Educational Administration and Leadership (for Administrators)

Research on effective schools provides guidance on the most productive ways to organize time, people, money, technology, and other resources. To use these resources most effectively, leaders need to have a strategy that defines the most important priorities, the overall educational design, and the organizational structures that best match the necessary goals for improvement. Education professionals will study and interpret budget documents as they relate to the district at large and then to their portion of the budget as a school. Education leaders will research about writing and seeking grants to enhance a school's or district's options to improve student learning. Effective leaders need to be able to link whole-school strategic plans to effective instructional practices and improved use of time and money. Educational leaders must focus on school improvement, improving teaching quality, and organizing and allocating staff and other resources in the most effective way to continuously improve student performance.  

In this research course, students are provided with the opportunity to develop core knowledge and skills for designing and carrying out quantitative research at the doctoral level, including the application of statistical concepts and techniques. Students explore classical common statistical tests, the importance of the logic of inference, and social change implications of conducting quantitative research and producing knowledge. Students approach statistics from a problem-solving perspective with emphasis on selecting appropriate statistical tests for a research design. Students use statistical software to derive statistics from quantitative data and interpret and present results. (Prerequisite(s): RSCH 8110 or RSCH 7110 or RSCH 6110, and RESI 8401.)

Effective education leaders demonstrate and collaboratively develop capabilities to foster cultures for learning based on mutual respect among students, teachers, staff, parents, and the larger community. Strategies for fairly and effectively administering discipline and resolving conflict are addressed. This course is intended to help leaders understand and treat individual and group differences and potential conflict as opportunities for developing the dispositions, knowledge, and skills that result in social competencies essential to civic participation and interpersonal effectiveness in school and beyond. Education leaders will leave with the knowledge gained from a better understanding of how to address disruptive student behavior and how to deescalate conversations as well as confrontations that are an everyday reality in the school setting. Leaders will also study issues related to safety and violence in schools, considering both methods of prevention and ways to respond to unsafe and violent situations. They can learn how to call upon district and community resources to preserve safety and well-being of the school's population of students and personnel.

Students in this research course are provided with the opportunity to develop basic knowledge and skills for conducting qualitative research at the doctoral level. Students explore the nature of qualitative inquiry, how theory and theoretical and conceptual frameworks uniquely apply to qualitative research, data collection procedures and analysis strategy, and how the role of the researcher is expressed in the ethical and rigorous conduct of qualitative research. Students practice collecting, organizing, analyzing, and presenting data, and they develop a detailed research topic for conducting a qualitative study. (Prerequisite(s): RSCH 8110 or RSCH 7110 or RSCH 6110, and RESI 8401.)

Education policy is crucial to educational improvement and renewal throughout the P–20 system of education. In this course, education professionals develop the skills for critical analysis of education policy at the local, state, national, and international levels. They discuss the definition and formulation of policies and they explore a wide range of topics, including the identification of and work with policy advocates, the processes of policy implementation and evaluation, and the use of logic models in the policy process.

Education professionals expand their knowledge of the dissertation process by reviewing tools, resources, and sample dissertations as they focus on the alignment among the identified problem, purpose, framework, research question(s), and study design. Education professionals use tools, including the appropriate rubrics and checklists, to narrow the focus of their research topic, plan a comprehensive literature review, and begin to develop their prospectus.

Education leaders study human resources policies and practices for recruiting, selecting, hiring, inducting, developing, evaluating, and retaining or dismissing school personnel. Identifying teachers' needs for professional growth is important, but leaders must also ensure that teachers have the opportunity and motivation to use their professional expertise and to participate in ongoing substantial professional development focused on enhancing the learning of every student. Education leaders have the opportunity to evaluate school personnel and ensure teachers are utilized in their areas of strength within the school, and that teachers also receive support and training in any needed areas to promote student learning. They can become knowledgeable about how to hire and retain their novice teachers in order to reduce teacher turnover. As well, school leaders must be able to identify characteristics of productive teacher evaluation processes and programs; distinguish between supervising teaching and supervising learning; and utilize a process and structure for evaluating school personnel that is productive and supportive, motivates improvement, results in retention of highly competent staff members, embodies standards of due process, and takes into account the provisions of the contractual agreements for staff.

Nearly all doctoral-level programs require capstone projects that necessitate knowledge of conducting research, including how to develop an appropriate research plan. In this course, educators utilize knowledge from previous courses to develop their prospectus—a brief document that provides preliminary information about their capstone research to serve as a plan for developing the research proposal. They engage in a logical progression from topic conception to prospectus completion. They learn how to take their individualized topic and identify the research problem, purpose of their study, conceptual framework, and appropriate research design, while also examining the concepts of feasibility and overall alignment of study components. Educators will practice evaluating their work using the same guides and rubrics used by faculty.

