latest topics for phd in education

Research Topics & Ideas: Education

170+ Research Ideas To Fast-Track Your Project

If you’re just starting out exploring education-related topics for your dissertation, thesis or research project, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we’ll help kickstart your research topic ideation process by providing a hearty list of research topics and ideas , including examples from actual dissertations and theses..

PS – This is just the start…

We know it’s exciting to run through a list of research topics, but please keep in mind that this list is just a starting point . To develop a suitable education-related research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , and a viable plan of action to fill that gap.

If this sounds foreign to you, check out our free research topic webinar that explores how to find and refine a high-quality research topic, from scratch. Alternatively, if you’d like hands-on help, consider our 1-on-1 coaching service .

Overview: Education Research Topics

• How to find a research topic (video)
• List of 50+ education-related research topics/ideas
• List of 120+ level-specific research topics 
• Examples of actual dissertation topics in education
• Tips to fast-track your topic ideation (video)
• Free Webinar : Topic Ideation 101
• Where to get extra help

Education-Related Research Topics & Ideas

Below you’ll find a list of education-related research topics and idea kickstarters. These are fairly broad and flexible to various contexts, so keep in mind that you will need to refine them a little. Nevertheless, they should inspire some ideas for your project.

• The impact of school funding on student achievement
• The effects of social and emotional learning on student well-being
• The effects of parental involvement on student behaviour
• The impact of teacher training on student learning
• The impact of classroom design on student learning
• The impact of poverty on education
• The use of student data to inform instruction
• The role of parental involvement in education
• The effects of mindfulness practices in the classroom
• The use of technology in the classroom
• The role of critical thinking in education
• The use of formative and summative assessments in the classroom
• The use of differentiated instruction in the classroom
• The use of gamification in education
• The effects of teacher burnout on student learning
• The impact of school leadership on student achievement
• The effects of teacher diversity on student outcomes
• The role of teacher collaboration in improving student outcomes
• The implementation of blended and online learning
• The effects of teacher accountability on student achievement
• The effects of standardized testing on student learning
• The effects of classroom management on student behaviour
• The effects of school culture on student achievement
• The use of student-centred learning in the classroom
• The impact of teacher-student relationships on student outcomes
• The achievement gap in minority and low-income students
• The use of culturally responsive teaching in the classroom
• The impact of teacher professional development on student learning
• The use of project-based learning in the classroom
• The effects of teacher expectations on student achievement
• The use of adaptive learning technology in the classroom
• The impact of teacher turnover on student learning
• The effects of teacher recruitment and retention on student learning
• The impact of early childhood education on later academic success
• The impact of parental involvement on student engagement
• The use of positive reinforcement in education
• The impact of school climate on student engagement
• The role of STEM education in preparing students for the workforce
• The effects of school choice on student achievement
• The use of technology in the form of online tutoring

Level-Specific Research Topics

Looking for research topics for a specific level of education? We’ve got you covered. Below you can find research topic ideas for primary, secondary and tertiary-level education contexts. Click the relevant level to view the respective list.

Research Topics: Pick An Education Level

Primary education.

• Investigating the effects of peer tutoring on academic achievement in primary school
• Exploring the benefits of mindfulness practices in primary school classrooms
• Examining the effects of different teaching strategies on primary school students’ problem-solving skills
• The use of storytelling as a teaching strategy in primary school literacy instruction
• The role of cultural diversity in promoting tolerance and understanding in primary schools
• The impact of character education programs on moral development in primary school students
• Investigating the use of technology in enhancing primary school mathematics education
• The impact of inclusive curriculum on promoting equity and diversity in primary schools
• The impact of outdoor education programs on environmental awareness in primary school students
• The influence of school climate on student motivation and engagement in primary schools
• Investigating the effects of early literacy interventions on reading comprehension in primary school students
• The impact of parental involvement in school decision-making processes on student achievement in primary schools
• Exploring the benefits of inclusive education for students with special needs in primary schools
• Investigating the effects of teacher-student feedback on academic motivation in primary schools
• The role of technology in developing digital literacy skills in primary school students
• Effective strategies for fostering a growth mindset in primary school students
• Investigating the role of parental support in reducing academic stress in primary school children
• The role of arts education in fostering creativity and self-expression in primary school students
• Examining the effects of early childhood education programs on primary school readiness
• Examining the effects of homework on primary school students’ academic performance
• The role of formative assessment in improving learning outcomes in primary school classrooms
• The impact of teacher-student relationships on academic outcomes in primary school
• Investigating the effects of classroom environment on student behavior and learning outcomes in primary schools
• Investigating the role of creativity and imagination in primary school curriculum
• The impact of nutrition and healthy eating programs on academic performance in primary schools
• The impact of social-emotional learning programs on primary school students’ well-being and academic performance
• The role of parental involvement in academic achievement of primary school children
• Examining the effects of classroom management strategies on student behavior in primary school
• The role of school leadership in creating a positive school climate Exploring the benefits of bilingual education in primary schools
• The effectiveness of project-based learning in developing critical thinking skills in primary school students
• The role of inquiry-based learning in fostering curiosity and critical thinking in primary school students
• The effects of class size on student engagement and achievement in primary schools
• Investigating the effects of recess and physical activity breaks on attention and learning in primary school
• Exploring the benefits of outdoor play in developing gross motor skills in primary school children
• The effects of educational field trips on knowledge retention in primary school students
• Examining the effects of inclusive classroom practices on students’ attitudes towards diversity in primary schools
• The impact of parental involvement in homework on primary school students’ academic achievement
• Investigating the effectiveness of different assessment methods in primary school classrooms
• The influence of physical activity and exercise on cognitive development in primary school children
• Exploring the benefits of cooperative learning in promoting social skills in primary school students

Secondary Education

• Investigating the effects of school discipline policies on student behavior and academic success in secondary education
• The role of social media in enhancing communication and collaboration among secondary school students
• The impact of school leadership on teacher effectiveness and student outcomes in secondary schools
• Investigating the effects of technology integration on teaching and learning in secondary education
• Exploring the benefits of interdisciplinary instruction in promoting critical thinking skills in secondary schools
• The impact of arts education on creativity and self-expression in secondary school students
• The effectiveness of flipped classrooms in promoting student learning in secondary education
• The role of career guidance programs in preparing secondary school students for future employment
• Investigating the effects of student-centered learning approaches on student autonomy and academic success in secondary schools
• The impact of socio-economic factors on educational attainment in secondary education
• Investigating the impact of project-based learning on student engagement and academic achievement in secondary schools
• Investigating the effects of multicultural education on cultural understanding and tolerance in secondary schools
• The influence of standardized testing on teaching practices and student learning in secondary education
• Investigating the effects of classroom management strategies on student behavior and academic engagement in secondary education
• The influence of teacher professional development on instructional practices and student outcomes in secondary schools
• The role of extracurricular activities in promoting holistic development and well-roundedness in secondary school students
• Investigating the effects of blended learning models on student engagement and achievement in secondary education
• The role of physical education in promoting physical health and well-being among secondary school students
• Investigating the effects of gender on academic achievement and career aspirations in secondary education
• Exploring the benefits of multicultural literature in promoting cultural awareness and empathy among secondary school students
• The impact of school counseling services on student mental health and well-being in secondary schools
• Exploring the benefits of vocational education and training in preparing secondary school students for the workforce
• The role of digital literacy in preparing secondary school students for the digital age
• The influence of parental involvement on academic success and well-being of secondary school students
• The impact of social-emotional learning programs on secondary school students’ well-being and academic success
• The role of character education in fostering ethical and responsible behavior in secondary school students
• Examining the effects of digital citizenship education on responsible and ethical technology use among secondary school students
• The impact of parental involvement in school decision-making processes on student outcomes in secondary schools
• The role of educational technology in promoting personalized learning experiences in secondary schools
• The impact of inclusive education on the social and academic outcomes of students with disabilities in secondary schools
• The influence of parental support on academic motivation and achievement in secondary education
• The role of school climate in promoting positive behavior and well-being among secondary school students
• Examining the effects of peer mentoring programs on academic achievement and social-emotional development in secondary schools
• Examining the effects of teacher-student relationships on student motivation and achievement in secondary schools
• Exploring the benefits of service-learning programs in promoting civic engagement among secondary school students
• The impact of educational policies on educational equity and access in secondary education
• Examining the effects of homework on academic achievement and student well-being in secondary education
• Investigating the effects of different assessment methods on student performance in secondary schools
• Examining the effects of single-sex education on academic performance and gender stereotypes in secondary schools
• The role of mentoring programs in supporting the transition from secondary to post-secondary education

Tertiary Education

• The role of student support services in promoting academic success and well-being in higher education
• The impact of internationalization initiatives on students’ intercultural competence and global perspectives in tertiary education
• Investigating the effects of active learning classrooms and learning spaces on student engagement and learning outcomes in tertiary education
• Exploring the benefits of service-learning experiences in fostering civic engagement and social responsibility in higher education
• The influence of learning communities and collaborative learning environments on student academic and social integration in higher education
• Exploring the benefits of undergraduate research experiences in fostering critical thinking and scientific inquiry skills
• Investigating the effects of academic advising and mentoring on student retention and degree completion in higher education
• The role of student engagement and involvement in co-curricular activities on holistic student development in higher education
• The impact of multicultural education on fostering cultural competence and diversity appreciation in higher education
• The role of internships and work-integrated learning experiences in enhancing students’ employability and career outcomes
• Examining the effects of assessment and feedback practices on student learning and academic achievement in tertiary education
• The influence of faculty professional development on instructional practices and student outcomes in tertiary education
• The influence of faculty-student relationships on student success and well-being in tertiary education
• The impact of college transition programs on students’ academic and social adjustment to higher education
• The impact of online learning platforms on student learning outcomes in higher education
• The impact of financial aid and scholarships on access and persistence in higher education
• The influence of student leadership and involvement in extracurricular activities on personal development and campus engagement
• Exploring the benefits of competency-based education in developing job-specific skills in tertiary students
• Examining the effects of flipped classroom models on student learning and retention in higher education
• Exploring the benefits of online collaboration and virtual team projects in developing teamwork skills in tertiary students
• Investigating the effects of diversity and inclusion initiatives on campus climate and student experiences in tertiary education
• The influence of study abroad programs on intercultural competence and global perspectives of college students
• Investigating the effects of peer mentoring and tutoring programs on student retention and academic performance in tertiary education
• Investigating the effectiveness of active learning strategies in promoting student engagement and achievement in tertiary education
• Investigating the effects of blended learning models and hybrid courses on student learning and satisfaction in higher education
• The role of digital literacy and information literacy skills in supporting student success in the digital age
• Investigating the effects of experiential learning opportunities on career readiness and employability of college students
• The impact of e-portfolios on student reflection, self-assessment, and showcasing of learning in higher education
• The role of technology in enhancing collaborative learning experiences in tertiary classrooms
• The impact of research opportunities on undergraduate student engagement and pursuit of advanced degrees
• Examining the effects of competency-based assessment on measuring student learning and achievement in tertiary education
• Examining the effects of interdisciplinary programs and courses on critical thinking and problem-solving skills in college students
• The role of inclusive education and accessibility in promoting equitable learning experiences for diverse student populations
• The role of career counseling and guidance in supporting students’ career decision-making in tertiary education
• The influence of faculty diversity and representation on student success and inclusive learning environments in higher education

Education-Related Dissertations & Theses

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a research topic in education, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual dissertations and theses in the education space to see how this all comes together in practice.

Below, we’ve included a selection of education-related research projects to help refine your thinking. These are actual dissertations and theses, written as part of Master’s and PhD-level programs, so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

• From Rural to Urban: Education Conditions of Migrant Children in China (Wang, 2019)
• Energy Renovation While Learning English: A Guidebook for Elementary ESL Teachers (Yang, 2019)
• A Reanalyses of Intercorrelational Matrices of Visual and Verbal Learners’ Abilities, Cognitive Styles, and Learning Preferences (Fox, 2020)
• A study of the elementary math program utilized by a mid-Missouri school district (Barabas, 2020)
• Instructor formative assessment practices in virtual learning environments : a posthumanist sociomaterial perspective (Burcks, 2019)
• Higher education students services: a qualitative study of two mid-size universities’ direct exchange programs (Kinde, 2020)
• Exploring editorial leadership : a qualitative study of scholastic journalism advisers teaching leadership in Missouri secondary schools (Lewis, 2020)
• Selling the virtual university: a multimodal discourse analysis of marketing for online learning (Ludwig, 2020)
• Advocacy and accountability in school counselling: assessing the use of data as related to professional self-efficacy (Matthews, 2020)
• The use of an application screening assessment as a predictor of teaching retention at a midwestern, K-12, public school district (Scarbrough, 2020)
• Core values driving sustained elite performance cultures (Beiner, 2020)
• Educative features of upper elementary Eureka math curriculum (Dwiggins, 2020)
• How female principals nurture adult learning opportunities in successful high schools with challenging student demographics (Woodward, 2020)
• The disproportionality of Black Males in Special Education: A Case Study Analysis of Educator Perceptions in a Southeastern Urban High School (McCrae, 2021)

As you can see, these research topics are a lot more focused than the generic topic ideas we presented earlier. So, in order for you to develop a high-quality research topic, you’ll need to get specific and laser-focused on a specific context with specific variables of interest.  In the video below, we explore some other important things you’ll need to consider when crafting your research topic.

Get 1-On-1 Help

If you’re still unsure about how to find a quality research topic within education, check out our Research Topic Kickstarter service, which is the perfect starting point for developing a unique, well-justified research topic.

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Greetings, I am a student majoring in Sociology and minoring in Public Administration. I’m considering any recommended research topic in the field of Sociology.

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I am a graduate with two masters. 1) Master of arts in religious studies and 2) Master in education in foundations of education. I intend to do a Ph.D. on my second master’s, however, I need to bring both masters together through my Ph.D. research. can I do something like, ” The contribution of Philosophy of education for a quality religion education in Kenya”? kindly, assist and be free to suggest a similar topic that will bring together the two masters. thanks in advance

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Teaching, learning, and teacher education, doctor of philosophy (ph.d.), you are here, a doctoral program preparing education researchers, teacher educators, curriculum specialists, and instructional leaders..

The Ph.D. in Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education focuses on the preparation of researchers and teacher educators in universities and colleges. Focal areas include teaching and learning, research and practice in teacher education, mathematics education, science education, and the study of urban education and urban contexts. 

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The Ph.D. in Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education focuses on the preparation of researchers in education. The program includes formal courses, mentored research, and informal seminars.  The program is designed to draw together coursework, research apprenticeship, and other professional academic activities to build a complete professional program that is tailored to your interests and needs.

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Coursework and research experiences address a range of practice-based and theoretical problems in schools and community settings from sociopolitical, cultural, philosophical, psychological, and historical perspectives. Taking an interdisciplinary stance, faculty and students explore issues of equity, social justice, and educational change in a range of formal and informal educational settings. You will build a program of study that includes courses in teaching and learning, social foundations, and research methods.  Applicants interested in the focal area of literacy are encouraged to consider the doctoral program in Literacy Studies .

Field-based research and collaborative projects with practitioners in schools or other educational settings are key components of the program. The program is designed to draw together coursework, research apprenticeship, and other professional academic activities to build a complete professional program that is tailored to your interests and needs.

