Educational Leadership and Supervision

This course focuses on an examination of the ethical considerations of educational practice in contemporary society.

This course focuses on the premise that all educators, regardless of formal title, role or position, need to assume responsibility for leadership in service of improving their institution and its members. Further, all educators must be responsible for developing the leadership capacity of those in their care. The course content addresses various theories of leadership, finding one’s own leadership style, and thinking about leadership in such populations as teachers, staff, and students.

This course focuses on developing one’s understanding of adult development throughout the life span and its implications for educational practice. Regardless of role and formal job description, all educators must interact with adults, and an appreciation for the developmental tasks of personal and career cycles is essential. Course content is designed to stimulate thinking about how to promote growth and transformation in one’s own life and with others.

This course focuses on examining the use of reflective practice to improve instruction and leadership techniques and to engender professional dialogue among colleagues. Facilitating one’s own critical reflection, as well as encouraging that in others, is a key component of teaching, learning, and leading. The course content also explores the concept of self-renewal and resilience as indicators of health and wellness in individuals and educational institutions.

Self-Renewal This course focuses on examining the use of reflective practice to improve instruction and leadership techniques and to engender professional dialogue among colleagues. Facilitating one’s own critical reflection, as well as encouraging that in others, is a key component of teaching, learning, and leading. The course content also explores the concept of self-renewal and resilience as indicators of health and wellness in individuals and educational institutions. The key role that mentoring can play in initiating novice educators into the profession, supporting individual growth and sustaining the enthusiasm of veteran educators also is addressed.

This course examines the various ways in which social and cultural factors influence education. It will review sociological research findings on such topics as learning and social class, teacher and parental expectations, learning and gender, ethnicity, and the relation between learning and family rearing practices. In considering the cultural influences on contemporary education, students will study a variety of multicultural education models, the transmission of culture in a pluralistic society, and the role of education in the acculturation and assimilation process.

This course focuses on developing an appropriate research design for each student’s dissertation proposal. It includes articulating the research questions, choosing the design and being able to articulate its appropriateness to the inquiry at hand, discussing the assets and limitations of the design, human subjects and other ethical concerns, and proposed methods of data collection and analysis.

Dissertation research 1 is the first of a two-block experience involving original doctoral research. In this course, the student will gather data to be reported in chapter four of the dissertation, using the research design developed in individualized research design.

Dissertation research 2 is the second of a two-block experience involving original doctoral research. In this course, the student will analyze his/her collected data, including re-engaging with the seminal scholarly literature presented in chapter 2. Data analysis will conform to the methods described in individual Research Design. In addition to analysis, the student will be able to discuss the scholarly and practitioner implications of his/her findings as well as directions for future research.

Dissertation 1 is the first in a three-course block of final required dissertation writing. It yields the first two chapters of the dissertation: Introduction and literature Review. Credit is awarded when the students submits the fully edited and approved version of these two chapters to his/her Dissertation Committee.

Course Dissertation 2 is the second of the three-course clock of final required dissertation writing. Dissertation research consists of conducting the approved research developed the individualized research design yields and the Research Methodology chapter of the dissertation (chapter three. Credit is awarded when the dstudent submits the fully edited and approved version ofthis chapter to his/her Dissertation Committee and receives their approva; for the completed data gathering.

Dissertation 3 is the final block of required dissertaion writing. It yiekds the last two chapters of the dissertaion (chapters four or five) and completes the document. Credit is awarded when the student successfully presents his/her research findings and recommendations and submits the fully edited and approved dissertation to his/her Dissertation Committee.

The School Finance course is essential for the school administrator. Responsible for the ethical and strategic use of resources, the administrator cannot completely delegate financial responsibility to another office. Thus this course will cover a broad range of topics designed to acquaint the students with the knowledge of: funding formulas, accounting procedures, procurement regulations, taxation principles, fiduciary oversights, audits, and general management of state and local funding formulas. Emphasis will be placed on developing skills necessary to manage the financial program of a district and, in turn, a school.

Leadership describes an individual’s ability to influence. This course is a survey of selected research that addresses the development of leadership skills, the academic field of leadership studies, the roles of leadership in education, including transactional, transformational, and post-modern theory. Leadership is examined, not only from the perspective of personal development, but also in the contexts of organizational and systems theories. Moreover, since the literature relating to leadership is varied, with approaches ranging from popular, “self-help” to serious academic scholarship, this course provides the opportunity to compare and contrast this wide range of leadership analysis.

Methods, theories, and research applying to the supervision and evaluation of classroom instruction; includes analysis and application of research in effective teaching practices, formative and summative evaluation, staff development, data collection techniques, and alternative feedback methods. This course will focus on the role of the district administrator in the supervisory process from the legal aspects to the coaching of principals.

Administrators must know the laws that govern the operation and conduct of their organizations as they face a highly litigious society. This course will study the relevant legal principles that affect the operation, organization, and administration of schools. Students will gain knowledge about legal issues that will help them in effectively performing their professional duties within the boundaries of constitutional, statutory, and case law.

This course focuses on promoting theoretical and applied understandings of school personnel management in an ever-changing professional educational environment. Emphasis will be placed on understanding effective ways of dealing with labor relations, personnel appraisal, communication, disciplinary procedures, leadership systems and designs, and compensation structuring. Focus will be on applicable laws and the roles and responsibilities of school leaders in the area of human resource management in educational settings will be examined.

This course provides a framework for using quantitative methods in educational research. The course will focus on a wide range of quantitative research methods including experimental, correlational and survey research among others. Additionally, students will review the different steps in quantitative research, the determination of different options for types of data collected and the ability to locate, select, and assess an instrument(s) for data collection. Specifying variables, reliability, validity, scales of measurement, scoring of the data, and selection of a statistical program will also be discussed

This course focuses on the concept of qualitative research. It will aid the student in developing an understanding of what qualitative research is, what the types of qualitative research are, when to use it, and how to develop a well-designed research study using qualitative research methods. The course will go on to help the student code the findings and write a dissertation using the qualitative method of data gathering and analysis.