Nearly all doctoral-level programs require capstone projects that necessitate independent application of requisite knowledge on conducting research based on close interaction with, guidance from, and supervision by an institution-approved committee. Students in each EdD program specialization are supported in the completion of their doctoral capstone in this course. The EdD doctoral study process is composed of several stages and requires levels of approval—prospectus, proposal, IRB, final study, form and style, and chief academic officer (CAO). Students develop and support a doctoral-level research problem and review related literature to develop a framework for the study. They learn how to move from a research problem to the purpose of the study, the framework, and then an appropriate design while examining the concepts of feasibility and overall alignment of study components. Students consider ethical feasibility issues as related to their capstone development and proceed to data collection and analysis. They finalize the capstone with an oral defense, appropriately presenting results and outcomes of the research, as well as implications for positive social change.Students take this course for a minimum of four quarters and are continuously enrolled until completion of their dissertation with final chief academic officer (CAO) approval.To complete a dissertation, students must obtain the academic approval of several independent evaluators including their committee, the University Research Reviewer, and the Institutional Review Board; pass the Form and Style Review; gain approval at the oral defense stage; and gain final approval by the chief academic officer. Students must also publish their dissertation on ProQuest before their degree is conferred. Learn more about the dissertation process in the Dissertation Guidebook.

Nearly all doctoral-level programs require capstone projects that necessitate independent application of requisite knowledge on conducting research based on close interaction with, guidance from, and supervision by an institution-approved committee. Students in each EdD program specialization are supported in the completion of their doctoral capstone in this course. The EdD doctoral study process is composed of several stages and requires levels of approval—prospectus, proposal, IRB, final study, form and style, and chief academic officer (CAO). Students develop and support a doctoral-level research problem and review related literature to develop a framework for the study. They learn how to move from a research problem to the purpose of the study, the framework, and then an appropriate design while examining the concepts of feasibility and overall alignment of study components. Students consider ethical feasibility issues as related to their capstone development and proceed to data collection and analysis. They finalize the capstone with an oral defense, appropriately presenting results and outcomes of the research, as well as implications for positive social change.Students take this course for a minimum of four quarters and are continuously enrolled until completion of their dissertation with final chief academic officer (CAO) approval.To complete a dissertation, students must obtain the academic approval of several independent evaluators including their committee, the University Research Reviewer, and the Institutional Review Board; pass the Form and Style Review; gain approval at the oral defense stage; and gain final approval by the chief academic officer. Students must also publish their dissertation on ProQuest before their degree is conferred. Learn more about the dissertation process in the Dissertation Guidebook.

Nearly all doctoral-level programs require capstone projects that necessitate independent application of requisite knowledge on conducting research based on close interaction with, guidance from, and supervision by an institution-approved committee. Students in each EdD program specialization are supported in the completion of their doctoral capstone in this course. The EdD doctoral study process is composed of several stages and requires levels of approval—prospectus, proposal, IRB, final study, form and style, and chief academic officer (CAO). Students develop and support a doctoral-level research problem and review related literature to develop a framework for the study. They learn how to move from a research problem to the purpose of the study, the framework, and then an appropriate design while examining the concepts of feasibility and overall alignment of study components. Students consider ethical feasibility issues as related to their capstone development and proceed to data collection and analysis. They finalize the capstone with an oral defense, appropriately presenting results and outcomes of the research, as well as implications for positive social change.Students take this course for a minimum of four quarters and are continuously enrolled until completion of their dissertation with final chief academic officer (CAO) approval.To complete a dissertation, students must obtain the academic approval of several independent evaluators including their committee, the University Research Reviewer, and the Institutional Review Board; pass the Form and Style Review; gain approval at the oral defense stage; and gain final approval by the chief academic officer. Students must also publish their dissertation on ProQuest before their degree is conferred. Learn more about the dissertation process in the Dissertation Guidebook.

Nearly all doctoral-level programs require capstone projects that necessitate independent application of requisite knowledge on conducting research based on close interaction with, guidance from, and supervision by an institution-approved committee. Students in each EdD program specialization are supported in the completion of their doctoral capstone in this course. The EdD doctoral study process is composed of several stages and requires levels of approval—prospectus, proposal, IRB, final study, form and style, and chief academic officer (CAO). Students develop and support a doctoral-level research problem and review related literature to develop a framework for the study. They learn how to move from a research problem to the purpose of the study, the framework, and then an appropriate design while examining the concepts of feasibility and overall alignment of study components. Students consider ethical feasibility issues as related to their capstone development and proceed to data collection and analysis. They finalize the capstone with an oral defense, appropriately presenting results and outcomes of the research, as well as implications for positive social change.Students take this course for a minimum of four quarters and are continuously enrolled until completion of their dissertation with final chief academic officer (CAO) approval.To complete a dissertation, students must obtain the academic approval of several independent evaluators including their committee, the University Research Reviewer, and the Institutional Review Board; pass the Form and Style Review; gain approval at the oral defense stage; and gain final approval by the chief academic officer. Students must also publish their dissertation on ProQuest before their degree is conferred. Learn more about the dissertation process in the Dissertation Guidebook.

This course is part of Walden's commitment to help prepare students to meet the university's expectations for writing in courses at the doctoral level. In this course, students write a short academic essay that will be scored by a team of writing assessors. Based on the essay score, students will complete or be exempted from additional required writing support needed to meet writing proficiency standards. This required assessment course is free. Students will be enrolled automatically in it at the beginning of their doctoral program.