As a full-time Ph.D. student, you are expected to be in residence and participate in practicum activities, courses, and other academic experiences throughout the first two years, where you will be enrolled in 3 course units per semester. Coursework and experiences are arranged around three areas or strands, including specialization courses, research methods courses, and electives/professional experiences, as well as a set of core courses. For more information about courses and requirements, visit the  Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education Ph.D. program in the University Catalog .

Research Apprenticeship Course (RAC)

The RAC is part of the Professional Experiences strand and is designed to assist you in developing, conducting, and presenting your own original research. The course focuses on the research interests of the students and requires participation in the scheduling of activities, presentations, and directing part of the RAC agenda as it pertains to the collective needs of the group. Students from the different stages of the doctoral program will serve as mentors to one another, with faculty oversight. You will participate in the RAC beginning in the spring of your first year and continue participation until the completion of your dissertation.

Annual Self-Evaluation : Each year, doctoral students complete a Professional Self-Evaluation that is used as part of the ongoing evaluation and planning process. You are introduced to the evaluation form in the proseminar and will work on it in the spring Research Apprenticeship Course (RAC). The deadline for the Professional Self-evaluation falls in mid-autumn or mid-spring.

Qualifying Examination : The Qualifying Examination is taken by all doctoral students, most often at the end of the first year. Passing this exam is an important step in being admitted to program candidacy. In order to take the qualifying exam, you need to have completed the Doctoral Proseminar, Doctoral Foundations of Teaching and Learning, Education, Culture, and Society, 1 RAC, and 1 research methods course.

Program Candidacy : You are assessed for program candidacy after successfully completing the  Doctoral Proseminar, Doctoral Foundations of Teaching and Learning, Education, Culture, and Society, 1 RAC, and 1 research methods course, and passing the Qualifying Examination. You must be in good academic standing to receive program candidacy.

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Michael C. Johanek Senior Fellow Ed.D., Teachers College, Columbia University

Yasmin B. Kafai Lori and Michael Milken President’s Distinguished Professor Ed.D., Harvard University

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Related programs.

• Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education Ed.D.
• Reading/Writing/Literacy Ph.D.
• Reading/Writing/Literacy Ed.D.
• Learning Sciences and Technologies M.S.Ed.
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• Education, Culture, and Society Ph.D.

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Doctor of Education Leadership

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America needs transformative leaders in preK–12 education whose passion for education quality and equity is matched by a knowledge of learning and development, the organizational management skills to translate visionary ideas into practical success, and a firm grasp of the role of context and politics in shaping leadership. Graduates of the three-year, multidisciplinary Doctor of Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.) Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education will be prepared to become those leaders.

The Ed.L.D Program — taught by faculty from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Harvard Business School, and the Harvard Kennedy School — will train you for system-level leadership positions in school systems, state and federal departments of education, and national nonprofit organizations. Ed.L.D. is a full-time, three-year program built on a cohort learning model. Cohorts consist of up to 25 students from diverse professional backgrounds (including district/charter management leaders, nonprofit directors, principals, teachers, and policy researchers) who progress through the program together.

All Ed.L.D. students receive a full tuition funding package plus stipends, work opportunities, and a paid third-year residency at a partner organization.

The Ed.L.D. Program prepares graduates to do work for the public good in the American public education sector, whether that be at the system or state level. Specifically, the program is designed to accelerate the progress graduates make toward achieving meaningful impact in influential roles and/or crossing boundaries in the following spaces in the public education sector:

• PreK–12 district or CMO leadership roles : superintendent of schools, chief academic officer, and/or deputy superintendent
• Foundation/philanthropy roles:  director, president and CEO, senior fellow
• Education nonprofit roles : president or executive director of backbone or collective impact organizations which support preK–12 schools. Ed.L.D. graduates will lead education nonprofits that explicitly focus on improving outcomes and opportunities for children, families, and communities.
• State or federal education leadership roles : commissioner or deputy commissioner roles. Could also include public education advocacy or education policy advisers to senior government officials.
• Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation roles:  Founder, CEO, president

Curriculum Information

The Ed.L.D. curriculum is a balance of multidisciplinary coursework and practice-based learning. Core courses and electives are taught by recognized leaders from across Harvard’s graduate programs in fields like data-based education reform, organizational change and innovation, and effective leadership strategies for urban schools. You will develop and test your leadership skills through team projects and an immersive third-year residency.

All students in the cohort take the same classes in four foundational content areas: learning and teaching, leadership and organizational change, politics and policy, adult development, and leadership inside and out (including one-on-one executive coaching). Courses taken during the first-year focus on practice-based learning and serve as the framework of your first-year experience.

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• Leading Change
• How People Learn
• Ed.L.D. Proseminar
• Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Learning
• Race, Equity, and Leadership
• Practicing Leadership Inside and Out
• Sector Change
• The Workplace Lab for System-Level Leaders

View  all courses  in the Academic Catalog.

Each cohort member works with program advisers to choose an individualized sequence of electives from any of the Harvard graduate schools. You will work closely with the program faculty and staff during your second year to determine the best match with a partner organization for your third-year residency. Matches are driven by mutual interest between the resident and the partner organization, and each student's career and learning goals and geographic preferences.

• Second Year Practicing Leadership Inside and Out
• Driving Change 
• Education Sector Nonprofits
• Negotiation Workshop
• Coaching with Equity in Mind
• Ethnic Studies and Education
• Deeper Learning for All:  Designing a 21st Century School System
• Institutional Change in School Organizations, Systems, and Sectors

You will take part in a 10-month paid residency at one of our partner organizations. There, you will work on a strategic project which synthesizes your experience and learning into a written Capstone project. You will stay connected to your Ed.L.D. cohort and HGSE through technology and by returning to Harvard periodically for intensive workshops.

Paid Residency 

Our partner organizations include school systems and departments of education, as well as some of the nation's most influential and dynamic nonprofit, mission-based for-profit, and philanthropic organizations.

You will be intentionally pushed out of your comfort zones and asked to work systemically and make a significant contribution to the partner organization. In addition, the residency will provide you with the professional mentoring, practical experiences, and network of connections they need to position themselves as future leaders in the education sector. 

Strategic Project 

You will define (with supervisors from your partner organization) a strategic project on which to focus. You will have the opportunity to lead one or two major efforts on behalf of the organization, such as the creation or implementation of current initiatives. The project allows you to practice and improve leadership skills, add important value to the mission and strategy of the partner organization, work systemically, and hold high-level accountability.

During the residency period, you will produce a written Capstone. The Capstone is a descriptive, analytic, and reflective account of your third-year leadership contributions to a strategic project within an Ed.L.D. partner organization. It is a demonstration of your ability to engage others, develop strategy to successfully address and diagnose challenges, work toward a vision and goals, and learn from the results.

Sample Topics

• Accountability, Coherence, and Improvement: Leadership Reflection and Growth in the Los Angeles Unified School District
• Leadership Development for Entrepreneurial Education Leaders Working to Build Public & Private Sector Support
• Disrupting Teacher Preparation: Lessons in Collaboration and Innovation Across the Learning to Teach Community of Practice
• Pursuing Educational Equality for English Language Learners

Sample Summaries 

• Breaking Down Silos in a School District: Findings from an Ed.L.D. Project in Montgomery County
• Expanding Students' Access to Meaningful STEM Learning Opportunities Through Strategic Community Partnerships
• Developing a New Teacher Leadership and Compensation System in Iowa: A Consensus-Based Process
• Finding Great Teachers for Blended-Learning Schools

GSE Theses and Dissertations from Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH)

Program Faculty

Ed.L.D. students learn with renowned faculty from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Kennedy School. Faculty from the three schools share their individual expertise in the Ed.L.D. Program and work collaboratively to provide a challenging and coherent experience for students. Faculty who teach in the Ed.L.D. core curriculum and advise Ed.L.D. students include:

Faculty Director

Frank D. Barnes

Frank Barnes is faculty director of the Doctor of Education Leadership Program. He has over 30 years experience as an educator, researcher, and organizer. As a chief accountability officer, he led turnaround efforts for large public school districts, including Boston Public Schools and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

Kathryn Parker Boudett

Ebony N. Bridwell-Mitchell

Jennifer Perry Cheatham

Elizabeth City

Candice Crawford-Zakian

Marshall Ganz

Adria D. Goodson

Deborah helsing.

Monica C. Higgins

Deborah Jewell-Sherman

Lisa Laskow Lahey

Mary Grassa O'Neill

Irvin Leon Scott

Catherine Snow

Michael L. Tushman

Martin west.

Introduce Yourself

Tell us about yourself so that we can tailor our communication to best fit your interests and provide you with relevant information about our programs, events, and other opportunities to connect with us.

Program Highlights

Explore examples of the Doctor of Education Leadership experience and the impact its community is making on the field:

Combatting Chronic Absenteeism with Family Engagement 

As post-COVID absenteeism rates continue unabated, a look at how strong family-school engagement can help

Math, the Great (Potential) Equalizer

How current practices in math education around tracking and teaching can be dismantled to achieve the promise of equity in math classrooms

• Our Mission

The 10 Most Significant Education Studies of 2021

From reframing our notion of “good” schools to mining the magic of expert teachers, here’s a curated list of must-read research from 2021.

It was a year of unprecedented hardship for teachers and school leaders. We pored through hundreds of studies to see if we could follow the trail of exactly what happened: The research revealed a complex portrait of a grueling year during which persistent issues of burnout and mental and physical health impacted millions of educators. Meanwhile, many of the old debates continued: Does paper beat digital? Is project-based learning as effective as direct instruction? How do you define what a “good” school is?

Other studies grabbed our attention, and in a few cases, made headlines. Researchers from the University of Chicago and Columbia University turned artificial intelligence loose on some 1,130 award-winning children’s books in search of invisible patterns of bias. (Spoiler alert: They found some.) Another study revealed why many parents are reluctant to support social and emotional learning in schools—and provided hints about how educators can flip the script.

1. What Parents Fear About SEL (and How to Change Their Minds)

When researchers at the Fordham Institute asked parents to rank phrases associated with social and emotional learning , nothing seemed to add up. The term “social-emotional learning” was very unpopular; parents wanted to steer their kids clear of it. But when the researchers added a simple clause, forming a new phrase—”social-emotional & academic learning”—the program shot all the way up to No. 2 in the rankings.

What gives?

Parents were picking up subtle cues in the list of SEL-related terms that irked or worried them, the researchers suggest. Phrases like “soft skills” and “growth mindset” felt “nebulous” and devoid of academic content. For some, the language felt suspiciously like “code for liberal indoctrination.”

But the study suggests that parents might need the simplest of reassurances to break through the political noise. Removing the jargon, focusing on productive phrases like “life skills,” and relentlessly connecting SEL to academic progress puts parents at ease—and seems to save social and emotional learning in the process.

2. The Secret Management Techniques of Expert Teachers

In the hands of experienced teachers, classroom management can seem almost invisible: Subtle techniques are quietly at work behind the scenes, with students falling into orderly routines and engaging in rigorous academic tasks almost as if by magic. 

That’s no accident, according to new research . While outbursts are inevitable in school settings, expert teachers seed their classrooms with proactive, relationship-building strategies that often prevent misbehavior before it erupts. They also approach discipline more holistically than their less-experienced counterparts, consistently reframing misbehavior in the broader context of how lessons can be more engaging, or how clearly they communicate expectations.

Focusing on the underlying dynamics of classroom behavior—and not on surface-level disruptions—means that expert teachers often look the other way at all the right times, too. Rather than rise to the bait of a minor breach in etiquette, a common mistake of new teachers, they tend to play the long game, asking questions about the origins of misbehavior, deftly navigating the terrain between discipline and student autonomy, and opting to confront misconduct privately when possible.

3. The Surprising Power of Pretesting

Asking students to take a practice test before they’ve even encountered the material may seem like a waste of time—after all, they’d just be guessing.

But new research concludes that the approach, called pretesting, is actually more effective than other typical study strategies. Surprisingly, pretesting even beat out taking practice tests after learning the material, a proven strategy endorsed by cognitive scientists and educators alike. In the study, students who took a practice test before learning the material outperformed their peers who studied more traditionally by 49 percent on a follow-up test, while outperforming students who took practice tests after studying the material by 27 percent.

The researchers hypothesize that the “generation of errors” was a key to the strategy’s success, spurring student curiosity and priming them to “search for the correct answers” when they finally explored the new material—and adding grist to a 2018 study that found that making educated guesses helped students connect background knowledge to new material.

Learning is more durable when students do the hard work of correcting misconceptions, the research suggests, reminding us yet again that being wrong is an important milestone on the road to being right.

4. Confronting an Old Myth About Immigrant Students

Immigrant students are sometimes portrayed as a costly expense to the education system, but new research is systematically dismantling that myth.

In a 2021 study , researchers analyzed over 1.3 million academic and birth records for students in Florida communities, and concluded that the presence of immigrant students actually has “a positive effect on the academic achievement of U.S.-born students,” raising test scores as the size of the immigrant school population increases. The benefits were especially powerful for low-income students.

While immigrants initially “face challenges in assimilation that may require additional school resources,” the researchers concluded, hard work and resilience may allow them to excel and thus “positively affect exposed U.S.-born students’ attitudes and behavior.” But according to teacher Larry Ferlazzo, the improvements might stem from the fact that having English language learners in classes improves pedagogy , pushing teachers to consider “issues like prior knowledge, scaffolding, and maximizing accessibility.”

5. A Fuller Picture of What a ‘Good’ School Is

It’s time to rethink our definition of what a “good school” is, researchers assert in a study published in late 2020.⁣ That’s because typical measures of school quality like test scores often provide an incomplete and misleading picture, the researchers found.

The study looked at over 150,000 ninth-grade students who attended Chicago public schools and concluded that emphasizing the social and emotional dimensions of learning—relationship-building, a sense of belonging, and resilience, for example—improves high school graduation and college matriculation rates for both high- and low-income students, beating out schools that focus primarily on improving test scores.⁣

“Schools that promote socio-emotional development actually have a really big positive impact on kids,” said lead researcher C. Kirabo Jackson in an interview with Edutopia . “And these impacts are particularly large for vulnerable student populations who don’t tend to do very well in the education system.”

The findings reinforce the importance of a holistic approach to measuring student progress, and are a reminder that schools—and teachers—can influence students in ways that are difficult to measure, and may only materialize well into the future.⁣

6. Teaching Is Learning

One of the best ways to learn a concept is to teach it to someone else. But do you actually have to step into the shoes of a teacher, or does the mere expectation of teaching do the trick?

In a 2021 study , researchers split students into two groups and gave them each a science passage about the Doppler effect—a phenomenon associated with sound and light waves that explains the gradual change in tone and pitch as a car races off into the distance, for example. One group studied the text as preparation for a test; the other was told that they’d be teaching the material to another student.

The researchers never carried out the second half of the activity—students read the passages but never taught the lesson. All of the participants were then tested on their factual recall of the Doppler effect, and their ability to draw deeper conclusions from the reading.

The upshot? Students who prepared to teach outperformed their counterparts in both duration and depth of learning, scoring 9 percent higher on factual recall a week after the lessons concluded, and 24 percent higher on their ability to make inferences. The research suggests that asking students to prepare to teach something—or encouraging them to think “could I teach this to someone else?”—can significantly alter their learning trajectories.

