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Educational Leadership, EdD

We train and prepare Transformational Leaders for Equity, Diversity & Social Justice to eradicate systemic and systematic barriers to progress the world’s most vulnerable children and their families.

This doctoral program aims to prepare culturally responsive, transformational senior-level administrative leaders, policymakers, and researchers who can design solutions across K-12 institutions, higher education institutions and other educational and civic organizations. As innovative leaders, you will be able to impact the worlds of policy and practice to promote a positive school climate and ensure each student’s success. By joining this program, you will be envisioning the future of 21st century educational institutions, interacting with curious minds, implementing cutting-edge research practices to develop a new vision of education for a diverse society. You will emerge as a change agent and reflective practitioner who can address diverse educational issues and lead sustainable change at district, state, and national levels. This program is deeply grounded in CAEP and NELP standards.

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES

caep logo

The Delaware State University’s Ed. D. Program had received National Accreditation by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) for seven years. This accreditation is quality assurance that the programs meet standards set by organizations representing the academic community, professionals, and other stakeholders.

  • Cohort model with accelerated weekend format
  • Program grounded in NELP Standards
  • Enriched curriculum with effective course sequencing
  • Diverse research capstone options
  • Ample opportunities of experiential learning through internship and community partnership
  • SPA approved standard based assessments
  • Offers two concentrations:
    • Ed. D. in K-12 and
    • Ed. D. in Higher Education
  • Robust graduation rate

Special Incentive for Delaware teachers: BUY ONE GET ONE FREE in Summer, i.e. for Summer Semester courses, you pay for one course and get the other one free!!!

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

In collaboration with the State of Delaware, the purpose of Delaware State University’s Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership program is to prepare educational leaders for prominent leadership and service positions in School Districts and Higher Education sectors. Our rigorous advanced program of study has been designed for working professionals to foster continuous refinement of their leadership skills to promote effective organizational and individual performance. Through a sound educational foundation and directed field experience, students will emerge as viable candidates for leadership positions throughout the country. At Delaware State University, students will find a unique balance between rigorous research, serious academic studies, partnership, collegiality, and personal development. Students will be prepared to take data-driven decisions to serve authentically, and lead with integrity, and hone their personal leadership style, create a new career path, and learn to meet the challenges of 21st century. Most states require Doctor of Education in K-12 to gain licensure to become a superintendent or assistant superintendent in a school district. Our program does not provide a licensure or a certification as a superintendent or assistant superintendent in a school district or as a Certified Central Office personnel, but helps students meet the eligibility criteria for these positions. For more information about the requirements for superintendent or assistant superintendent certification, please visit the state of Delaware website

To serve the professional needs of the students and to meet the growing demands of the job market, our doctoral program offers two concentrations to choose from:

  1. Doctor of Education (Ed. D.) in Educational Leadership in K-12 (three and a half years; 55 credit hours)
  2. Doctor of Education (Ed. D.) in Educational Leadership in Higher Education (three and a half years; 55 credit hours)

Courses are conducted in an accelerated weekend format. Courses span eight weeks, and the classes are normally held in the first, third and sixth weekends of an eight-week session. Normally, a two-week break is provided between the courses so that the students can prepare for the next course. Sessions are held on Friday evenings from 5- 9 p.m., Saturdays from 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m.- 3 p.m. Currently, the classes are being held via virtual synchronous- asynchronous hybrid format due to COVID-19.

International Cohorts: The classes for the Jamaica and China cohorts will follow a blended delivery format i.e., a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous teaching. The classes of China cohort will meet Mondays through Fridays from 7:40 pm to 9:40 pm. The classes of Jamaica cohort will meet on Thursdays (6:00 to 9:00 pm) and on Sundays (10:00 am to 4:00 pm).

