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Dear Prospective Doctoral Student:

I'm delighted that you are thinking about applying to a doctoral program in the School of Education.  A complete list of our doctoral programs is available below, and you can learn much more about the programs by clicking on their links. But you should also know some general facts about doctoral study at our school. 

All of our doctoral programs are designed to develop outstanding educational researchers who have a deep understanding of the scientific, practical and policy issues they study. All require full-time study, and we promise four years of full-time financial support for every student we admit. Our doctoral programs are small, typically ranging from about 25 to 35 new students a year. The small size of our doctoral cohorts creates big educational advantages for students: the classes are almost always small, students receive individualized attention from their advisors, and they have many opportunities to develop close collegial relationships with fellow students.

Apprenticeship experiences are central to our research training. Students work directly with the most eminent educational scholars in the world on research projects that provide varied opportunities to develop their research skills. To ground student scholarship in the realities of practice and policy, we also offer students practical experience in schools, districts, community organizations, and policy settings.

Our School's academic culture embraces the extraordinary intellectual richness of Stanford University as a whole.  Through the "minor requirement," which applies to all of our doctoral programs, every student must take courses outside of the School of Education. Many of our doctoral students earn masters degrees elsewhere at Stanford while they pursue doctoral study in education, including such areas as economics, psychology, political science, engineering, biology, history, and philosophy.

The faculty in the School of Education are exceptionally distinguished. But I must also stress that graduates of our program tend to speak very passionately about the extraordinary quality of the other students at our School.  Your peers at the School of Education will contribute enormously to your education at Stanford.

Thank you again for your interest in our School. The School of Education is dedicated to the improvement of educational practice both nationally and internationally. We believe that outstanding research is crucial to that task, and I hope that you will join us in the effort.

Sincerely yours,

Doctoral Programs at the Stanford University School of Education

Administration and Policy Analysis
Anthropology of Education
Childhood and Adolescent Development
Curriculum Studies and Teacher Education
Economics of Education
Educational Linguistics
Educational Psychology
English Education/Literacy Studies
General Curriculum Studies
Higher Education
History of Education
History/Social Science Education
International Comparative Education
Learning Sciences And Technology Design
Mathematics Education
Organization Studies
Philosophy of Education
Science Education
Social Sciences in Education
Sociology of Education
Teacher Education