Research Concentrations / Strands

Applied Developmental Sciences and Special Education (ADSSE)

ADSSE provides a rigorous theoretical and interdisciplinary foundation in developmental science and special education, empowering you to improve the lives of at-risk children and youth and their families, with a focus on serving those from diverse sociocultural backgrounds.

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Learning Sciences and Psychological Studies (LSPS)

Join a community of learning sciences researchers who develop and test new approaches to learning — in classrooms, online, or with virtual, portable, networked or augmented technologies — so that the schools can more effectively teach students what they need to know.

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Policy, Leadership, and School Improvement (PLS)

As a doctoral student in PLS you will collaborate with internationally renowned scholars, engaging in coursework and developing a research agenda aligned with your interests and addressing today’s important and contested issues in education.

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Culture, Curriculum, and Teacher Education (CCTE)

Prepare to become an interdisciplinary scholar, advocating for change as an innovative and transformational leader in educational research and practice, engaging with teachers, school leaders, university students and your community.

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Academic Programs

Education Ph.D.

My experience at the School of Education has been wonderful! It is an intellectually stimulating environment which has offered me opportunities to meet and work with remarkable people, attend interesting classes, seminars and lectures, and make many new friends from diverse backgrounds.

Eleni Zgourou, Ph.D. '18
Eleni Zgourou

Expanding Educational Knowledge

Educational journals
Four premier educational journals edited at Carolina

Faculty at UNC’s School of Education will be at the helms of four leading academic journals in education, beginning in January: The journals: • Educational Psychologist • Educational Researcher • Journal of Research in Science Teaching • The Urban Review “The faculty at Carolina’s School of Education are leading researchers who are actively engaged at…

Thad Domina feature image
Team including Thurston Domina takes reins of journal Educational Researcher

A team including faculty member Thurston “Thad” Domina has been named to lead Educational Researcher, the premiere academic journal of the American Educational Research Association. Domina, an associate professor of educational policy and sociology at the School of Education, is one of five co-editors who will lead the journal. The team was chosen after an…