Student Handbook

• Qualifying Assessment
• Procedures and Guidelines for the Dissertation Committee, Dissertation Proposal and Dissertation Committee

Qualifying Assessment - Doctoral Portfolio

The purpose of the Doctoral Portfolio is both A) reflective and B) prospective:

A) To ensure that the doctoral student has a strong knowledge base regarding the content of both the core courses and the mathematics education courses.

B) To enhance the student's ability to successfully complete the doctorate by improving the doctoral student's abilities in writing and editing, knowledge of integration and research.

The contents of the Doctoral Portfolio shall be the following:

• One integrative essay: This essay should address how the four Educational Core themes relate to the student's area of mathematics. The essay should be between 15 and 30 pages long. The essay must contain appropriate citations and references form the relevant literature plus a bibliography section. Students are free to challenge and critically examine the assumptions and philosophy of the doctoral program themes, insofar as they support their arguments with thoughtful reasoning and evidence from the literature. Students who have begunto formulate their dissertation research may wish to focus their integrative essay on material related to their dissertation.
• Two or three artifacts: The artifacts can stem from: 1) work done for a course during the doctoral program; 2) work done prior to entering the doctoral program as long as it includes a critical reflection on how the student's understanding has progressed since the artifact was created; and 3) new work done during the doctoral program that is not a direct result o any particular course. As a whole, the artifacts must illustrate key points from the integrative essay and, at least, one of these should demonstrate an understanding of how to conduct research in the area of mathematics.
• A rationale for each of the artifacts included in the portfolio: Each rational should explain how the artifact actually relates to the key points of the integrative essay. It should also include 1) the reasons for including the artifact, 2) the purposes of the artifact 3) the context in which it was developed, and a4) what was learned about the theme or themes it represents. Each rationale should be between 6 and 8 pages long.

• Does it exhibit consistent fluency and clarity of writing?
• Does it include appropriate and thorough synthesis and/or analysis of the research and literature in both the core and in mathematics?
• Does it show a consistent inquiry stance (a questioning perspective) toward your study of mathematics, your work, your thinking, and your understanding of appropriate methods for responding to questions in mathematics?
• Does it exhibit deep understanding and appropriate integration of the concepts, ideas, and principles of the core and mathematics?
• Does it showcase your theoretical and practical mastery of the knowledge base of your field?
• Does it carefully adhere to the guidelines established for the portfolio?

Procedures and Guidelines for the Dissertation Committee, Dissertation Proposal and Dissertation Committee

A dissertation pertaining to a significant mathematical topic is required of all doctoral students. The doctoral dissertation should be original, significant and independently carried out. The dissertation must be a written work of original research, demonstrating the candidate's comprehensive knowledge and mastery of theoretical, methodological, historical, and empirical issues relevant to the selected mathematical topic. Once a student has advanced to candidacy, the dissertation may be formally begun and the committee formed.

A dissertation committee composed of a minimum of three faculty members is required. The three committee members must be Montclair State University doctoral faculty and one member must be selected from a department other than the mathematics department. Requests for members of the committee from outside the University must be made in writing to the Dean of the Graduate School. Such outside faculty members must meet the criteria for MSU doctoral faculty in order to be approved as a member of the committee. One of the Montclair State University doctoral faculty members from the student's doctoral program will serve as the student's dissertation chair. Students working with the dissertation chair, select the committee and file for Dissertation Committee approval through the Dean of the Graduate School.

After the doctoral student has been admitted to candidacy, the student is eligible to select a dissertation committee and begin to work on the dissertation. Each candidate for the doctoral degree must prepare a dissertation proposal. The proposal should set forth:

• Statement of the problem/inquiry
• Justification of the proposed research
• Relevant prior research
• Procedures and methods of research/inquiry
• Data sources, if relevant
• Projected findings
• Reference list

The full Dissertation Committee must meet in person with the student and discuss the proposal prior to its approval. Interactive communication such as video or tele-conferencing may be substituted for an in-person meeting only for those committee members from outside the University if necessary. A formal defense of the proposal is required. The committee, through a consensus process, approves, modifies or disapproves the proposal.

Once the Dissertation Committee and the program coordinator have approved the proposal, the signed Approval of the Dissertation Proposal form with all the appropriate signatures must be submitted with the final proposal to the Dean of the Graduate School. (See Doctoral Degree Program Forms).

For research involving human participants, once the student's dissertation proposal is approved by the dissertation committee, the candidate must apply and receive approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) before submitting the dissertation to the Graduate School for final approval. A student may not commence work on the dissertation, nor will Graduate School approval be finalized, without the approval of the Institutional Review Board. The form for submission of the proposal to the IRB is available form the Office of Research and Sponsored Program. (See Doctoral Degree Program Forms.)

Once the dissertation chair and committee deem the dissertation ready for defense, the student must complete the Application for Dissertation Defense Date form. (See Doctoral Degree Program Forms.) This form serves to establish the date of the dissertation defense, which must be approved and agreed upon by the Chair of the Dissertation Committee, all Dissertation Committee members and the Dean of the Graduate School. For a more detailed explanation of the format guidelines, refer to the Procedures and Guidelines.

The oral defense of the dissertation is a two-hour examination and attendance by the candidate and all members of the dissertation committee is required. The defense will not be convened by the Graduate School Representative if any committee member is absent. The student is responsible for distributing copies of the dissertation to all members of their committee for their use in preparing for the defense.

The Graduate Dean or designee serves as the Graduate School Representative for each defense. This involves setting the location of the defense, advertising the defense and convening the defense. This representative will ensure that each member of the dissertation committee has sufficient time to ask principal and follow up questions and that the student is given adequate opportunity to respond to questions. The Graduate School Representative may ask questions of the student or committee members, but does not have a vote in the initial decision to pass or fail the student. If there is a split decision, the Graduate School Representative may attempt to facilitate the resolution.

The following policies pertain to the voting procedures for the dissertation defense. All members of the dissertation committee vote and one vote is taken with three and only three possible outcomes: pass, fail or pass with conditions.

The successfully defended dissertation with all required content and format revisions made must be submitted to the Graduate School no later than six (6) weeks prior to the student's anticipated graduation date.

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