Combined Program in Education and Psychology

Fani Vladimirova Lauermann

Fani Lauermann traveled from Germany to study in the Combined Program in Education and Psychology (CPEP). “The major attraction to CPEP is that I was interested in student motivation,” Lauermann said. “CPEP is one of the leading programs in motivation research. I could study things I was really interested in and that was very important to me.”

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy in Education and Psychology

This is a full-time, interdisciplinary doctoral program offered under the auspices of the Horace B. Rackham Graduate School. The program is focused on psychological approaches to studying and addressing issues relevant to education and improving education. In this program, students and faculty work together as a community of scholars in research projects focused on processes in development, learning, and motivation in the context of schools, families, and communities.

Because the program is supported through a collaboration of the School of Education and the Department of Psychology in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, students have opportunities to work with faculty members in both the Department of Psychology and the School of Education. In addition, consistent with the program's interdisciplinary focus, students have opportunities to connect with faculty in other academic units and research institutes at the University of Michigan, such as the School of Public Health Institute for Social Research and the Center for Human Growth and Development.

Research

(Note: not all relevant faculty are listed)
The major areas of research are listed below with some of the relevant affiliated faculty:

Human Development in Context of Schools, Families, Communities - The program focuses on child, adolescent, and adult development in the context of schools, families, and communities. This includes an emphasis on cognitive, social, motivational, and emotional development across the life-span and the roles of teachers, classrooms, schools, parents, and peers in fostering optimal and adaptive development. (Faculty: Ceballo, Chavous, K. Cortina, Davis-Kean, Eccles, Jagers, Keating, Morrison, Rowley, Ryan, Schulenberg, Weiland, Zimmerman).
Cognitive and Learning Sciences - The program focuses on basic cognitive processes such as memory and thinking in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Emphasis is placed on processes related to cognition and instruction in school content areas, particularly literacy, math, and science, as well as the development and use of innovative technologies to foster cognition and learning. (Faculty: Davis, Duke, Fishman, Keating, King, Miller, Morrison, Palincsar, Seifert, Shah, Songer).
Motivation and Self-Regulated Learning - The program focuses on the nature of and development of achievement motivation both within and outside of school contexts, drawing on theoretical frameworks in social, cognitive, developmental, and personality psychology. Emphasis is placed on individual and environmental attributes that influence motivation, on the interaction of motivation and cognition in learning, and the development of self-regulatory processes for learning, including socio-emotional development. This focus also includes processes at the levels of both students/learners and teachers. (Faculty: K. Cortina, Eccles, Jagers, Karabenick, Morrison, Ryan).
Culture, Ethnicity, Social, and Class Influences on Learning and Motivation - The program focuses on individual-level psychological attributes, assets, and competencies, along with family, community, and cultural factors that serve compensatory and protective roles among children and youth experiencing risk factors for optimal development. Emphasis is placed on understanding how some individuals considered “at risk'”- socially, cognitively, economically, and/or psychologically - overcome the odds to show positive academic, social, and psychological adaptation outcomes. (Faculty: Ceballo, Chavous, Davis-Kean, Eccles, Jagers, O'Connor, Palincsar, Rowley, Sellers, Zimmerman).

Across each of the four general areas, the program takes a contextual perspective, considering the influences of different classrooms, schools, families, communities, and cultures - within the U.S. and cross-nationally. Doing so allows us to more effectively understand variation in learning, achievement, and adaptation across individuals, as well as across and within different social and cultural groups and to identify practices and strategies for improving learning outcomes for all students.

Requirements

The program follows an apprenticeship model of graduate training and mentoring where students work closely their academic advisors to develop their scholarly interests and research capabilities. Students are required to be actively involved in their faculty mentor’s program of research from the very first semester of graduate school until they complete their degree. In addition, students take a sequence of courses in both psychology and education in their first two to three years of the program. There are three general groups of required courses, psychology, education, and methodology courses. Psychology course options include core courses in developmental, cognitive, social, and personality and social contexts psychology areas. Education course options include foundations/history of education, as well as educational psychology courses in cognition and instruction; learning, thinking, and problem solving; motivation; human development and schooling; and social and personality psychology perspectives in education. Methodology courses include specialized training in statistics as well as other quantitative or qualitative methods course options. Students work with their faculty advisors to select the sequence of courses that best fits their training needs and professional goals. In addition, all students are required to have experience teaching at the undergraduate level in during their doctoral program.

Career Preparation

This doctoral program is designed to prepare students in psychologically-focused educational research and in a diversity of research methods, including both quantitative and qualitative methods. Upon completion of the dual-doctorate in education and psychology, graduates take research and teaching positions in academic settings (in education, psychology, human development, and other related departments/units) and in non-academic settings, such as state and national agencies focused on educational policy and practices.

Note: We do not offer a school psychology or counseling psychology program.

Program Faculty

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