7. A Disturbing Strain of Bias in Kids’ Books

Some of the most popular and well-regarded children’s books—Caldecott and Newbery honorees among them—persistently depict Black, Asian, and Hispanic characters with lighter skin, according to new research .

Using artificial intelligence, researchers combed through 1,130 children’s books written in the last century, comparing two sets of diverse children’s books—one a collection of popular books that garnered major literary awards, the other favored by identity-based awards. The software analyzed data on skin tone, race, age, and gender.

Among the findings: While more characters with darker skin color begin to appear over time, the most popular books—those most frequently checked out of libraries and lining classroom bookshelves—continue to depict people of color in lighter skin tones. More insidiously, when adult characters are “moral or upstanding,” their skin color tends to appear lighter, the study’s lead author, Anjali Aduki,  told The 74 , with some books converting “Martin Luther King Jr.’s chocolate complexion to a light brown or beige.” Female characters, meanwhile, are often seen but not heard.

Cultural representations are a reflection of our values, the researchers conclude: “Inequality in representation, therefore, constitutes an explicit statement of inequality of value.”

8. The Never-Ending ‘Paper Versus Digital’ War

The argument goes like this: Digital screens turn reading into a cold and impersonal task; they’re good for information foraging, and not much more. “Real” books, meanwhile, have a heft and “tactility”  that make them intimate, enchanting—and irreplaceable.

But researchers have often found weak or equivocal evidence for the superiority of reading on paper. While a recent study concluded that paper books yielded better comprehension than e-books when many of the digital tools had been removed, the effect sizes were small. A 2021 meta-analysis further muddies the water: When digital and paper books are “mostly similar,” kids comprehend the print version more readily—but when enhancements like motion and sound “target the story content,” e-books generally have the edge.

Nostalgia is a force that every new technology must eventually confront. There’s plenty of evidence that writing with pen and paper encodes learning more deeply than typing. But new digital book formats come preloaded with powerful tools that allow readers to annotate, look up words, answer embedded questions, and share their thinking with other readers.

We may not be ready to admit it, but these are precisely the kinds of activities that drive deeper engagement, enhance comprehension, and leave us with a lasting memory of what we’ve read. The future of e-reading, despite the naysayers, remains promising.

9. New Research Makes a Powerful Case for PBL

Many classrooms today still look like they did 100 years ago, when students were preparing for factory jobs. But the world’s moved on: Modern careers demand a more sophisticated set of skills—collaboration, advanced problem-solving, and creativity, for example—and those can be difficult to teach in classrooms that rarely give students the time and space to develop those competencies.

Project-based learning (PBL) would seem like an ideal solution. But critics say PBL places too much responsibility on novice learners, ignoring the evidence about the effectiveness of direct instruction and ultimately undermining subject fluency. Advocates counter that student-centered learning and direct instruction can and should coexist in classrooms.

Now two new large-scale studies —encompassing over 6,000 students in 114 diverse schools across the nation—provide evidence that a well-structured, project-based approach boosts learning for a wide range of students.

In the studies, which were funded by Lucas Education Research, a sister division of Edutopia , elementary and high school students engaged in challenging projects that had them designing water systems for local farms, or creating toys using simple household objects to learn about gravity, friction, and force. Subsequent testing revealed notable learning gains—well above those experienced by students in traditional classrooms—and those gains seemed to raise all boats, persisting across socioeconomic class, race, and reading levels.

10. Tracking a Tumultuous Year for Teachers

The Covid-19 pandemic cast a long shadow over the lives of educators in 2021, according to a year’s worth of research.

The average teacher’s workload suddenly “spiked last spring,” wrote the Center for Reinventing Public Education in its January 2021 report, and then—in defiance of the laws of motion—simply never let up. By the fall, a RAND study recorded an astonishing shift in work habits: 24 percent of teachers reported that they were working 56 hours or more per week, compared to 5 percent pre-pandemic.

The vaccine was the promised land, but when it arrived nothing seemed to change. In an April 2021 survey  conducted four months after the first vaccine was administered in New York City, 92 percent of teachers said their jobs were more stressful than prior to the pandemic, up from 81 percent in an earlier survey.

It wasn’t just the length of the work days; a close look at the research reveals that the school system’s failure to adjust expectations was ruinous. It seemed to start with the obligations of hybrid teaching, which surfaced in Edutopia ’s coverage of overseas school reopenings. In June 2020, well before many U.S. schools reopened, we reported that hybrid teaching was an emerging problem internationally, and warned that if the “model is to work well for any period of time,” schools must “recognize and seek to reduce the workload for teachers.” Almost eight months later, a 2021 RAND study identified hybrid teaching as a primary source of teacher stress in the U.S., easily outpacing factors like the health of a high-risk loved one.

New and ever-increasing demands for tech solutions put teachers on a knife’s edge. In several important 2021 studies, researchers concluded that teachers were being pushed to adopt new technology without the “resources and equipment necessary for its correct didactic use.” Consequently, they were spending more than 20 hours a week adapting lessons for online use, and experiencing an unprecedented erosion of the boundaries between their work and home lives, leading to an unsustainable “always on” mentality. When it seemed like nothing more could be piled on—when all of the lights were blinking red—the federal government restarted standardized testing .

Change will be hard; many of the pathologies that exist in the system now predate the pandemic. But creating strict school policies that separate work from rest, eliminating the adoption of new tech tools without proper supports, distributing surveys regularly to gauge teacher well-being, and above all listening to educators to identify and confront emerging problems might be a good place to start, if the research can be believed.

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Education Dissertation Topics

Published by Grace Graffin at January 5th, 2023 , Revised On May 17, 2024

Introduction

Education as a subject helps in understanding the various learning approaches and different types of education. When you choose education as your major subject, you will be expected to develop a critical understanding of the issues surrounding education.

To choose an education dissertation topic, you can look into a wide array of topics, including public school education, holistic education, the role of ethnicity, gender and class on academic achievements, adult education, preschool and primary school education, college and university education, child development, distance learning, politics and policy in education, teacher education, and curriculum.

To help you get started with brainstorming for education topic ideas, we have developed a list of the latest topics that can be used for writing your education dissertation.

These topics have been developed by PhD-qualified writers of our team , so you can trust them to use them when drafting your dissertation.

You may also want to start your dissertation by requesting  a brief research proposal  from our writers on any of these topics, which includes an  introduction  to the topic,  research question ,  aim and objectives ,  literature review along the proposed  methodology  of research to be conducted.  Let us know  if you need any help in getting started.

Check our  dissertation examples  to get an idea of  how to structure your dissertation .

Review the full list of  dissertation topics here.

Topic 1: Investigating the impact of COVID-19 on the learning experience of the students

Research Aim: The research aims to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the learning experience of the students.

Objectives:

• To analyse the impact of Covid-19 on education delivery across schools.
• To evaluate the impact of the pandemic on teaching delivery and learning outcomes of the students.
• To investigate how the pandemic affected the learning experience of the students

Topic 2: An analysis of the impact of classroom interaction and participation on the personality development and confidence of the students.

Research Aim: The aim of the research is to analyse the impact of classroom interaction and participation on the personality development and confidence of the students.

• To analyse the importance of classroom interaction for the students and how it contributes to personal development.
• To investigate the impact of classroom participation on the confidence of the students.
• To evaluate how classroom interaction and participation impact the personality development and confidence of the students.

Topic 3: The potential use of virtual reality for educational assessment of the students.

Research Aim: The research aims to analyse the potential use of virtual reality for the educational assessment of students.

• To analyse the technologies available for student assessment across higher educational institutions.
• To evaluate the role of virtual reality in education delivery and assessment.
• To investigate how virtual reality influences the educational assessment of students to improvet their learning experience and knowledge.

Topic 4: An evaluation of the impact of the rising cost of academic education on students of lower-income backgrounds in the UK.

Research Aim: The aim of the research is to evaluate the impact of the rising cost of academic education on students of lower-income backgrounds in the UK.

• To analyse the factors impacting the affordability of higher education in the UK.
• To understand the challenges of lower-income background students in the UK.
• To investigate the impact of the rising cost of academic education on the lower-income background students in the UK and how the meritorious students can be supported.

Topic 5: An investigation into the impact of interactions among students of multiple ethnicities on the cross-cultural communication and behaviour of the pupils.

Research Aim: The aim of the research is to investigate the impact of interactions among students of multiple ethnicities on cross-cultural communication and pupil behaviourt .

• To analyse the impact of student interactions among different ethnicities.
• To determine the importance of cross-cultural communication and tolerance of the students.
• To examine the impact of interactions among students of multiple ethnicities on the cross-cultural communication and behaviour of the pupils.

Dissertation Topics in Education Dynamics

Topic 1: the need to use information and communication technology to study in public institutions in any country of your choice. a reflection on the impact of covid-19 on the education sector in the chosen country..

Research Aim: This research will focus on the lack of good information and communication technology equipment in public institutions of study and the need to find the education sector to meet the new standard of learning in work. It will also analyse the pandemic’s impact on students in public institutions at home throughout the pandemic without any academic activities.

Topic 2: The fear of maintaining social distancing in schools

Research Aim: This research aims to evaluate the fear of maintaining social distancing in schools. It will also suggest possible solutions to minimise the fear of parents, educators, and students.

Topic 3: Online Education- Increased screen time or quality education

Research Aim: This research aims to identify whether online education exposes students to increased screen time or quality education.

Topic 4: The emergence of coding courses for young children and their cognitive development and age. A comparative study.

Research Aim: This research aims to identify how far coding education is beneficial for children. What sort of positive and negative consequences are concerned with the future of young children with their access to such kind of advanced technology?

Topic 5: Data science and growing opportunities for data scientists

Research Aim: This research will focus on identifying the emergence of degrees and courses in data science, their importance, and growing opportunities for data scientists. Who can become a data scientist? What is its career scope?

Covid-19 Education Topics 

Impacts of coronavirus on education.

Research Aim: This study aims to review the impacts of Coronavirus on education.

Online educational programs to educate students during COVID-19

Research Aim: The widespread Coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown have disrupted the education of many students, including school, college, and university levels. This study will identify the online programs offered through various platforms, schools, colleges, and universities. It will discuss how students can have access to these courses and how it will benefit them.

Impact of COVID-19 on educational institutes

Research Aim: This study will focus on identifying the impacts of COVID-19 on educational institutes. What steps can be taken to ensure a safe environment for the students and teaching staff?

Role of teachers and professors during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Research Aim: This study will focus on the contribution of teachers, professors, and institutions in providing education. What challenges are they facing? What would be the possible ways to improve the current education system?

The future of education post Coronavirus pandemic.

Research Aim: This study will collect information about current education methods during the pandemic and predict the future of education after the coronavirus pandemic.

Topic C1: How the Coronavirus pandemic is reshaping education?

Research Aim: Coronavirus has offered a stark reminder of the very human nature of schools. Students have leapt into online learning but cannot wait to get back into her building. Being online, I don’t think you really get a true sense of whether a student is really engaged and has a proper understanding. This study will aim to understand the extent to which the coronavirus pandemic is reshaping education.

Topic C2: How Coronavirus could affect the well-being of people with intellectual disabilities

Research Aim: We are all feeling more anxious than usual. We may be worried about accessing food and services, going to work, enduring self-isolation, or catching COVID-19. While some anxiety is normal, some of us may be more resilient to changes in our routines and the general uncertainty the world is experiencing. But for the 1.5 million people in the UK with an intellectual disability, these effects may be much greater. This research will aim to establish how Coronavirus could affect the wellbeing of people with intellectual disabilities.

Topic C3: The impact of the 2019–20 Coronavirus pandemic on education

Research Aim: The 2019–20 Coronavirus pandemic has affected educational systems worldwide, leading to the widespread closures of schools and universities. As of 28 March 2020, over 1.7 billion learners were out of school due to school closures in response to COVID-19. According to UNESCO monitoring, over 100 countries have implemented nationwide closures, impacting nearly 90% of the world’s student population. This research will explore the impact of the 2019–20 Coronavirus pandemic on education.

Topic C4: What actions are being taken by universities in response to Coronavirus?

Research Aim: We have seen a growing number of decisions by universities to start implementing social distancing strategies, such as moving to more online teaching delivery and increasing homework by staff. At present, there is no government advice to universities about this. Therefore any operational decision by individual universities must be based on their local circumstances, which vary for various reasons. This research will examine some of the measures we see across the universities in response to the pandemic.

Topic C5: The impact of Coronavirus on international students and the response from universities

Research Aim: This research will explore the impact of Coronavirus on international students and the response from universities.

The Best Education Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: a comparison of wonderlic tests and standardised tests as means to assess academic performance..

Research Aim: Although there are many techniques and methods for assessing academic performance, this research will focus on the comparative analysis of Wonderlic and standardised tests. In the end, the research will conclude which approach would be better in different academic situations.

Topic 2: The theory and practice of educational games as a means to promote better learning.

Research Aim: In recent times, many pieces of research have focused on identifying different learning approaches to provide quality education. This research will analyse the concept of educational games for young children to promote and improve the learning mechanisms.

Topic 3: The impact of learning ability of a child: A case study of kindergarten students

Research Aim: With the emergence of technological advancements, many organisations, including education institutes, have started embracing innovative technologies. The main purpose of these advancements is to improvise the different ways of education. This research will focus on how the use of smart technology has improved the learning ability of kindergarten students.

Topic 4: Comparing and analysing the teaching approaches and mechanisms of privately owned schools and public school: Case of developing countries

Research Aim: Due to the rise of capitalist economies, many institutions have developed unique mechanisms to improve business operations and sales. The same is the case with educational institutes. However, the teaching mechanism and approach for private schools have been more effective than public schools. Therefore, this research will critically analyse the teaching approaches and mechanisms of privately owned schools and public schools and compare and analyse their teaching approaches.

Topic 5: Analysing the current curricular development of K12 students and how it can be linked with current economic issues

Research Aim: It has been found that the curriculum of the majority of educational institutes has become obsolete and monotonous. In other words, students are not being taught current affairs and the latest knowledge with respect to technology, etc. Therefore, the main aim of this research will be to analyse the current curricular development of K12 students and how it can be moulded to reflect the true economic conditions and issues of society.

Early Childhood Education Dissertation Topics

Early childhood education in the UK and many other countries refers to any form of education that children between 2 and 6 years obtain. Some early childhood education dissertation topics are listed below:

Topic 6: The effectiveness and implementation of early childhood education curriculum interventions

Research Aim: This research will discuss how effective curriculum interventions have been in early childhood education and how they can be effectively implemented.

Topic 7: Linking theory to practice and back again: The use of collaborative enquiry and video documentation to facilitate critical thinking in preservice teacher education

Research Aim: This research will provide theoretical and practical evidence to establish how collaboration inquiry and video documentation effectively affect critical thinking in preservice education.

Topic 8: Improving early childhood literacy development and English education through the use of multiple media tools

Research Aim: This research will analyse how effective medical tools are in early childhood education.

Topic 9: Supporting emergent literacy at the preschool level through the use of technology.

Research Aim: This research will present how supportive technology can be for emergent literacy at the preschool level.

