Information
Qualifying Exam
Overview
The Qualifying Exam represents a shared responsibility between professors and their students. Professors are responsible for informing advisees about the format and general content of the QE. Students are responsible for being prepared to successfully complete the examination as well as for meeting administrative requirements and deadlines specified in the COE Advanced Graduate Handbook.
The QE is a summative evaluation. It represents a terminal performance where students demonstrate a level of scholastic mastery of the field of inquiry.
The Department of Childhood Education and Literacy Studies makes available two options for the completion of the Qualifying Exam: the Summative Test and the Text Production Option
The Summative Test is 12 hours in length, is administered over a 3-day period in 4 hour segments, and integrates the work in the student’s specialization area, the cognate area, and measurement or foundations area.
The Text Production Option is a process in which the student develops a text that reflects the student's ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate major areas of importance within the student's field of study. The text may represent emerging forms of scholarly, multi-media approaches reflecting standards of the field.
Candidacy
Upon successful completion of the qualifying exam, the student files the appropriate paperwork with the Dean’s office requesting admission into candidacy. Once the candidacy is approved, the student becomes a doctoral candidate (rather than a doctoral student) and the student is ABD (All But Dissertation).