The Educational Leadership concentration focuses on analyzing practices in school administration and promoting socially just school leadership. Our program enables school leaders to critically examine the current issues and theoretical perspectives guiding their work and promote leadership strategies and approaches that are informed by a rich knowledge base and dynamic analytical abilities. We follow an educator-scholar model in which both practice and theory are recognized for their symbiotic relationship in promoting meaningful school change.

The Educational Leadership concentration is partially focused on preparing school superintendents, but its broader focus is on preparing school leaders at different levels of academia. While the coursework in the program fulfills the academic requirements for the state superintendency endorsement and some students pursue it, the program is also designed for students who are interested in a broader notion of school leadership that can inform their work in positions other than school district-level administration. Most of the courses for this concentration include a broad focus on leadership that can pertain to institutional contexts beyond preK-12 school systems, although the majority of the students in this concentration are interested in public and private preK-12 education.

All students in both concentrations take core courses in educational leadership (A&S courses) and curriculum studies (CS), along with social foundations and research courses (SCG courses).  As such, we believe that educational leadership is not separate from curricular work done in schools, and that the socicultural and political contexts in which education occurs is a necessary element to consider.

back to top

Degree Requirements

Doctor of Education  (17 courses; 76 quarter hours)
The Ed.D. degree requirements include 8 quarter hours for the dissertation proposal and dissertation; the latter requires an oral defense.

Superintendent Endorsement (1 course; 4 quarter hours)
The superintendent endorsement requires an additional 4-credit hour internship.

Printable PDF of program requirements

Admission requierments

Basic Requirements
Program Specific Requirements
Deadlines 

Prerequisites
The Educational Leadership should have graduate level coursework in school administration, school law and school finance, particularly for those applicants interested in the superintendency endorsement.