Topic 10: Merging multimodality, technology, and literacy in the era of kindergarten digital storytelling

Research Aim: This research will explore the effectiveness of multimodality, literacy, and technology in today’s era of kindergarten storytelling.

Topic 11: Computer-based reading program with at-risk pre-kindergarten students

Research Aim: This research will discuss how computer-based reading programs are at risk with pre-kindergarten students.

Topic 12: Pre-school educational settings and the nature of children’s leadership

Research Aim: This research will analyse how educational settings in preschool help develop leadership skills in children.

Topic 13: How urban students’ academic accomplishments can be influenced by a school district’s preschool education policies

Research Aim: This research will discuss the academic accomplishments of children and how educational policies influence them.

Topic 14: Investigating the relationship between kindergarten achievement and classroom quality

Research Aim: This study will investigate the relationship between kindergarten students’ achievement and education quality.

Topic 15: Creating efficient learning environments to facilitate the process of early childhood education

Research Aim: This research will understand the learning environments that facilitate the process of childhood education.

Elementary Education Dissertation Topics

In the United Kingdom and other developed regions of the world, elementary education is the first level of compulsory education that children between the ages of 6 and 13 years obtain.

Primary or elementary education helps establish history, geography, mathematics, science, and other social sciences. In some countries, basic sexual education is also part of the elementary education curriculum. Some important primary education issues to explore are listed below:

Topic 16: Establishing the factors inhibiting and enhancing elementary school children’s creativity

Research Aim: This research will discuss the factors that help enhance children’s creativity in elementary school.

Topic 17: Developing life skills in elementary school pupils in the United Kingdom (or any other country of your choice)

Research Aim: This research will explore how life skills are developed in elementary school in the UK. (Country can be changed according to your choosing)

Topic 18: Monitoring and evaluating instruction in private elementary schools in China from the perspective of headteachers and teachers.

Topic 19: including children with special educational needs in a mainstream elementary educational institute – a case study of any elementary school.

Research Aim: This research will discuss inclusive education, i.e. including special needs students in elementary school. You are free to choose the school of your choice.

Topic 20: Implementing inclusive education in elementary/primary schools in Australia – The challenges and opportunities

Research Aim: This research will discuss the challenges and opportunities of implementing inclusive education in Australian elementary schools.

Topic 21: Classroom evaluation in England – Teachers’ practices and perceptions in Maths

Research Aim: This research will evaluate a typical classroom in England. It will assess the practices adopted by math teachers in elementary school.

Topic 22: Integrating outdoor learning activities with elementary curriculum in the United Kingdom

Research Aim: This research will analyse the results of integrating outdoor learning activities with curriculum activities.

Topic 23: Investigating the use of technology in elementary school physical education

Research Aim: This research will investigate and analyse the use of technology in elementary school physical education.

Topic 24: Investigating the impact of the age of information on current courses taught in primary school

Research Aim: This research will investigate the impact of information on courses taught in primary school.

Topic 25: Should primary schools allow their students to study more independently to achieve improved performance?

Research Aim: This research will assess whether elementary school students should be allowed to study independently and its impacts.

Read More About   Elementary Education / Primary Education

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ResearchProspect writers can send several custom topic ideas to your email address. Once you have chosen a topic that suits your needs and interests, you can order for our dissertation outline service , which will include a brief introduction to the topic, research questions , literature review , methodology , expected results , and conclusion . The dissertation outline will enable you to review the quality of our work before placing the order for our full dissertation writing service !

Secondary Education Dissertation Topics

Secondary school education primarily covers formal education obtained by pupils between 13 and 18 years. Secondary education is compulsory in most countries, including the United Kingdom, and it may be taught in the form of Ordinary Levels, Advanced Levels, and SSC and HSC exams.

There is a wide array of research areas to be explored in this field of study, and any of the following research topics could be selected for your education dissertation.

Topic 26: Investigating the impact of teacher education on secondary education in the European Union

Research Aim: This research will investigate how secondary education in the EU is impacted by teacher education.

Topic 27: Investigating the impact of secondary school dual enrolment course participation on pupils’ academic accomplishments

Research Aim: This research will investigate the impact of dual course enrolment and its impact on academic accomplishments in secondary school.

Topic 28: The role of sustainability in learning and teaching in secondary schools to transform the soul of education

Research Aim: This study will explore the role of sustainable learning and teaching in secondary school, and it helps transform the soul of education.

Topic 29: Investigating secondary school teachers’ thinking in a professional development project

Research Aim: This research will analyse the teachers’ thinking with the help of a professional development project.

Topic 30: Betraying the college dream: How student aspirations are undermined by the disconnected post-secondary and K-12 education systems

Research Aim: The post-secondary schooling and K-12 education systems are misaligned. Thus, this research will investigate how this adversely impacts students, and as a result, more and more students are giving up on their college dreams.

Topic 31: Analysing supply & demand in light of the rising cost of secondary education

Research Aim: This research will assess and analyse the rising cost of education and its impact on the supply and demand for education.

Topic 32: To study the use of instructional and information technologies in teacher training in secondary schools and colleges in the United Kingdom

Research Aim: This research will study the use of technologies in teacher training and how they impact secondary education in the UK.

Topic 33: Should secondary school teachers emphasise today’s demanding issues such as energy conservation, sustainability, and environmental protection?

Research Aim: This research will study whether or not teachers should emphasise current issues like energy preservation, sustainability, and environmental protection.

Topic 34: How can religious and racial tolerance increase among pupils by reintroducing religious education in the secondary schooling system?

Research Aim: This research will explore whether introducing religious education in secondary education helps decrease religious and racial intolerance.

Topic 35: To investigate the benefits of teaching business management and entrepreneurship-related courses to secondary school students over social science courses.

Research Aim:  This research will study the uses and benefits of teaching business management and entrepreneurship at the secondary schooling level.  Read More About   Secondary Education

Higher Education Dissertation Topics

Higher education or college/university education covers the formal education available to college, undergraduate and postgraduate students. Some interesting higher education dissertation topics are listed below.

Topic 36: International mobility of graduate and undergraduate students of mathematics, engineering, technology and science; Push and Pull Factors

Research Aim: This research will study and analyse the push and pull factors that impact the graduate and undergraduate students’ choice of university.

Topic 37: International graduate students and their decisions to stay or leave the US; The decisive factors

Research Aim: This study will explore the factors that lead students to decide whether they should stay or leave their universities in the US.

Topic 38: Aligning higher education to labour market requirements in the UK

Research Aim: This research will assess whether higher education in the UK should be aligned with the labour  market requirements or not.

Topic 39: Internationalisation drivers, obstacles and rationales: A case study of any higher education institute in the UK

Research Aim: This research will analyse the internationalisation drivers, obstacles, and rationales of higher education institutes in the UK.

Topic 40: An investigation into the governance systems of academic planning in both private and public sector higher education institutes

Research Aim: This research will investigate the governance systems of academic planning in both, private and public higher education institutes.

Topic 41: Higher education system: Should all universities follow the same education pattern?

Research Aim: This research will explore whether every university should follow the same educational pattern.

Topic 42: Evaluating teaching quality in higher education schools from students’ perspective

Research Aim: This research will evaluate the performance of teachers based on students’ perspectives. Suggestions will be provided as to how it should be improved.

Topic 43: Identify the factors affecting student mobility in Europe – The quality aspect

Research Aim: This research will explore the factors that impact student mobility in Europe.

Topic 44: Assessing and Evaluating the Impact of Hiring, Firing and Retiring Professors in Higher Education System on Students

Research Aim: This research will evaluate the various impacts of hiring, firing and retiring professors in the higher education system on students.

Topic 45: Do university graduates perform better than those who do not obtain formal education but have practical work experience?

Research Aim: This research will evaluate and assess the performance of two sets of students. First, university graduates, second, will be those who have no formal education but have practical work experience.  Also Read:   Fashion and Culture Dissertation Topics

Teaching Method Dissertation Topics

The role of primary, secondary or higher education teachers is highly important, particularly considering the ever-increasing need to provide a growth-oriented academic environment to students. Some interesting teaching method dissertation research topics are listed below.

Topic 46: The influence of teaching methods on students’ academic success and achievements

Research Aim: This research will explore the influence of teaching methods on students’ academic success and achievements.

Topic 47: A Transactional Method to Learning and Teaching in an English Language Arts Methodologies Conference

Research Aim: This study will explore the transactional learning and teaching method in an English language arts methodologies conference.

Topic 48: How the effect of constructivist teaching methods can largely influence the algebraic understanding of primary and secondary school students

Research Aim: This research will understand how constructivist teaching methods affect primary and secondary school students.

Topic 49: Student learning of DNA and the effect of teaching methods

Research Aim: This research will study the impact of various teaching methods on students.

Topic 50: Teaching English through conventional and direct approaches – A qualitative study

Research Aim: This will be a qualitative study that will help assess the teaching of English as a subject through direct and conventional approaches.

Topic 51: Investigating the relationships of teachers’ pedagogical beliefs, knowledge and efficiency: A multimethod approach

Research Aim: This research will investigate the relationship between teachers’ pedagogical beliefs, efficiency, and knowledge.

Topic 52: Exploring the benefits of employing the Socratic methodology as an approach to learning

Research Aim: This research will investigate the benefits of the Socratic method of learning approach.

Topic 53: The benefits of introducing mathematics software to higher education mathematics teachers

Research Aim: This study will explore the benefits of introducing mathematics software to higher education math teachers.

Topic 54: The increasing importance of teachers training taking into consideration various threats to students such as weapons and drugs

Research Aim: This research will understand the importance of teachers’ training with respect to threats such as drugs and weapons.

Topic 55: Are the teachers more prone to violence at the hands of their students as compared to the past: How the profession of teaching has evolved over the last twenty years

Research Aim: Purpose: This research will compare the teaching profession in the past twenty years and will conclude on how it has changed.  Read More About:   Teaching Methods in the UK

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Education Leadership and Policy Studies Dissertation Topics

The role of leadership, politics, and policies cannot be overlooked. Education leadership and policy studies have two main roots, including organisational theory and political science. This may be an interesting area of research for your educational dissertation.

Topic 56: Implementing educational change in failing middle schools through examination of one’s fundamental leadership procedures and processes

Research Aim: This research will explore the impact of implementing educational change in failing middle schools by examining leadership procedures at the institutes.

Topic 57: Historical background and development of co-curricular transcripts

Research Aim: This research will date back to history and explore how co-curricular transcripts were developed, and will compare them to today’s processes.

Topic 58: Evaluating the self-efficiency of high-performing first-generation university students

Research Aim: This research will evaluate the self-efficiency of high performing university students.

Topic 59: The influence of spiritual growth on leadership development of college and university students

Research Aim: This research will explore the influence of spiritual growth on the leadership skills development of university students.

Topic 60: The peril and power of globalisation: The Higher education, the World Bank, and the Global Knowledge Economy

Research Aim: This research will focus on the globalisation aspect of education and will talk about how it has been impacted.

Topic 61: The self-reported impact of instructional coaching on middle school teachers’ practices

Research Aim: This research will investigate the impact of instructional coaching on middle school teachers’ practices.

Topic 62: An investigation into the policies designed to address bullying in schools of the UK: The beliefs, opinions and perceptions of teachers and principals

Research Aim: This research will explore in-depth the policies that are designed to address and eliminate bullying in UK schools.

Topic 63: Investigating the causes of under-representation of black students in advanced placement courses in the USA

Research Aim: This research will explore the racial issues in the educational system of the US, i.e. underrepresentation of black students.

Topic 64: Lecture note-taking skills of adolescents with and without learning disabilities

Research Aim: This research will understand the note-taking skills of adolescents and how they differ with respect to learning.

Topic 65: A qualitative study to evaluate the educational policies in the UK

Research Aim:  This study will assess and evaluate the various educational policies in the UK.  Read More About:  Courses About International Education Leadership And Policy

Adult Education Dissertation Topics

Vocation-based or professional adult education has gained tremendous popularity in the academic world over the last couple of decades. Here is a wide range of research topics within this field of study to base your dissertation on.

Topic 66: Investing social and personal benefits and costs of basic adult education from students’ perspective

Research Aim: This research will investigate the social and personal benefits and costs of basic adult education.

Topic 67: The perception of adult learners regarding their satisfaction with their educational experiences

Research Aim: This research will explore the perception of adult learners regarding their educational experiences.

Topic 68: Use of bounded agency approach to promoting participation in adult education programmes

Research Aim: This research will discuss the bounded agency approach to promote participation in adult education programs.

Topic 69: A psychoanalytic investigation to explore adult teaching and learning theory

Research Aim: This research will conduct a psychoanalytic investigation in order to explore adult teaching and learning.

Topic 70: Comparing the perception of adult learners in face-to-face and online courses

Research Aim: This research will compare the perception of adult learners in online and face to face courses.

Topic 71: Use of Hatcher-Assagioli Synthesis to analyse practices, principles, and goals for community-based adult education

Research Aim: This research will utilise Hatcher Assagioli Synthesis to analyse community-based education practices, principles, and goals.

Topic 72: A review of the UK government spending on adult education over the last two decades

Research Aim: This research will review the UK government’s spending on adult education for two decades.

Topic 73: The relationship between unemployment and government funding for adult education – A quantitative analysis

Research Aim: This research will explore the relationship between government funding and unemployment for adult education.

Topic 74: The impact of entrepreneurship, wealth building and personal finance-related courses in adult education

Research Aim: This study will study the impact of courses like entrepreneurship, personal finance et. For adult education.

Topic 75: Frequent career changes over working life and the increasing importance of adult education in today’s world

Research Aim: This research will assess the importance of adult education and how it influences students to change their career choices frequently.

Private School Education Dissertation Topics

Private schools have become a large profit-making industry in both the developed and developing world. More and more parents want to send their children to private schools even though the expenses associated with private education are constantly on the rise. Following are some suggestions for your education dissertation research:

Topic 76: Evaluating the effectiveness of management in private schools in the UAE

Research Aim: This research will evaluate the effectiveness of private school management in the UAE.

Topic 77: To study the level of cooperation between home schools, public schools and private schools in the United Kingdom

Research Aim: This research will explore the cooperation level in home schools, and private and public schools in the UK.

Topic 78: A qualitative analysis to determine the causes of why parents choose to send their children to private schools in South Asian countries

Research Aim: This research will conduct qualitative analysis to determine why parents send their children to private schools in Asia.

Topic 79: Investigating the policies concerning the fee structure of private schools in Shanghai

Research Aim: This research will investigate the various policies that concern the fee structure of private Shanghai schools.

Topic 80: An empirical analysis of the impacts of the universal primary education policies on educational performances in South Asia

Research Aim: This research will conduct an empirical analysis to understand the impact of universal primary education policies on educational performance in the South Asian region.

Topic 81: Use of information technology and teaching tools in private schools in the UK

Research Aim: This research will explore the use of technology in private schools and assess its effectiveness.

Topic 82: Schooling for money – The Impact of the Profit motive on Swiss Educational Reform

Research Aim: This research will study the Swiss educational reform and its impact on the system.

Topic 83: Challenges and experiences of children with disabilities in private schools in India

Research Aim: This research will evaluate the challenges and experiences of children with disabilities in Indian schools.

