Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction

The Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction received the 2023 Charlotte Excellence in Planning and Assessment from the Office of Assessment and Accreditation

The Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction is an interdisciplinary degree program involving faculty from across the UNC Charlotte campus, and primarily the Departments of English; Mathematics and Statistics; Middle, Secondary, and K-12 Education; Reading and Elementary Education; Educational Leadership; and many others across the UNC Charlotte campus. The Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction is designed to prepare teacher education faculty and other educational professionals for work in various agency, policy, non-profit, and educational settings.

The program offers the following five areas of concentration, all of which emphasize the context of urban education issues and perspectives related to curriculum and instruction:

Curriculum and Educator Development (CED) with research and theory applied to problems and applications of curriculum, instruction, learning, teaching, teacher education, professional development, and teacher leadership in K-12 and higher education. Emphases within the concentration include Elementary Education, Middle Grades and/or Secondary Education, K-12 Curriculum Specialization and Professional Development.
1. Elementary Education with research and theory applied to problems of learning and teaching in elementary education. [NOTE: This concentration became an emphasis within the Curriculum and Educator Development (CED) Concentration in 2021-2022.]
Learning, Design and Technology (LDT) with research and theory applied in the design of effective learning experiences and environments that incorporate technology to address educational needs and problems in elementary, middle/secondary, or post-secondary settings with an emphasis on urban contexts.
Literacy Education with research and theory applied to problems of literacy and language learning and instruction, oriented toward Reading, English Education, and Teaching English as a Second Language.
Mathematics Education with research and theory applied to problems of learning and teaching mathematics. Students focus on elementary, middle/secondary, or post-secondary.
Urban Education with research and theory applied to critical social issues affecting schools and society from a historical, contemporary, and theoretical perspective in a global context. In order to address the complexities of urban schooling, this program is interdisciplinary and draws on education, public policy, sociology, anthropology, and ethnic studies.