Educational Leadership

Ed.D.

The Educational Leadership Program prepares students to become instructional leaders in public and non-public schools, state agencies, and new entrepreneurial ventures. Students gain a deep understanding about the context of American education from anthropological, historical, and sociological perspectives and about the central elements of instructional, organizational, public, and evidenced-based leadership. Students develop a variety of qualitative and quantitative analytical skills that are required to identify, understand, and assess evidence about educational problems. Through their coursework, students come to understand the dynamics of change, to appreciate the importance of resistance, and to value the human side of all educational enterprises. They draw from all of this knowledge to wrestle with the complexities involved in promoting the ongoing transformation of public and non-public educational organizations.

Students seeking principal certification have the option of enrolling in the School Leadership Program for Principal Certification, a five course program, as part of their doctoral work.

The Ed.D. program has a strong commitment to educational practice and preparing scholar-practitioners. Ed.D. applicants are required to hold a master’s degree and are expected to have several years of experience in educational practice. Students take a minimum of 20 course units, which include a set of core courses, research methods courses, specialization courses, and electives. All Ed.D. students take part in courses and seminars specifically designed for Ed.D. students across GSE and select an Ed.D. cognate of study. The program will accept up to eight course units of relevant graduate-level coursework towards the degree taken prior to enrollment at Penn GSE. Doctoral students take a set of written examinations in the area of specialization and complete a dissertation on a problem of educational practice to complete the course of study.

Program of Study

 

Core Courses:
EDUC 646 Education, Culture, and Society
EDUC 664 Doctoral Foundations of Teaching & Learning
EDUC 621 Doctoral Proseminar
EDUC 545 Key Issues in Educational Practice

Three Research Methodology Courses, such as:
EDUC 545 Qualitative Modes of Inquiry
EDUC 667 Introductory Statistics for Educational Research
EDUC 669 Practitioner Inquiry

Specialization Course in Leadership
EDUC 618 Leadership in Educational Institutions

And two additional Leadership Courses, such as:
EDUC 508 Managing People
EDUC 519 Evolution of Assessment: Classroom and Policy Uses
EDUC 545 Politics of Educational Leadership
EDUC 624 Schools as Organizations
EDUC 518 Authority, Freedom, and Disciplinary Policies
EDUC 702 Conceptual Models in Educational Administration

Elective Courses

 

With your advisor, choose graduate-level elective courses totaling 20 course units.

 

To view GSE course offerings, click here.

Program Faculty

Judy Lechner Brody, Ed.D., University of Pennsylvania
John DeFlaminis, Ph.D., University of Oregon
Charles Dwyer, Ph.D., Cornell University (Emeritus)
Joan Goodman, Ed.D., Harvard School of Education
Peter Kuriloff, Ed.D., Harvard University
James Lytle, Ed.D., Stanford University
Annie McKee, Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University
Norman Newberg, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara (Emeritus)
Harris Sokoloff, Ph.D., Syracuse University
Jonathan Supovitz, Ed.D., Harvard University

Program Contact

Vernell Edwards, MSOD, Coordinator
Foundations and Practices in Education
University of Pennsylvania
Graduate School of Education
3700 Walnut Street, Room
413 Philadelphia, PA 19104-6216
Phone: 215-746-2566
edwardsv@gse.upenn.edu