Topic 84: Why are private school students considered to have the edge over public schools – A qualitative study

Research Aim: This will be a qualitative study on why private school students are preferred over public school students.

Topic 85: Emphasis on personality formation and character in private schools – Are private school students more competitive than public school students?

Research Aim:  This research will study the personality formation and character building of private school students.  Read More About   Private School Fee Increase for First Time.

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Public School Education Dissertation Topics

Most schools in the developed world are publicly funded, offering elementary, secondary, and higher education. There is a wide array of topics of research under this field of study that can be explored. Some of them are suggested below:

Exploring the Funding of Public Schools – How they can be improved. This research will explore the ways through which public schools are funded and will study what can be done to improve them.

Topic 86: Investigating the impact of teacher leadership in public schools in the UK

Research Aim: This research will study the impact of teacher leadership in UK public schools.

Topic 87: Is it true that public schools are better able to prepare their students to face the challenges of the real world as compared to private schools

Research Aim: This research will explore a common misconception that public school students are better prepared to face real-world challenges than private school students.

Topic 88: Can publicly-funded religious schools help to counter radicalisation and terrorism?

Research Aim: This study will explore an important topic, i.e. can terrorism and radicalisation be countered with public funding of schools.

Topic 89: Encouraging values and morals in the younger generation by reintroducing religious education in public schools in the UK

Research Aim: This research will study how reintroducing religious education help encourage values and morals in the younger generation in the UK.

Topic 90: Healthy eating habits and the role of public schools offering courses such as meal choice, cooking and home economics

Research Aim: This research will explore the benefits of cooking and home economic courses and promote healthy eating.

Topic 91: How public school students can be encouraged to participate in sporting activities?

Research Aim: This research will assess how public school students can be encouraged to participate in sporting activities.

Topic 92: The perception of special education administrators on the use of paraprofessionals in the education of students with disabilities

Topic 93: the perception of special education administrators on the use of paraprofessionals in the education of students with disabilities.

Research Aim: This research will discuss special education administrators and how they help offer quality education to disabled students.

Topic 94: Educating students with disabilities and the beliefs of public school principals

Research Aim: This research will explore the beliefs of public school principals and how these beliefs help offer quality education to disabled students.

Topic 95: Advanced teaching tools in public school classrooms – How they Help Improve Quality Education

Research Aim:  This research will explore how quality education is provided by implementing innovative technology in classrooms.

Read More About   Public Schools in the UK

Home Schooling Dissertation Topics

Homeschooling is a highly growing educational phenomenon in developed countries. Any form of education that children obtain within their home setting under the supervision of their parents/adults is classified as homeschooling. Some interesting home school dissertation topics are suggested below:

Topic 96: A qualitative study to understand the significance of the role of information technology in homeschooling

Research Aim: This research will assess the importance of information technology for homeschooling through qualitative research.

Topic 97: The advantages and disadvantages of home schooling – Do home children perform with the top private and public school students?

Research Aim: This research will assess the pros and cons of home-schooling. It will also assess the performance of home schooled-students as compared to private and public school students.

Topic 98: A qualitative analysis of socialisation and academic accomplishments among home schooled university students

Research Aim: This research will be a qualitative analysis with respect to socialisation and academic accomplishments with respect to home schooled university students.

Topic 99: Factors motivating students to choose home schooling over conventional schooling systems

Research Aim: This study will explore the factors that motivate students to opt for homeschooling over the conventional schooling system.

Topic 100: A qualitative study to understand the parental motivation for home-schooling

Research Aim: This will be a qualitative study to assess the parental motivation to home-school their children.

Topic 101: Are partnerships available in homeschooling? Exploring their Effectiveness

Research Aim: This research will explore whether partnerships are available in homeschooling or not and how beneficial they prove to be.

Topic 102: A qualitative analysis to understand the educational beliefs of home schooled pupils and their parents

Research Aim: This research will conduct a qualitative analysis to assess the educational beliefs of homeschooled students and their parents.

Topic 103: A qualitative analysis of the relationship between financial literacy and homeschooling

Research Aim: This research will assess whether there is a relationship between homeschooling and financial literacy or not.

Topic 104: The duties and responsibilities of parents concerning the homeschooling of their children

Research Aim: This research will explore the duties and responsibilities of parents with respect to the homeschooling of their children.

Topic 105: Do Homeschool Children Develop Personalities and Characters Like Private and Public Schooled Children?

Research Aim: This research will explore whether homeschooled children build strong character and confident personalities just like private and public schooled students or not.

Latest Education Dissertation Topics

• A Comparative Study on the Impact of Technology Integration on Student Learning Outcomes
• The Role of Teacher Feedback in Student Academic Achievement
• Efficacy of Differentiated Instruction in Diverse Classroom Settings
• Influence of Socioeconomic Factors on Educational Attainment
• Investigating the Effectiveness of Inquiry-Based Learning in Science Education
• Promoting Critical Thinking Skills Through Literature-Based Instruction
• Examining the Relationship Between Parental Involvement and Student Success
• Implementing Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Urban Schools
• The Impact of Early Childhood Education Programs on Long-Term Academic Success
• The Effects of Gender Bias in Classroom Interactions on Student Achievement
• Impact of School Climate on Student Well-being and Academic Performance
• The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Teacher Effectiveness
• The Influence of Motivation on Student Engagement and Achievement
• The Impact of Peer Tutoring on Academic Achievement in Mathematics
• Exploring the Relationship Between Student-Teacher Rapport and Classroom Behaviour

Simple Ordering Process

A system that works for everyone, important notes:.

As a student of education looking to get good grades, it is essential to develop new ideas and experiment with existing education theories – i.e., to add value and interest to your research topic.

The field of education is vast and interrelated with so many other academic disciplines. That is why creating an education dissertation topic that is particular, sound, and actually solves a practical problem that may be rampant in the field is imperative.

We can’t stress how important it is to develop a logical research topic; it is the basis of your entire research. There are several significant downfalls to getting your topic wrong; your supervisor may not be interested in working on it, the topic has no academic creditability, the research may not make logical sense, and there is a possibility that the study is not viable.

This impacts your time and efforts in  writing your dissertation , as you may end up in a cycle of rejection at the very initial stage of the dissertation. That is why we recommend reviewing existing research to develop a topic, taking advice from your supervisor, and even asking for help in this particular stage of your dissertation.

While developing a research topic, keeping our advice in mind will allow you to pick one of the best education dissertation topics that fulfils your requirement of writing a research paper and add to the body of knowledge.

Therefore, it is recommended that when finalizing your dissertation topic, you read recently published literature to identify gaps in the research that you may help fill.

Remember- dissertation topics need to be unique, solve an identified problem, be logical, and be practically implemented. Take a look at some of our sample education dissertation topics to get an idea for your own dissertation.

How to Structure Your Education Dissertation

A well-structured   dissertation can help students   to achieve a high overall academic grade.

• A Title Page
• Acknowledgements
• Declaration
• Abstract: A summary of the research completed
• Table of Contents
• Introduction : This chapter includes the project rationale, research background, key research aims and objectives, and the research problems. An outline of the structure of a dissertation can also be added to this chapter.
• Literature Review :  This chapter presents relevant theories and frameworks by analysing published and unpublished literature available on the chosen research topic in light of research questions to be addressed. The purpose is to highlight and discuss the relative weaknesses and strengths of the selected research area while identifying any research gaps. A breakdown of the topic and key terms can positively impact your dissertation and your tutor.
• Methodology: The  data collection  and  analysis methods and techniques employed by the researcher are presented in the Methodology chapter, which usually includes  research design, research philosophy, research limitations, code of conduct, ethical consideration, data collection methods, and  data analysis strategy .
• Findings and Analysis: The findings  of the research are analysed in detail under the Findings and Analysis chapter. All key findings/results are outlined in this chapter without interpreting the data or drawing any conclusions. It can be useful to include  graphs ,  charts, and  tables in this chapter to identify meaningful trends and relationships.
• Discussion and  Conclusion: The researcher presents his interpretation of the results in this chapter and states whether the research hypothesis has been verified or not. An essential aspect of this section is to establish the link between the results and evidence from the literature. Recommendations with regard to the implications of the findings and directions for the future may also be provided. Finally, a summary of the overall research, along with final judgments, opinions, and comments, must be included in the form of suggestions for improvement.
• References:  Make sure to complete this in accordance with your University’s requirements
• Bibliography
• Appendices: Any additional information, diagrams, and graphs used to complete the dissertation  but not part of the dissertation should be included in the Appendices chapter. Essentially, the purpose is to expand the information/data.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How to find education dissertation topics.

To find education dissertation topics:

• Research recent educational issues.
• Explore curriculum gaps or innovations.
• Investigate teaching methods.
• Analyse student learning challenges.
• Consider policy or technology impacts.
• Select a topic aligning with your passion and research goals.

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Education, PhD

School of education.

The overarching goal of the School of Education’s PhD in Education program is to develop scholars who will have advanced research skills for improving education practice, with specific emphases on policy analysis and education improvement. The program strives to prepare candidates that are equipped to:

• meet the myriad challenges associated with systemic education change;
• apply exceptional content area expertise contextualized within a comprehensive multidisciplinary frame of reference;
• successfully bridge the theory and research to evidence-based practice gap;
• be actively involved in public policy development and evaluation;
• conduct research on complex databases linking educational practices to student outcomes, or lead laboratory- or school-based research programs that inform efforts to improve educational practices and student outcomes; and
• develop national models of educational practice that guide curriculum development and educator preparation.

For Program updates and more information, please visit  https://education.jhu.edu/academics/phd/

Admission Requirements

At minimum, applicants to the PhD program should hold a master’s degree from an accredited college or university. Previous degrees must document outstanding academic achievement in an area of study closely associated with the objectives of the program. Applicants must submit the online admission application form, application fee, and official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended. If the earned degree or credit is from an educational institution abroad, the candidate’s academic record must be evaluated by a credential evaluation agency before consideration for admission. Applicants are required to earn superior scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) (taken within the past five years), present acceptable TOEFL or IELTS scores (if an international student), and demonstrate potential to become top scholars. Additionally, applicants are required to submit a curriculum vitae, a personal statement (outlining professional plans, goals, and expectations related to the PhD program), dispositions survey, and three letters of reference affirming the applicant’s qualifications for advanced graduate study and potential for professional development in the field. Selected applicants who meet the entrance requirements will be invited to interview with the doctoral admissions committee.

Program Requirements

Program structure and requirements.

Program requirements include earning a minimum of 72 graduate credits taken at the doctoral level at Johns Hopkins University. While the program will be tailored to the specific learning needs of each student, it includes the following coursework components:

• ED.855.725 Research Landscape*
• ED.883.812 Data Workflow*
• ED.883.601  Basic and Inferential Statistics*
• *indicates a required course
• ED.855.815 Science of Learning*
• ED.855.764 Schools in Society*
• ED.855.835 Socio-Cultural Perspectives*
• ED.855.723 Education Policy Practicum*
• ED.855.855  Research Proseminar^
• ED.855.854 Practice Proseminar
• ED.855.852 Research Practicum^
• ED.883.723 Hierarchical Linear Models^
• ED.883.711  Qualitative Research Methodology^
• ED.855.853 Savvy Surveys^
• ED.855.704 Economics of Education
• ED.855.701 Introduction to Causal Inference^
• ED.855.702 Casual Inference When Regression Fails^
• ED.855.840 Doctoral Research
• ^indicates a research elective
• Dissertation Research (18 credit hours)

In addition to successfully completing all the coursework requirements, candidates must also satisfy the following program benchmarks:

• Research progress
• Written and oral comprehensive examinations
• Dissertation proposal oral examination
• Graduate Board oral examination
• Final dissertation exam

Each student will receive an annual written evaluation from the School of Education’s Doctoral Studies Committee detailing their progress in meeting the required benchmarks at the end of each spring semester.

All School of Education PhD students will devote at least four years to full-time study and research as a resident student. This period of time will provide opportunity for full engagement and participation in the academic community and allow students to develop and demonstrate the scholarly capabilities required of the degree. The typical program of study is eight semesters, with six semesters devoted to coursework and research/teaching intensive experiences and two semesters devoted primarily to independent dissertation research. Students will typically enroll in 12 hours per semester for the first three years of their program and 9 hours per semester during the fourth year of their program, for a total of 90 credit hours. All students are expected to maintain enrollment as full-time graduate students over the course of the program. With the approval of their major adviser and director of the PhD program, students may transfer up to 12 credit hours of previously completed graduate-level coursework to substitute for selected required courses in the program.

Typically, each year four-to-eight PhD students will be admitted each year to begin classes in the fall semester. The majority of required courses will be delivered on the Baltimore Homewood campus in a face-to-face format, although students may (with approval) enroll in selected elective courses in divisions throughout the university.

Students must complete qualifying exams after completing two years of study. The successful completion of the written documents and oral defense of those documents allows the student to proceed to the dissertation proposal.

Dissertation

The program is designed as an apprenticeship model leading to a traditional research dissertation. The expectation is that students will be developing the skills and background knowledge throughout the program required to pursue a traditional research dissertation. Although the dissertation is not part of the formal coursework, the program is designed to put a student on track to develop an area of expertise as the foundation for an independent research project directed by the adviser. Students are expected to complete and defend a dissertation proposal by the end of the third year of study and use the final year of the program to complete and defend the dissertation. The dissertation is expected to demonstrate mastery of the relevant literature and scholarship in the collection and interpretation of data. The work should be appropriate for publication in high impact journals in the student’s area of expertise. The dissertation will be presented at a final oral defense before the student’s Dissertation Advisory Committee.

Note: Full tuition assistance and annual stipends are available to support selected outstanding candidates . For more information about the PhD program, please visit https://education.jhu.edu/academics/phd/ .

Learning Outcomes

Program goals.

Graduates will be prepared to fill faculty and research scientist positions at research-intensive universities or secure positions at research institutes and centers that conduct and manage large-scale education-based evaluations. Upon successful program completion we expect that graduates will:

• Be prepared for employment in research/faculty positions at top-tier research institutions.
• Contribute to the interdisciplinary public discourse on education improvement.
• Engage in and promote evidence-based practices through the application of rigorous methodology.
• Link education research to policy and practice.
• Provide leadership in the field by developing an independent line of ethical and culturally responsive research.
• Contribute to development of the next generation of scholars.
• Be able to influence school policy and reform.

College of Education and Human Development

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

STEM education

The PhD in STEM education is interdisciplinary across STEM fields. Students pursuing this degree will choose an area of emphasis in one of four specializations—science, mathematics, engineering, or agriculture—while simultaneously participating in scholarly work that spans all areas of STEM education. This integrated style of study is one of the first in the nation, and is designed to prepare scholars to conduct thoughtful disciplinary and interdisciplinary research in STEM education in order to assume roles as university faculty members, educational leaders, policymakers, and researchers.

