student.

Students interested in transferring into an accelerated Master’s Program must:

• have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 to take graduate-level courses as a junior or senior.
• Meet with the program’s advisor in their junior year, apply (following the same procedure and meeting the same requirements as other M.A. applicants). Full admission is dependent on completing the B.A. requirements in the senior year while maintaining a minimum 3.0 GPA.
• Students and faculty identify the graduate courses the students should take. The program application will be signed and forwarded to the Graduate School with signatures of the program advisor indicating the approval of graduate course transfer.

Educational Psychology M.A.

Upon meeting the admission criteria for the Graduate School, the candidate's application is forwarded to the program area faculty for review. Applications are processed as they are received. Decisions regarding admission are communicated to the applicant before the beginning of the next semester. Although students may enroll any semester following admission, they are strongly encouraged to begin their program in either the summer or fall term in order to enter the proper sequencing of courses. Applications require a description of educationally-related work experience, statement of interest and career goals, three letters of reference, and GRE scores should be submitted if available, but are not required.

Applications are evaluated case by case according to the following preferred guidelines:

• GPA of 3.0 in the last 60 semester hours of academic work.
• Three letters of recommendation indicating a high potential for academic success.
• Congruency between the applicant's career goals and the purpose of the M.A. program as indicated by the letter of interest.
• Educationally-related work experience is desirable, but not required.

Educational Psychology M.A. en route to the Ph.D.

Students may apply for admission to the Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and complete their M.A. in Educational Psychology on the way to the doctoral degree. The application process and the admission criteria are the same as for the Ph.D. program. Once admitted, students will complete the 30 credit M.A. program See Educational Psychology MA for more information. Students must complete all program requirements (including Comprehensive Examination) for the M.A. in addition to the minimum credit hours required for the Ph.D. Students must be conferred with the M.A. degree prior to admission to doctoral candidacy.

For degree and program requirements, see:

Educational Psychology M.A.

Educational Psychology Ph.D.

The overall goal of the program is to produce university instructors and scholars capable of original basic and applied research in psychological and educational processes.

There is considerable emphasis on research training within the program. Research topics of the faculty pertain to processes in learning cognition, and development, measurement and assessment, social perspectives to research design and to applications of the findings from educational psychology to informal and informal educational settings.

Upon meeting the admission criteria for the Graduate School, the candidate's application is forwarded to the program area faculty for review. Reviews by the program area faculty are typically conducted within four weeks of receipt of the application. Decisions regarding admission are communicated to the applicant before the beginning of the next semester. Although students may enroll any semester following admission, they are strongly encouraged to begin their program in either the summer or fall term in order to enter the proper sequencing of courses.

Applications are evaluated case by case according to the following preferred guidelines:

• GRE combined score of 1,200 on the verbal and quantitative reasoning sections, with a minimum verbal score of 500 and an analytical writing score of at least 4.0.
• GPA of 3.5 (4.0 scale) in the last 60 semester hours of academic work.
• Three letters of recommendation indicating a high potential for success in a doctoral research program.
• A written statement of career goals and a resume.
• Congruency between the applicant's career goals and the purpose of the Ph.D. program.

The doctoral program contains a common core of courses and three areas of emphasis: Learning and Cognitive Processes, Human Development, and Research, and Measurement. All students must take the common core emphasis area and electives in consultation with the advisor. Students must take a minimum of 67 hours to graduate. A doctoral minor is also available.

For degree and program requirements, see:

Educational Psychology Ph.D.

Educational Psychology Doctoral Minor