Graduate School of Education

The Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE) is dedicated to solving education's greatest challenges. Through rigorous research, model training programs, and partnerships with educators worldwide, we're pursuing equitable, accessible, and effective learning for all. We offer programs at the doctoral and master’s degree levels, as well as undergraduate minor and honors programs. Our cross-area specializations and joint-degree offerings with other Stanford schools leverage the university's vast intellectual resources to provide students with an integrated program of study.  

Graduate Degrees and Academic Structure

The GSE offers three graduate degrees: Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Science (M.S.), and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.). 

Master’s Programs

GSE’s master’s programs are full-time, intensive programs that integrate educational theory and practice. The small cohort sizes provide an intimate setting for academic inquiry and foster individual contact with faculty and fellow students. 

• Education Data Science (EDS) opens in a new tab: The EDS program combines modern data science analyses and computational methods with a deep understanding of learning, schools, and education policy. With rigorous academics and real-world experience, the program prepares the next generation of education data science leaders. 

• Global and Comparative Education / International Education Policy Analysis (GCE/IEPA) opens in a new tab: GCE/IEPA addresses educational practice in a rapidly changing global context, in both less-developed and industrialized countries. Students examine such problems as the political economy of underdevelopment and educational planning in a comparative perspective. The major research project requirement provides students the opportunity to develop excellent research skills. 

• Individually Designed M.A opens in a new tab. (for current Stanford doctoral students): The Individually Designed M.A. in Education is intended for doctoral students at Stanford who would like to earn a master's in education while studying for their Ph.D. outside of the GSE. Students develop their individual program of study in consultation with a GSE advisor and must finish in three years.  

• Learning Design and Technology (LDT) opens in a new tab: LDT integrates powerful contemporary ideas about learning with emergent technologies to design and evaluate learning environments, products, and programs. LDT graduates bring their skills to bear in a variety of settings, including schools, museums, research institutions, and educational technology companies. 

• Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies (POLS) opens in a new tab: POLS emphasizes the knowledge, theory, and skills necessary for effective leadership in a variety of education-focused organizations. Students design their own programs of study focused on pre-K-12 education, non-profit leadership, policy analysis, higher education, or a combination of these broad areas. 

• Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP) opens in a new tab: STEP offers both an elementary and secondary route. Both programs lead to teacher certification in the state of California, and both require intensive, supervised practice at school sites as well as academic course work that focuses on cutting-edge, school-based research. 

• Joint M.A./J.D. in law and education opens in a new tab: The joint M.A./J.D. degree combines study for the JD degree in law with an individualized program in education.

• Joint M.A./M.B.A. in education and business administration opens in a new tab: The joint M.A./M.B.A. allows students to pursue an M.A. in education at the GSE and an M.B.A. at the Graduate School of Business. Students complete both degrees in two years.

• Joint M.A. in public policy and education opens in a new tab: The M.A./M.P.P. joint degree allows students in the POLS program to simultaneously pursue a master's in public policy from the School of Humanities and Sciences. Students complete both degrees in two years.

Doctoral Programs

The school’s doctoral program is organized into three primary academic area committees that oversee student progress, curriculum, and research:

• Curriculum Studies and Teacher Education opens in a new tab (CTE): Focuses on the preparation of teachers and leaders, subject-matter teaching, curriculum design, and the analysis of instructional practices.

• Developmental and Psychological Sciences opens in a new tab (DAPS): Explores the cognitive, social, emotional, and linguistic development of learners, integrating psychological principles with educational practice.

• Social Sciences, Humanities, and Interdisciplinary Policy Studies in Education opens in a new tab (SHIPS): Investigates education through sociological, historical, philosophical, economic, and political lenses to analyze and reform educational policies and systems.

Cross-area specializations

• Learning Sciences and Technology Design opens in a new tab (LSTD): LSTD allows doctoral students to study learning sciences and technology design within the context of their primary program of study (DAPS, CTE, or SHIPS). 

• Race, Inequality, and Language in Education opens in a new tab (RILE): RILE trains students to become national leaders in conducting research on how race, inequality, and language intersect to make both ineffective and effective educational opportunities. RILE allows students to specialize within their program of study (DAPS, CTE, or SHIPS). 

Undergraduate Programs

The Graduate School of Education offers a minor and an honors program at the undergraduate level. Regardless of whether they are enrolled in one of these undergraduate programs, undergraduates are also welcome in many graduate-level courses at the GSE.

• Undergraduate Minor: opens in a new tabThe minor provides a substantial introduction to the field of education through the broad-based and focused study of research, theory, and practice.

• Undergraduate Honors: opens in a new tabThe honors program provides the opportunity to pursue independent inquiry under the mentorship of GSE faculty.