This program emphasizes: 

• K-12 STEM integration 
• Teacher preparation and professional development 
• Equity and social justice 
• Research on K-12 and higher education teaching and learning

Quote from Felicia Leammukda

I chose the University of Minnesota because I wanted to work with a diverse population of students and develop a curriculum that would fit the needs of a differentiated classroom. The grant I was first assigned to allowed me to do both those things. Felicia Leammukda PhD candidate 2019

Mathematics specialization

Mathematics education faculty spend significant time in K-12 schools, collaborating with teachers, and conducting research to improve mathematics curricula and pedagogy. Coursework and research in this field emphasizes both: 

• Mathematics teacher preparation 
• Mathematical knowledge for teaching 
• Practice-based teacher education 
• Teaching and learning rational numbers and fractions in grades 4-8 
• Identifying strategies to increase underrepresented student achievement 
• Math in urban classrooms 

Agricultural specialization

This is a research-oriented program that will prepare students for university faculty positions, public and corporate leadership roles in education, natural resource management, extension education, international development, and many other professional careers in agriculture and life sciences. 

Career outlook

Graduates of the program have assumed positions as university faculty, instructional leaders in the public schools, curriculum developmental specialists, and assessment specialists. 

Some recent graduates have gone on to the following positions: 

• Assistant Professor, Teacher Education, St. Thomas University 
• Assistant Professor, University of Idaho
• Visiting Assistant Professor at Carleton College 
• Assistant Professor of Science Education at Iowa State University 
• Assistant Professor, Purdue University 
• Assistant Professor of Natural Sciences at Metropolitan State University 
• Coordinator of Science and Mathematics, St. Cloud Public Schools 
• STEM Coordinator, Owatonna Public Schools 

Science specialization

This includes both science and environmental education in PK-12 settings, at the college level, and in informal and adult settings. Focus areas of research include: 

• Pre-service and in-service science teacher education and induction and mentoring of beginning science teachers
• Design and implementation of K-16 curricula 
• Environmental education 
• Integrated STEM education 

Engineering specialization

Engineering education is an emerging research discipline that spans pioneering work in how engineering concepts are introduced, learned and effectively taught at the K-12 level. Connect with students and faculty in the University of Minnesota's College of Science and Engineering . Be challenged by the rigors of the engineering field and the complexities of integrating and evaluating engineering curricula in both formal and informal settings. 

PhD curriculum

The PhD in STEM includes a core curriculum and four specializations to choose from depending on your research interests. Students will complete 51 course credits and 24 thesis credits for 78 in total. To view the curriculum requirements in detail visit the Education, Curriculum, and Instruction PhD page in the course catalog,  go to Requirements, go to program subplan, scroll down to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education.

Research opportunities

Students can engage in research that advances the field of STEM education and ties into their area of interest. Faculty work closely with each student to achieve research and educational goals and improve educational opportunities for students. Learn more about the student research experience in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. 

Gillian Roehrig Gillian Roehrig

• she, her, hers
• 612-625-0561
• [email protected]

My research and teaching interests are centered on understanding how teachers translate national and state standards into their classrooms.

How to apply

Application deadline and instructions.

Priority deadline : December 1 for admission to the fall of the following year Admissions decisions : January

Applications submitted after this date are considered on a case-by-case basis and may not be reviewed until the following year. Faculty review applications in mid-late December, and the Graduate School will notify applicants about admission decisions shortly thereafter. Final admission decisions are based on complete applications. All application materials must be included for the application to be released for review.

Before applying online , go through the application checklist to ensure you have all the required materials. We are here to help! If you have questions, please contact the Graduate Studies Coordinator . If you are a returning Graduate School student, follow the Readmission guidelines . If you are a current Graduate School student and need to change your program, follow the Change of Status guidelines.

Tuition and funding

We have several funding options to support students full-time through program completion. Support is available in the form of:

• Teaching Assistantships. The majority work as student teaching supervisors for MEd initial licensure students. Daytime availability, a teaching license, and teaching experience are required
• Research Assistantships
• Fellowships. Based on a departmental nomination process. You will be notified by the Director of Graduate Studies if you are being considered for a fellowship. Decisions are made by April 15.
• Graduate students are also eligible to apply for fellowships and graduate assistantships through other University departments. Visit the University's employment page or fellowships through the Graduate School's Graduate Fellowship Office .
• Find more detailed federal financial aid and graduate tuition information.

Application requirements

What we look for.

Admission to our master's of arts and doctoral programs are competitive and we look for candidates whose goals and interests align with the program’s research and scholarship. Program faculty make admissions decisions based on the candidate’s experience and research competencies, along with compatibility of research goals.

Please look at our current faculty members’ research interests.

Our masters and doctoral candidates display

• Evidence of strong interest in research and in the development of research competencies
• Evidence of substantial experience in the discipline
• Strong writing skills
• Bachelor's degree from an accredited U.S. institution or foreign equivalent

Required application documents

• Unofficial transcripts .Upload your transcripts into the application system. Please include all transcripts from any institution you have attended, even if you did not earn a degree or certificate. Please do not mail your transcripts. Official transcripts are required only after you are admitted. Tips for uploading your transcript(s) .
• CI Application Form . Upload in the graduate program additional materials section.
• Three letters of recommendation . Ask professors, employers, or supervisors to speak to your potential for successfully completing your degree; they will upload their letters directly into the online application.

The GRE is being waived for those applicants applying for Fall 2024.

Required written statements

• Why you want to study in our department
• What strengths, expertise, and research experience would contribute to your success in our program
• Your professional goals for pursuing a research-focused degree
• Diversity statement .Upload to the Applicant Statements section of the online application. Identify the distinctive qualities, characteristics, and life experiences you would contribute to our community. You may wish to include examples that address your contribution to the diversity of the student body and illustrate your motivation to succeed by setting high standards for accomplishing intellectual and other goals, overcoming obstacles to achievement, and/or helping others to gain access to the resources necessary for success. (please do not exceed one page in length)
• Short writing sample .(Optional except for Literacy Education applicants). For example, an excerpt from a term paper or research paper for publication. No longer than five pages in English.
• Common Ground Consortium Fellowship. (Optional) The primary purpose of the CGC is to assist graduate programs in the College of Education and Human Development to recruit exceptional students with the distinct experience provided by HBCUs or similarly distinguishing contexts, provide these students with financial assistance support during their graduate studies, and assistance with career development and job placement afterwards. It offers a pipeline to excellence and an opportunity to diversify perspectives in the academy. If you wish to apply, submit a statement that describes how your participation as a CGC scholar would a) enhance your graduate student experience, b) prepare you for your chosen career, and c) benefit the public. Upload to graduate program additional materials section.

Additional admissions information

Application checklist.

Before applying online , go through the application checklist to ensure you have all the required materials. We are here to help! If you have questions, please contact the Graduate Studies Coordinator .

If you are a returning Graduate School student, follow the Readmission guidelines. If you are a current Graduate School student and need to change your program, follow the Change of Status guidelines .

Transfer credits

MA students must complete at least 60 percent of their coursework (not including thesis credits) within our program. PhD students may transfer no more than 15 credits from an outside institution.

A maximum of 12 graduate course credits taken as non-degree seeking or non-admitted status at the University of Minnesota can be transferred; this is counted separately from the maximum 60 percent or 15 non-UMN credits. For example, a PhD student could transfer a maximum of 27 credits (15 non-UMN and 12 non-degree from UMN).

If you earned a MA at the UMN, please contact the Graduate Studies Coordinator to discuss transfer procedures. Thesis credits cannot be transferred.

After you are admitted, you will work with your adviser to determine which credits may transfer.

International applicants

International applicants may also need:

• An English translation of your transcripts, if the transcript is not in English. Please note: the Graduate School Admissions Office will not accept an evaluation of your international coursework by an outside agency such as ECE or WES; they only accept the original transcripts.
• TOEFL/IELTS or MELAB. You may qualify for an exception if you have completed 16 semester or 24 quarter credits within the past 24 months in residence as a full-time student at an accredited institution of higher learning in the United States or other country where English is the official language (i.e. U.K, Canada). Score requirements and submission guidelines

Request Information

We’re here to help. Simply complete one of these forms and a member of our department will be in touch

The Ph.D. in Education is an interdisciplinary doctoral program that combines advances in the social sciences, sciences, arts, and humanities with deep expertise in educational research, policy, and practice to train students for careers as academics, researchers, policymakers, and leaders who will improve educational outcomes in the United States and around the world. Ph.D. candidates will collaborate with faculty from across Harvard graduate and professional schools and conduct groundbreaking research — forging new fields of inquiry that will transform education practice and policy.  Candidates for the Ph.D. in Education choose from among three concentrations: Culture, Institutions, and Society; Education Policy and Program Evaluation; or Human Development, Learning and Teaching.

All Ph.D.s are granted through the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

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• How to Choose a PhD Research Topic
• Finding a PhD

Introduction

Whilst there are plenty of resources available to help prospective PhD students find doctoral programmes, deciding on a research topic is a process students often find more difficult.

Some advertised PhD programmes have predefined titles, so the exact topic is decided already. Generally, these programmes exist mainly in STEM, though other fields also have them. Funded projects are more likely to have defined titles, and structured aims and objectives.

Self funded projects, and those in fields such as arts and humanities, are less likely to have defined titles. The flexibility of topic selection means more scope exists for applicants to propose research ideas and suit the topic of research to their interests.

A middle ground also exists where Universities advertise funded PhD programmes in subjects without a defined scope, for example: “PhD Studentship in Biomechanics”. The applicant can then liaise with the project supervisor to choose a particular title such as “A study of fatigue and impact resistance of biodegradable knee implants”.

If a predefined programme is not right for you, then you need to propose your own research topic. There are several factors to consider when choosing a good research topic, which will be outlined in this article.

How to Choose a Research Topic

Our first piece of advice is to PhD candidates is to stop thinking about ‘finding’ a research topic, as it is unlikely that you will. Instead, think about developing a research topic (from research and conversations with advisors).

Consider several ideas and critically appraise them:

• You must be able to explain to others why your chosen topic is worth studying.
• You must be genuinely interested in the subject area.
• You must be competent and equipped to answer the research question.
• You must set achievable and measurable aims and objectives.
• You need to be able to achieve your objectives within a given timeframe.
• Your research question must be original and contribute to the field of study.

We have outlined the key considerations you should use when developing possible topics. We explore these below:

Focus on your interests and career aspirations

It is important to choose a topic of research that you are genuinely interested in. The decision you make will shape the rest of your career. Remember, a full-time programme lasts 3-4 years, and there will be unforeseen challenges during this time. If you are not passionate about the study, you will struggle to find motivation during these difficult periods.

You should also look to your academic and professional background. If there are any modules you undertook as part of your Undergraduate/Master degree that you particularly enjoyed or excelled in? These could form part of your PhD research topic. Similarly, if you have professional work experience, this could lead to you asking questions which can only be answered through research.

When deciding on a PhD research topic you should always consider your long-term career aspirations. For example, as a physicist, if you wish to become an astrophysicist, a research project studying black holes would be more relevant to you than a research project studying nuclear fission.

Read dissertations and published journals

Reading dissertations and published journals is a great way to identify potential PhD topics. When reviewing existing research ask yourself:

• What has been done and what do existing results show?
• What did previous projects involve (e.g. lab-work or fieldwork)?
• How often are papers published in the field?
• Are your research ideas original?
• Is there value in your research question?
• Could I expand on or put my own spin on this research?

Reading dissertations will also give you an insight into the practical aspects of doctoral study, such as what methodology the author used, how much data analysis was required and how was information presented.

You can also think of this process as a miniature literature review . You are searching for gaps in knowledge and developing a PhD project to address them. Focus on recent publications (e.g. in the last five years). In particular, the literature review of recent publications will give an excellent summary of the state of existing knowledge, and what research questions remain unanswered.

If you have the opportunity to attend an academic conference, go for it! This is often an excellent way to find out current theories in the industry and the research direction. This knowledge could reveal a possible research idea or topic for further study.

Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest.

Discuss research topic ideas with a PhD supervisor

Discuss your research topic ideas with a supervisor. This could be your current undergraduate/masters supervisor, or potential supervisors of advertised PhD programmes at different institutions. Come to these meetings prepared with initial PhD topic ideas, and your findings from reading published journals. PhD supervisors will be more receptive to your ideas if you can demonstrate you have thought about them and are committed to your research.

You should discuss your research interests, what you have found through reading publications, and what you are proposing to research. Supervisors who have expertise in your chosen field will have insight into the gaps in knowledge that exist, what is being done to address them, and if there is any overlap between your proposed research ideas and ongoing research projects.

Talking to an expert in the field can shape your research topic to something more tangible, which has clear aims and objectives. It can also find potential shortfalls of your PhD ideas.

It is important to remember, however, that although it is good to develop your research topic based on feedback, you should not let the supervisor decide a topic for you. An interesting topic for a supervisor may not be interesting to you, and a supervisor is more likely to advise on a topic title which lends itself to a career in academia.

Another tip is to talk to a PhD student or researcher who is involved in a similar research project. Alternatively, you can usually find a relevant research group within your University to talk to. They can explain in more detail their experiences and suggest what your PhD programme could involve with respect to daily routines and challenges.

Look at advertised PhD Programmes

Use our Search tool , or look on University PhD listing pages to identify advertised PhD programmes for ideas.

• What kind of PhD research topics are available?
• Are these similar to your ideas?
• Are you interested in any of these topics?
• What do these programmes entail?

The popularity of similar PhD programmes to your proposed topic is a good indicator that universities see value in the research area. The final bullet point is perhaps the most valuable takeaway from looking at advertised listings. Review what similar programmes involve, and whether this is something you would like to do. If so, a similar research topic would allow you to do this.

Writing a Research Proposal

As part of the PhD application process , you may be asked to summarise your proposed research topic in a research proposal. This is a document which summarises your intended research and will include the title of your proposed project, an Abstract, Background and Rationale, Research Aims and Objectives, Research Methodology, Timetable, and a Bibliography. If you are required to submit this document then read our guidance on how to write a research proposal for your PhD application.

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110+ Exceptional Education Research Topics Ideas

Topics for education research usually comprise school research topics, research problems in education, qualitative research topics in education, and concept paper topics about education to mention a few.

If you’re looking for research titles about education,  you’re reading the right post! This article contains 110 of the best education research topics that will come in handy when you need to choose one for your research. From sample research topics in education, to research titles examples for high school students about education – we have it all.

Educational Research Topics

Research title examples for college students, quantitative research titles about education, topics related to education for thesis, research titles about school issues, ph.d. research titles in education, elementary education research topics, research title examples about online class, research titles about modular learning, examples of research questions in education, special education research titles.

The best research titles about education must be done through the detailed process of exploring previous works and improving personal knowledge.

Here are some good research topics in education to consider.

What Are Good Research Topics Related to Education?

• The role of Covid-19 in reinvigorating online learning
• The growth of cognitive abilities through leisure experiences
• The merits of group study in education
• Merits and demerits of traditional learning methods
• The impact of homework on traditional and modern education
• Student underdevelopment as a result of larger class volumes
• Advantages of digital textbooks in learning
• The struggle of older generations in computer education
• The standards of learning  in the various academic levels
• Bullying and its effects on educational and mental health
• Exceptional education tutors: Is the need for higher pay justifiable?

The following examples of research titles about education for college students are ideal for a project that will take a long duration to complete. Here are some education topics for research that you can consider for your degree.