PROGRAM GOALS

This high-quality doctoral program prepares transformational, culturally responsive and equity focused discerning educational leaders who value diversity and demonstrate deep commitment to equity, social justice and can transform the educational system to impact student learning. The candidates are the role models for the community and display ethical and professional competence in their chosen fields to emerge as: 

  • Critical thinkers who can effectively utilize education software tools for data collection and analysis and adopting latest information technology to broaden their vision of learning.
  • Inquisitive reflective practitioners who believe in the concept of lifelong learning and display personal flexibility to sustain personal and professional development. 
  • Skilled educational leaders who can connect and apply cutting edge research to policy and practice to serve the educational institutions to promote success and well-being of each student.
  • Competent leaders who are prepared to facilitate service, leadership and learning in all environments including urban, suburban, rural, undeveloped, and underserved.

The purpose of our Ed. D. program is to providing high quality learning experience for academic competence of candidates; fostering intellectual creativity through robust research & analytical inquiry; and hands-on high impact applied learning experiences to the critical problems of practice.    

Specific goal of K - 12 Concentration:

This concentration will prepare the candidates as effective administrators and equity practitioners who can articulate a vision for public schools, interact with curious minds, implement cutting-edge research practices and technology to develop a new vision of education for the diverse society. They will emerge as effective instructional leaders with expertise in policy development, teaching innovations, curriculum development and can foresee the future of 21st century educational institutions. They will collaborate with diverse stakeholders for strategic planning, implementing, and evaluating processes to foster supportive and inclusive district culture that benefit the academic growth and ensure each student’s success. 

Specific goal of Higher Education Concentration:

With a grounding in the conceptual underpinnings of the practice of higher education, this concentration will equip the candidates with knowledge base & skillsets conducive for the effective organizational administration, policy development, strategic innovations, and social justice advocacy as related to post-secondary institutions. The candidates will emerge as ethical and socially responsive professionals who can connect theory and research to successfully operate within the diverse, social, political, educational, and organizational contexts of their institutions and the community.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

EDD IN K-12  

Education Graduate Programs at Delaware State University has established the following Learning Outcomes for its doctoral program in consonance with the NELP standards to ensure that the candidates can demonstrate the capacity to:

  1. Develop, design, and implement a district mission, and vision that reflects a core set of values and priorities that include data use, technology, diversity, social justice, and digital citizenship.
  2. Develop and maintain a supportive, equitable, culturally responsive, and inclusive district culture and advocate for ethical decisions and cultivate professional norms and culture.
  3. Evaluate, design, cultivate, and implement coherent systems of curriculum, instruction, data analysis, assessment, and instructional leadership.
  4. Understand and engage families, communities, and other constituents in the work of schools and the district and to advocate for district, student, and community needs. 
  5. Apply research to analyze and synthesize district level student learning and operational data by utilizing cutting edge technology to conduct strategic inquiry and robust research to critical problems of practice to lead the district improvement.
  6. Develop, monitor, evaluate and manage data informed district systems for equitable operations, resources, technology, and human capital management.
  7. Cultivate meaningful relationships, lead collaborative decision making and advocate for institution and district needs in broader policy conversations. 
  8. Demonstrate critical and reflective thinking, effective reasoning, and creativity to conduct strategic inquiry and the application of data driven decision making through analytical review and scholarly writings to lead the institutional improvement. 
  9. Demonstrate authentic leadership qualities by being involved in the real administrative roles and collaborate with the stakeholders in the organizational, strategic, and contextual decision-making processes to ensure the success and well-being of each student and adult in the institution. 

EdD in higher education  

Education Graduate Programs at Delaware State University has established the following Learning Outcomes for its doctoral program in consonance with the standards of CAS (Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education) to ensure that our candidates are able to:

  1. Develop, design, and implement a higher education institution’s mission, and vision that reflects a core set of values, priorities and strategic goals that include data collection, technology use, diversity, and digital citizenship. 
  2. Demonstrate the ability of realistic self-appraisal, intra-personal growth, capacity to advocate for ethical decisions and cultivate professional dispositions for institutional growth. 
  3. Cultivate and maintain a supportive, equitable, culturally responsive, and inclusive institutional culture. 
  4. Evaluate, design, cultivate, and implement coherent system of data collection, assessment, evaluation and integrate authentic practices to achieve institutional strategic goals. 
  5. Develop, monitor, evaluate, and manage data-informed and equitable institutional systems for operations, resources, technology, and human capital management. 
  6. Cultivate meaningful relationships, lead collaborative decision making in governance and represent institutional needs in broader policy conversations. 
  7. Collaborate with diverse community partners to develop and implement a comprehensive system of responsibility, accountability and decision making for increasing campus diversity, improving campus climate, advancing the knowledge base for creating and sustaining a culturally diverse institution.
  8. Demonstrate critical and reflective thinking, effective reasoning, and creativity to conduct strategic inquiry and the application of data-driven decisions through analytical review and scholarly writings to lead the institutional improvement.
  9. Demonstrate authentic leadership qualities by being involved in the real administrative roles and collaborate with the stakeholders in the organizational, strategic, and contextual decision-making processes to ensure the success and well-being of each student and adult in the institution.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS & DEADLINES

Rolling Admissions

  • Priority given to applications received by June 30 for fall admission, and October 30 for spring admission.
  • Enrollment is contingent upon receipt of all required documents no later than two weeks prior to the enrollment period for U.S. applicants.

International Admission Deadlines:

  • Fall enrollment: May 1     
  • Spring enrollment: Oct. 1

Applicants must meet the following requirements:

  • An earned master’s degree with a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.00.
  • An on-line application for admission.
  • Application fee of $50.00 made payable to Delaware State University
  • Official transcript(s) of all academic work completed.
  • Graduate Record Exam (GRE) or Miller Analogies Test (MAT) scores. Testing must be within 5 years of the application. Scores must be submitted prior to being admitted into the program. The acceptable cut-off scores: (i) GRE: 40 percentile (+ - 1) and a score of 3.0 or better on the Analytical Writing component; or (ii) MAT: 400 (+ - 10). OR writing an essay (i.e., an on campus writing sample).
  • A “Personal Statement”. The candidate must specifically explain why he or she wants to be admitted to the Ed. D. in Educational Leadership program. This statement needs to be focused on concentration specific educational leadership. Specifications: 2-­5 pages, APA style, grammatical error free.
  • A sample of scholarly work (e.g., thesis, portfolio, project report, published research work, creative writings, etc.
  • A current professional resume.
  • Three (3) letters of recommendation (two academic/professional recommendations and one (1) character recommendation) - via the online application process.
  • For admission in Ed. D. (Higher Ed. Concentration): Applicant must be working in or toward a leadership role in his or her current position, or must have similar experience (e.g., administrator, coordinator, or teacher at a district/school, higher education, or education department in other organization).
  • For admission in Ed. D. (K­12 Concentration): The applicant must hold a valid Delaware Initial, Continuing, or Advanced Licensure; or a Limited Standard, Standard or Professional Status Certificate issued by the Department prior to August 31, 2003 or must hold such or similar certification from any other state.
    • The applicants not holding the licensure may also be admitted into the program but on a clear understanding that the doctoral degree will not lead to any licensure but will make them eligible for it and they will still have to follow the individualized plan to meet the licensure requirements.
  • Copies of earned teaching and/or administrative certificates (optional).

The Director, Education Graduate Programs, along with the Education Graduate Admission Ad hoc Committee will review each application and make the recommendation for acceptance into the program to the Dean, School of Graduate, Adult and Extended Studies who will extend an offer of admission to the applicant.

Additional Requirements for International Applicants

Please review application procedures for international students. In addition to the requirements noted above, if the earned baccalaureate degree is from a non-English speaking country, the international applicants must submit WES or ECE evaluation of all academic work completed as well as the results of the TOEFL or IELTS examination.

All international students must also meet the visa requirements of the Office of International Student Services (OISS) before a Certificate of Eligibility for Non-immigrant (F-1) Student Visa (I-20 A-B form) can be issued.