• Modern classroom difficulties of students and teachers
• Strategies to reform the learning difficulties within schools
• The rising cost of tuition and its burden on middle-class parents
• The concept of creativity among public schools and how it can be harnessed
• Major difficulties experienced in academic staff training
• Evaluating the learning cultures of college students
• Use of scientific development techniques in student learning
• Research of skill development in high school and college students
• Modern grading methods in underdeveloped institutions
• Dissertations and the difficulties surrounding their completion
• Integration of new gender categories in personalized learning

These research topics about education require a direct quantitative analysis and study of major ideas and arguments. They often contain general statistics and figures to back up regular research. Some of such research topics in education include:

• The relationship between poor education and increased academic fees
• Creating a social link between homeschool and traditional schoolgoers
• The relationship between teacher satisfaction and student performance
• The divide between public and private school performance
• The merits of parental involvement in students’ cognitive growth.
• A study on child welfare and its impact on educational development
• The relationship between academic performance and economic growth
• Urbanization in rural areas and its contribution to institutional growth
• The relationship between students and professors in dissertation writing
• The link between debt accumulation and student loans
• Boarding schools and regular schools: The role these two school types play in cognitive development

Educational-related topics used for a thesis normally require a wide aspect of study and enough educational materials.  Here are some education research topics you can use for write my thesis .

• The difficulties of bilingual education in private universities
• Homework and its impact on learning processes in college education
• Dissertation topic selection: Key aspects and research obligations
• Social media research topics and their educational functions
• A detailed educational review of student learning via virtual reality techniques
• Ethnicities in universities and their participation in group activities
• The modern approach to self-studying for college students
• Developing time management skills in modern education
• Guidelines for teacher development in advanced educational institutions
• The need for religious education in boarding schools
• A measure of cognitive development using digital learning methods

A research title about school issues focuses on activities surrounding the school environment and its effects on students, teachers, parents, and education in general. Below are some sample research titles in education, relating to school issues.

• Learning English in bilingual schools
• A study of teachers’ role as parent figures on school grounds
• Addressing the increased use of illegal substances and their effects in schools
• The benefits of after-class activities for foreign students
• Assessing student and teacher relationships
• A study of the best methods to implement safety rules in school
• Major obstacles in meeting school schedules using boarding students as a case study
• The need for counseling in public and private schools: Which is greater?
• Academic volunteering in understaffed public schools
• Modern techniques for curbing school violence among college students
• The advantages and disadvantages of teacher unions in schools

As you create your proposed list of research topics in education, consider scientific journals for referencing purposes. Here are some Ph.D. research titles for education.

• The modern methods of academic research writing
• The role of colleges in advanced mental care
• The merits and demerits of Ph.D. studies in Europe and Africa
• Interpersonal relationships between students and professors in advanced institutions
• A review of community colleges: merits and demerits
• Assessing racism in academic ethnic minorities
• The psychological changes of students in higher education
• The questionable standards of student loan provisions
• The merits of personalized teaching techniques in colleges
• The wage gap between private and public university teachers
• Teacher responsibilities in private universities versus public universities

The research topics in elementary education in 2023 are very different from the elementary education research topics from five or ten years ago. This creates interesting grounds for different research titles for elementary education.

Here are some elementary education title research ideas.

• Assessing quick computer literacy among elementary school pupils.
• The role of video games in childhood brain development
• Male vs female role models in early education periods
• The advantages of digital textbooks in elementary schools
• The impact of modern curriculums on elementary education
• Lack of proper school grooming is a cause of violence.
• Should elementary school children be taught about LGBTQ?
• A review of the need for sexual education in elementary schools
• The effects of emotional dependence in early childhood learners.
• The need for constant technology supervision of elementary school students
• Advantages of computer-guided education in elementary schools

Here are some research title examples for students taking online classes.

• The academic difficulties experienced by online students.
• A study of decreased attention in online classes
• The upsides and downsides of online education
• The rising fees of online and traditional education in universities
• A detailed study on the necessity of college internships
• The need to provide college scholarships based on environmental achievements
• How online education terminates university fraternities and sororities.
• The role of academic supervisors in career selection
• Why interactive assignments improved learning capabilities during the pandemic
• Merits of education in online learning environments
• Why online lessons are the least effective for some college students

The modular learning approach focuses primarily on learning outcomes. Here are some examples of research titles about modular learning.

• Modular learning and the role of teachers in its execution
• Teaching techniques of religious institutions
• Potential risks of accelerated learning
• Modular learning on students’ future performances
• The general overview of modular learning amongst students
• The modern Advantages and disadvantages of inclusive classes
• Observing student developments in modular learning
• Music therapy for fostering modular learning techniques
• The creation of a personalized curriculum for students.
• Applications of modular learning both in home-schooling?
• The benefits of modular learning towards creating a more holistic educational system

These research title examples about education answer important questions and they can also be argumentative essay topics .

Here are some titles of research about education questions.

• What impacts do learning approaches provide for students?
• How can schools manage their increasing gender differences?
• What fosters the provision of learning needs?
• What are the best educational recruitment methods?
• How can cognitive development improve education?
• How can you assess the moral growth of institutions?
• What are the primary causes of educational differences in geographical locations?
• How can institutions address increasing mental health needs?
• Why is early intervention essential in students with mental health setbacks?
• What are the characteristics of mental health deterioration among students?
• What techniques are acceptable in regulating the violence of students in institutions

Some of the research title examples about education include:

• How do schools create more personalized learning methods?
• Evaluating mental health setbacks during education
• The impact of modern technology on special education
• The cognitive improvements via specialized learning in dyslexic children
• The psychological link between dyslexia and bullying in high school
• Impact of social isolation in special education classes
• The difficulties in providing specialized learning environments
• A study of orphan students with disabilities and their aptitudes for learning
• How special classes improve the self-esteem of disabled students.
• How to use modern teaching techniques in unique learning environments.
• A study of the application of digital games to autistic learning

Final words about education research topics

We have provided some reliable examples of a research topic about education you can use for write my thesis . You can use these research titles in education to cultivate your ideas, create inspiration, or for online research. Remember always to select a topic that you’re naturally passionate about and do diligent research, and reach out to our professional writing services if you need any help.

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What Will We Be Reading This Year?

• Posted January 2, 2020
• By Emily Boudreau

Immigration — and welcoming newcomers

While the story of migration is a human one, in the past few years, it has become a contentious political one as well. Within the United States, classroom demographics have shifted dramatically, teachers struggle to support students whose families have been torn apart, and stories of abuse at the border haunt news cycles. At HGSE, Professor Roberto Gonzales leads the new Immigration Initiative at Harvard . As part of the initiative, Gonzales will work with a community of Harvard researchers from different schools to conduct non-partisan research that informs immigration policy. “Research aimed at understanding the mechanisms that facilitate and constrain immigrant incorporation is incredibly useful to policymakers and practitioners on the ground — in communities and local organizations,” Gonzales told  us. “It is my hope that through IIH we can lift up this work and make it available to inform key stakeholders.”

Usable Knowledge has a series on how schools are welcoming newcomers ; we'll continue to develop that theme this year.  

Last fall's results of the NAEP exam were disappointing  to say the least, showing that most reading scores, as measured by NAEP, dropped significantly, despite a combination of reform efforts and government spending. This drop left experts searching for a culprit — was it  balanced literacy ? Pedagogy? The amount of time students spent on screens ? The way we think about and evaluate test scores themselves? Still, some states performed well and perhaps offer interesting case studies moving forward. Looking ahead to the new year, Usable Knowledge has editorial plans to offer insight and research from HGSE experts on the best contemporary approaches to literacy instruction.

What should students be learning — and how should we be measuring it?

NAEP and other assessments tell part of the story, but what components of learning do they miss? Are there things we should be measuring but aren’t? After all, research suggests that there may be a disconnect between what kids are learning in schools and what they need to know to be successful in the future. How can we align curricula to match? In Search of Deeper Learning , a 2019 book by HGSE Professor Jal Mehta  and educator Sarah Fine, explored the importance of a curriculum that allows space for authentic learning — and showed what that kind of learning looks like in highs schools across the country. They discussed the topic in-depth on the Harvard EdCast , in what became the podcast's most popular episode to date. HGSE Professor David Deming also picked up the theme, writing an op-ed for The New York Times about the importance of collaborative thinking in contemporary workplaces and the startling lack of curriculum, especially in higher education, that allows students to build this skill.

Digital literacy

From smart phones to smart boards, children and teachers need to navigate digital worlds daily. But when are kids actually taught to use and engage with technology meaningfully? And whose responsibility is it to teach them? A forthcoming study from Project Information Literacy , led by researcher Alison Head , will explore how college students navigate the news and information that the internet and their devices flood them with — and how they make decisions about what to trust and act on. This research is especially important considering the network of algorithms that now influences behavior and the choices people make about what products to buy, what news sources they consume, and even how they construct their world views.  

And what does all this digital action mean for kids' privacy and their healthy development? “Unlike us as adults, [kids] have not yet had a chance to have a childhood and adolescence that is protected; a childhood and adolescence where they can make mischief, even make some mistakes and grow up better for having made them by figuring out who they are, what makes them tick, and how they want to be in the world, ” law professor and author of Sharenthood: Why We Should Think Before We Talk About Our Kids Online Leah Plunkett told the Harvard EdCast. “And if we're depriving them of that space, we really do run the risk of depriving them of, or at least limiting their ability to become the grownups that they're meant to be.”

Trauma and supporting vulnerable students

Studies continue to demonstrate the impact trauma has on young minds and bodies, as well as on the practitioners who work with communities that have absorbed trauma. But researchers still have unanswered questions on the best way to support students, practitioners, and communities and how to help nurture resilience. Education Redesign Lab director and HGSE Professor Paul Reville says , “The challenge [for trauma-sensitive schools and educators] is to broaden that set of contacts [and resources] to the whole community, to take the whole village into the challenge of raising young people who can be successful and participate in a 21st-century democracy.” At HGSE, the  Center on the Developing Child at Harvard , the Education Redesign Lab , and the new REACH Initiative are advocating for research that supports and informs the development and expansion of trauma-sensitive schools and communities in the United States and around the world.

The election and civics education

After a historic vote in the House of Representatives to impeach  President Donald Trump and a looming trial in the senate, the 2020 elections stand as an important marker for the future of American democracy. Yet teachers may fear that discussing politics and elections in classrooms can be contentious . Still, educators need to help even young students develop the critical thinking skills and knowledge necessary to participate in a democracy. HGSE Professor Meira Levinson’s work on civics education gained traction in the 2016 election cycle and will likely continue to influence the way teachers talk about democracy in classrooms in 2020. Levinson recently debuted a multimedia case study  that expands on her work with  Justice in Schools to bring conversations about ethical and educational dilemmas into the classroom, and there will be more to come in the year ahead.

Usable Knowledge

Connecting education research to practice — with timely insights for educators, families, and communities

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NSF 101: The Mentoring plan

The postdoctoral mentoring plan has been an NSF requirement since 2009, recognizing the important role that mentorship plays in the postdoctoral experience and their future career paths. As of 2024, the mentoring plan has been expanded to include postdoctoral researchers and graduate students. While you will find many templates online, NSF does not endorse a prescriptive format and encourages researchers to lead the way in creating unique strategies for supporting their mentees.

According to the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide: "Examples of mentoring activities include, but are not limited to, career counseling; training in preparation of grant proposals, publications and presentations; guidance on ways to improve teaching and mentoring skills; guidance on how to effectively collaborate with researchers from diverse backgrounds and disciplinary areas; and training in responsible professional practices."

At the heart of mentoring are personal relationships that are unique to every mentor and mentee. In that spirit, consider the questions below as you create a mentoring plan to build the foundation for a fruitful working relationship between you and your mentee.

Set and communicate your expectations

• What are your expectations for your mentee, and how will you communicate these expectations for the mentoring relationship?
• How will you clearly communicate your mentoring philosophy, working environment and culture, policies and other important considerations to a mentee working with you and your team?

Convey your responsibilities as a mentor

• What can a mentee expect from you throughout the mentoring relationship?
• Can they expect timely feedback on their work, regularly scheduled meetings, assistance in making connections/networking or notifications about relevant opportunities?

Tailor your plan

• Can you personalize your mentoring plan if/when a mentee has been chosen?
• How will your plan be responsive to your mentee's needs, interests and goals?
• How does the plan recognize that there are multiple pathways to success and ensure the plan is tailored to what success would look like for the mentee?

Promote a supportive work environment  

• What steps can you take to promote a work culture where mentees feel valued and supported and to foster a sense of belonging as an authentic member of the team?
• How will you create an environment where mentees feel comfortable taking calculated risks?
• How will mentees be empowered to learn from mistakes?
• How will conflict be managed and communicated, particularly among trainees with different personal and cultural identities?
• How will the contributions of all team members be recognized?
• How are the research teams' values and priorities decided upon and conveyed?

Strengthen a broader ecosystem of support

• How will you identify opportunities for your mentee that lie outside of your strengths as an individual mentor?
• Can you form mentoring teams that can advise on different disciplines, career or life paths, connect postdocs/graduate students excluded due to their ethnicity or race with mentors that have similar identities, further develop your knowledge and skills as a mentor?

Assess progress

• How will progress towards goals and mentorship quality be evaluated? Individual development plans can provide one route to goal setting that work well in some environments, or you and your mentee may find another method that is better suited to your goals, values and working styles.
• How will you plan to co-create, revisit and revise your mentoring plan over time with your mentee?

Intentionality in designing a mentoring plan can provide a foundation for the success of postdoctoral and graduate student researchers who are vital to the scientific enterprise. Mentoring is key in enabling postdocs and graduate students to bring forth their innovative ideas and reach their full potential while overcoming numerous barriers, particularly for those who have been excluded due to their ethnicity or race. Mentees may also be facing additional common challenges, such as separation from support systems, immigration challenges, caregiver responsibilities or financial difficulties.

Mentoring is a powerful opportunity to broaden your impact on the scientific community. If you are interested in learning more about strategies to improve mentoring, you can find the latest NSF-funded research on the topic through the NSF award search !

About the Authors

Stephanie Gage AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow

Stephanie Gage is an interdisciplinary neurobiologist working in science and technology policy. She earned a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Arizona studying olfactory-guided behavior and applied this expertise at the USDA – ARS and at the Georgia Institute of Technology. As a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow, Stephanie now works at the National Science Foundation in the Information and Intelligent Systems Division in the CISE directorate, and the Integrative  Organismal Systems Division in the BIO directorate.

Julia Gerson AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow

After completing her Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Julia completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan. Afterward, she joined the National Science Foundation as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Science and Technology Policy Fellow in the Advancing Informal STEM Learning Program within the Division for Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings in the Directorate for STEM Education.

Xoco Shinbrot AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow

Xoco Shinbrot is a conservation social scientist by training, now working in national and international policy spaces. She earned a PhD in Ecology investigating how individuals and communities adapt to climate change, how to improve participation in public science, and the socio-economic impact of forest carbon offset programs. Following her post-doc at Cornell University, she now works in the Arctic Sciences Section in the Office of Polar Programs at the National Science Foundation as a Science and Technology Policy Fellow.

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Graduate visa route stays, as UK government proposes ‘crackdown’ on abuses and migration

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The UK government has proposed new measures to ‘further crack down on student visas’, but has stopped short of closing the graduate visa route. Many in the higher education sector have expressed relief that the graduate visa will stay after the government conducted a rapid review of the route as part of a series of measures to reduce net migration.

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Universities had been worried that the UK government would close the graduate visa route making it harder to attract people to fill PhD posts

‘We welcome the news that the graduate route remains in place,’ said Tim Bradshaw , chief executive of the Russell Group, a body that represents 24 of the country’s top research universities. ‘As recognised by the [migration advisory committee’s (MAC)] recent report, international students bring huge value to our universities, our communities and our economy.’

The uncertainty caused by the decision to review the visa has been toxic  Vivienne Stern, Universities UK

Concerns over the future of the graduate visa were raised after Home Secretary James Cleverly wrote to the MAC in March to request a rapid review of the graduate entry route. Earlier this month, the leaders of seven higher education groups wrote to Cleverly arguing that: ‘Any changes would be extremely damaging to the UK’s reputation and standing as a leading global study destination and research powerhouse, with a severe impact on the economy both nationally and across the regions.’ They also highlighted a significant decrease in the number of international students applying to study in the UK, adding that changes to the graduate visa route ‘could turn a sharp contraction into a collapse’.

The MAC filed its report  in mid-May, noting that it found ‘no evidence of any significant abuse of the graduate route’ and recommending that the route remain in place in its current form. However, it did raise concerns over the use of some recruitment agents that provide ‘misleading information to prospective international students’.

Important and welcome

The chief executive of Universities UK, Vivienne Stern, described the report’s finding that the graduate route should remain as ‘extremely important and welcome’. ‘The uncertainty caused by the decision to review the visa has been toxic,’ she said.

‘What is needed now is stability – we need the government to provide much needed reassurance to both universities and international students that the graduate route is here to stay,’ she added.

It’s very, very hard to bring in non-UK PhD students Steve Howdle, University of Nottingham

Following the publication of the MAC report, the government announced that the graduate route would be ‘kept under review’. It also proposed a number of measures to further regulate the recruitment of international students including ‘cracking down on rogue recruitment agents’, tougher compliance standards for institutions recruiting overseas students, restrictions on remote delivery of coursework and raising the requirements on international students’ financial self-sufficiency.

Earlier this year, the government raised the salary threshold for skilled worker visas by 48% to £38,700. In certain circumstances , science graduates can obtain a skilled worker visa if their salary is over £30,960. However, this figure is 12% higher than the average starting salary of a chemistry graduate in the UK (£27,661).

PhD student shortage

Steve Howdle , head of chemistry at the University of Nottingham, takes issue with policies that have made it harder to bring researchers to the UK. ‘I’ve had a career of 30 years now. I’ve graduated 60 PhD students and helped in the development of around 20–25 postdoctoral researchers,’ he says. ‘And many of those have come from outside the UK into my group and helped me and UK plc to do new science and create new opportunities that have been very valuable. And what I see at the moment is that pathway has become incredibly more restricted – and I think that’s a really difficult thing to get our heads around.’

‘What we’re talking about here is highly-skilled scientists who come to the UK and contribute very positively,’ he adds.

According to Howdle restrictions on recruitment of international talent will make it harder for the UK to maintain its reputation as a global science leader. ‘At the moment, because of the visa situation, it’s very, very hard to bring in non-UK PhD students,’ he notes. ‘And so there is already a dearth of PhD students, we’re starting to see it’s more and more difficult to fill the roles to do [research]. The UK is positioned as punching above its weight in terms of research in the world – that’s going to be damaged if we carry on the way we’re going.’

In January a review conducted by accounting firm PwC on behalf of Universities UK highlighted that ‘increasing financial pressures’ on the UK higher education sector had led to an overreliance on international students to ‘cross-subsidise domestic teaching and research activities’. Howdle believes that making it harder for universities to recruit foreign students will create additional financial strain.

‘We all know that tuition fees are the main mode of funding into higher education and those tuition fees have not increased at all over the last decade … so universities have been pushed to take more overseas students who can and do pay higher fees,’ he says. ‘And that’s been the way that universities have stabilised and have run for the last decade – that’s all going to get very much harder.’

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She Just Earned Her Doctorate at 17. Now, She’ll Go to the Prom.

Dorothy Jean Tillman II of Chicago made history as the youngest person to earn a doctoral degree in integrated behavioral health at Arizona State University.

By Alexandra E. Petri

When Dorothy Jean Tillman II successfully defended her dissertation in November 2023 to earn her doctoral degree from Arizona State University, she couldn’t wait to share the news with her best friend.

“It was a surreal moment,” Dr. Tillman said, “because it was crazy I was doing it in the first place.”

Dr. Tillman, at only 17, became the youngest person to earn a doctoral degree in integrated behavioral health from Arizona State’s College of Health Solutions, all before she was eligible to vote. Earlier this month, Dr. Tillman, now 18, took part in Arizona State’s commencement ceremony and delivered remarks as the outstanding 2024 graduate at the College of Health Solution’s convocation.

Lesley Manson, program director for the doctorate of behavioral health at Arizona State and Dr. Tillman’s doctoral chair, said Dr. Tillman displayed extraordinary perseverance, hard work and dedication for her young age, tackling every challenge head-on.

“She can serve as a real role model,” Ms. Manson said.

Dr. Tillman, called D.J. by her family and friends, was an early bloomer. She grew up in Chicago and was home-schooled from a young age, first in a group setting through online classes, and then by her mother, Jimalita Tillman, a single parent with a background in community theater.

Dr. Tillman was part of a gifted program before transitioning to home-schooling. Jimalita Tillman continued her daughter on an accelerated track: By the time she was 8, she was taking high school classes. While most 9-year-olds were learning math and reading, Dr. Tillman was starting college online.

At the time, they lived with Jimalita Tillman’s mother, Dorothy Wright Tillman, a civil rights activist who worked alongside the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and was a Chicago alderman. Dr. Tillman is her grandmother’s namesake (hence the II at the end of Dr. Tillman’s name).

During her early college days, Dr. Tillman’s classroom was often a Starbucks in Chicago, and her days began as soon it opened, she said. Her go-to order was an iced peach green tea with lemonade.

“Around the time when kids went to lunch, we’d be closing the computer,” said Dr. Tillman, who said her discipline and focus come from her grandmother.

Because of her age, Dr. Tillman lived at home while pursuing her higher education, and most of her coursework was online — a challenge for a self-described social butterfly. “I do love meeting new people and talking to people and understanding them and how their brains work,” she said. She found other ways to stay connected with friends through after-school activities.

At 10, she earned her associate degree in psychology at the College of Lake County in Illinois. At 12, she received her Bachelor of Science in humanities at Excelsior College in New York, and at 14, she earned a Master of Science from Unity College in Maine. She chose those fields because they can help scientists “understand why people treat the environment the way they do,” she told Time for Kids in a July 2020 interview.

Ellen Winner, a professor of psychology at Boston College and the author of “Gifted Children: Myths and Realities,” said that children like Dr. Tillman have a motivational intensity she calls a “rage to master.”

“One of the reasons they push themselves is they have a high, innate ability of some kind, and so learning, in whatever they are gifted in, comes easily to them and it’s very pleasurable,” she said. Schools are often not equipped for such gifted children, she added, which may lead parents to home-school their children. The trade-off, she and some experts say, is missing out on socialization and learning with children their age.

“There’s no perfect solution to kids like this,” Ms. Winner said.

Jimalita Tillman said she was sure her daughter was finished with higher education after earning her master’s degree. Dr. Tillman had just launched an organization to support Black youth in Chicago interested in STEM and the arts called the Dorothy Jeanius STEAM Leadership Institute. It was 2020, just after the beginning of the pandemic.

She was surprised when her daughter said she wanted to pursue her doctorate, and even tried to dissuade Dr. Tillman. But Dr. Tillman wanted to help young people with their mental health. She told her mother to trust her.

“I had to follow her lead,” Jimalita Tillman, 42, said.

Dr. Tillman was accepted into the management concentration at Arizona State’s College of Health Solutions, an online doctorate program. Her thesis on developing programs to reduce the stigma for college students seeking mental health services was based on a study she conducted for an in-person internship at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Dr. Tillman hopes her story resonates with girls who are talkative, outgoing “out-there kind of girls who are trying to figure themselves out but are very smart.”

“I want them to see someone who has taken that energy, sparkle and excitement and packaged it in a way that is classy and beautiful,” she said.

Dr. Tillman may now have her doctorate, but she’s also excited about teenage things — like attending a prom. On Saturday, she going as her best friend’s date to his senior dance. They’re taking an Escalade outfitted with stars on the ceiling, she said, a feature she requested and that her mother made happen.

Dr. Tillman has been focused on school and her professional pursuits, and she plans to host her institute’s summer camp again. Then, she said, she plans to take a beat and have a “fun teenage summer,” doing things she loves, discovering new hobbies and figuring herself out in the process.

“I want to focus on who I am,” she said.

When the PhD path leads to career struggles

A doctoral degree is a major commitment. Think carefully.

I appreciated reading Kara Miller’s The Big Idea column “PhD: Pretty heavily disappointed” (Business, May 22), about people with doctoral degrees struggling to build careers in academia. It made me think back to a conversation I had when I was about to graduate from high school.

I happened to run into a former track coach of mine, and as we were reminiscing he asked me what I planned as a major in college. “History,” I responded. He said, “Why don’t you take some computer classes also? It never hurts to be able to do something useful.”

I did not reflect on his motivation at the time, but my track coach was a young guy, and he was probably giving me advice straight from his own life, as a parent trying to raise his own young children. I did take computer classes in college and ultimately received a PhD in chemical engineering. I always remember that conversation as being a kind of turning point.

Earning a doctoral degree is a life commitment of great proportion. It can take, as Miller notes, between four and seven years. If we think of working life as roughly between the ages of 22 and 65, then a PhD requires more than 10 percent of a person’s working life. People need to think carefully about that investment.

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Two powerful arguments in favor of the path of science, technology, engineering, and math are that there tend to be more STEM jobs for PhDs, and many universities’ STEM departments are generous in covering their PhD students’ tuition and cost of studies, including a stipend toward food, rent, and other expenses.

Stuart Gallant

Not much has changed in 30 years

As I prepared to graduate in 1995 with a doctor of education degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, my mother memorably said to me, “Of my four children, you are the one with the most education and the smallest salary.” Apparently not much has changed in 30 years.

I must congratulate these students, however, on following their passion rather than following the money. I can’t help but think that their lives, though stressful, may contain greater happiness.

Peggy Clark

Lawyers & electricians & philosophers, oh my!

Kara Miller’s column on the career challenges for people with doctoral degrees generated more than 260 comments on Boston.Globe.com. The following is an edited sample of readers’ reactions:

Lots of law school grads are underemployed as well. (PL)

So true, PL. The market in Massachusetts is flooded with talented lawyers seeking work. (Roforma)

Supply and demand, the market at work. (guk)

Investing in education and research in all fields is the hallmark of a society with staying power. Disinvesting from these endeavors signals decline and decay. (Massachusetts citizen)

Electricians, plumbers, mechanics, and other skilled technical professions have no problems getting $100k jobs with great benefits. (ramsen)

Not enough turnover from tenured professors, leaving little space for new faculty. Although the tenured, well-established professors are needed, it’s the junior faculty who are hungry and with new ideas that help build new programs. The whole graduate program model is a bad model. I worked two jobs, had my tuition and some type of minimal student health insurance and could barely cover the rent with my stipend, and the second job paid for everything else. Though I was working on many faculty projects, it was the faculty who said this would be good for me. Never did they say it was also good for them. (TravelerofNJ2)

I just retired from a tenured faculty position in science. I’m in my early 70s. I have colleagues who are still doing what they do well into their 70s, a couple approaching 80. There is no active incentive from the university to move the older faculty on, to make way for a new generation. (Lola-lola)

The next step is for adjuncts to go on strike across the nation and hold colleges and universities accountable. The current system is completely absurd. (Wordsmith2358)

Universities should be required to release disclosure data about the fate of their PhD graduates. (davidman820)

I knew an attorney who managed a Cheesecake Factory. She had worked in food services through school. As an attorney, she really did not make that much money and was not doing the field of law of her choice. How many real estate closings can you do without dying of boredom? She went into management in the food industry and makes the same salary. (Antietem)

It was always a question and puzzling to me why people study philosophy. (Blazer27)

Globe Opinion

Yale appoints Maurie McInnis as its first permanent female president

Yale University named Maurie McInnis as its new president Wednesday, the first woman to be selected for the top position in a non-interim capacity since the Ivy League school was founded in 1701.

McInnis, the president of Stony Brook University in New York, will join the flagship New Haven school on July 1 as the 24th president, taking over the reins from Peter Salovey who announced in August that the current school year would be his last after having led the school for over a decade. McInnis will be the first woman to lead Yale as a non-interim president in its 323-year history.

"It has been three decades since I have called Yale and New Haven home, but I have had the good fortune to come back to our campus regularly, as a colleague, an alumna, and in recent years as a trustee," McInnis said in a message to the Yale campus community. "Over that time, I have seen Yale grow in incredible ways while maintaining the excellence and traditions that have been part of our university for over three centuries."

The announcement Wednesday comes after a monthslong search for Yale's next leader, which involved input from more than 2,000 people from across the campus community through individual meetings, listening sessions, and a student survey, Josh Bekenstein, senior trustee and chair of the presidential search committee, said in a statement on behalf of the board. Nearly 130 leaders were nominated to the search committee for the seat.

"A compelling leader, distinguished scholar, and devoted educator, she brings to the role a deep understanding of higher education and an unwavering commitment to our mission and academic priorities," Bekenstein said. "Her experience and accomplishments over the past three decades have prepared her to lead Yale in the years ahead."

Yale University has about 12,000 students enrolled between its undergraduate and graduate programs, and roughly 5,500 faculty members. 

'Opportunity arose unexpectedly'

In a message to the Stony Brook community, McInnis said she will be stepping down in June and an interim president will be named soon while the university searches for its next permanent head.

"This opportunity arose unexpectedly. To a great extent, it is a direct result of the work that we have been doing at Stony Brook and the high regard nationally in which our university is held," she wrote.

McInnis was appointed as Stony Brook's president in 2020. She received her Ph.D. in Art History from Yale University in 1996 and serves on her alma mater's board of trustees. She has authored and edited several books on the politics of art and slavery in the nineteenth-century U.S. South, been involved in oversight of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy facility, and serves as the inaugural chair of the New York Climate Exchange.

Before joining Stony Brook, McInnis served in leadership roles at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Virginia.

Claudine Gay was just the start: US college presidents feel a chilling effect

Diversity in university leadership

As the first woman to join the ranks of Yale's non-interim presidents, McInnis told The New York Times that she was well aware of how she could serve "as a role model for other women aspiring to leadership positions."

"My deep commitment to advancing opportunities for students and for our prospective students is steadfast, certainly in my work at Stony Brook, and that will continue at Yale," she told the newspaper in an interview.

The historically male-dominated arena of college leadership has diversified more in recent years. But national data shows a gender gap persists even as women make up the majority of college students.

According to data released by the American Council on Education in 2023, women account for 1 in 3 college presidents ; 72% of presidents identify as white; and the average age is around 60. Comparatively, women make up about 55% of undergraduate students and 60% of graduate students, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

White students comprise about 53% of the undergraduate population and 61% of graduate programs.