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

This Program of Study requires the completion of 55 graduate credit hours including an integral component of Applied Educational Internship/Field Experience. The students of the K-12 concentration will be required to complete 240 hours of internship in a K-12 setting, and the students of the Higher Education concentration will be required to complete 120 hours of field experience in a higher education setting. This extensive experience is grounded in strong research with focus on activities designed to provide rigorous, diverse, high-impact field-based experiences extended over time that result in the intern’s demonstration of professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions articulated in professional standards.

Note: Transition to changed/modified curriculum will be implemented for 2020 & 2021 cohort w.e.f. Fall 2021.

QUALIFYING EXAMINATION

All students are required to pass the Qualifying Examination. It is an exhaustive exam designed to provide students an opportunity to demonstrate their analytical writing ability by conceptualizing and synthesizing their knowledge in an organized and cogent manner. The schedule of this exam is included in the cohort plan of the program provided to all the students at the time of New Student Orientation.

CAPSTONE

The Ed. D. program at the Delaware State University offers three options for the final capstone experience i.e., the Case Study Analysis, the Project Study, and the Dissertation. The doctoral candidates must complete, orally present, and defend a research capstone to meet their final degree requirement.

Professional Portfolio

The candidates will also be required to submit a professional portfolio in the office of Education Graduate Programs after successfully defending their final capstone. The candidates from K-12 concentration will submit a professional portfolio reflecting their experiences and skills related to District level NELP standards as evaluated through CAEP approved assessments. The candidates of Higher Education concentration will submit a professional portfolio reflecting activities/projects completed during their field experience and the major course assignments related with CAS standards.

TRANSFER OF CREDITS

The applicants who have earned a grade of “B” or higher in doctoral level courses taken at an accredited institution that are relatable to the program of study at DSU can request for the transfer of credits. These courses will be evaluated by the Director, Education Graduate Programs on an individual basis. No student will be allowed to transfer more than 25 credit hours, provided these credits have not been used to meet the requirements of a degree, diploma or certificate previously earned.

The applicants admitted to doctoral program must provide supporting documentation, as may be required by the Director, Education Graduate Programs, at the time of admission or in any case no later than the first semester of study. The Director, Education Graduate Programs will review all the submitted documentation and note the allowable course waivers in the program’s recommendation to the Dean, School of Graduate, Adult and Extended Studies, who will approve the credit hours allowed to be transferred.

PROGRAM FACULTY PROFILE

Education department’s distinguished faculty members include nationally and internationally known authors, researchers, and academicians. All the faculty members have achieved notable distinction in their respective fields. They combine their academic expertise with direct experiences in the field of education to offer practical guidance and mentorship to the students to enable them to adapt to the professional world and make wise career choices.

Program Faculty:

Dr. Justin Alexander, Assistant Professor

Dr. Joseph Falodun, Associate Professor

Dr. Chetanath Gautam, Associate Professor

Dr. Yvette Pierre, Associate Professor

Dr. Richard Phillips, Professor

Dr. Pietro Sasso, Associate Professor & Program Coordinator, Ed.D.-Higher Education

Dr. Reshid Walker, Assistant Professor & Program Coordinator, M.Ed.

Dr. Brenda Wynder, Associate Professor & Program Coordinator, Ed.D.-K-12

Dr. SaeYeol Yoon, Associate Professor

Dr. Nirmaljit K. Rathee, Professor & Director, Education Programs

Required Courses

VIEW THE K-12 COURSE CURRICULUM (FOR 2018 COHORT)

VIEW THE K-12 COURSE CURRICULUM (FOR 2019 COHORT)

VIEW THE K-12 COURSE CURRICULUM (FOR 2020 COHORT)VIEW THE K-12 COURSE CURRICULUM (FOR 2021 COHORT)View the Higher Ed Course Curriculum (for 2018 Cohort)VIEW THE HIGHER ED COURSE CURRICULUM (FOR 2019 COHORT) VIEW THE HIGHER ED COURSE CURRICULUM (FOR 2020 COHORT)VIEW THE HIGHER ED COURSE CURRICULUM (FOR 2021 COHORT) View the Course Descriptions