Ph.D. in Educational Studies: Educational Leadership
Inspiring imagination, rhyming theory and practice, and nurturing practitioner-scholars to reflect, construct new knowledge, redefine leadership, and redesign schools.
Educational Leadership involves creative intelligence, an understanding of the disciplines that influence education, systems thinking, strategic planning, cultural responsiveness, trust building, and facilitation of collaborative efforts. The Educational Leadership specialization is designed to develop school leaders and administrators with the knowledge and skills to initiate, facilitate, support, and sustain school- or district-wide improvement of teaching, learning, and leading, and the conditions in which they occur. View the Educational Leadership Program Outcomes.
The program, which is designed to accommodate the lives of working professionals, invites applications from both traditional leaders (such as superintendents or assistant superintendents, directors, principals) and those who may not serve in a strictly administrative role (such as instructional coaches, department heads, or any teacher facilitating change). In this cohort-based program, students participate in three nine-day summer residencies and attend weekend face-to-face classes on the Cambridge campus over the three-year duration of the program. Additional support and feedback for assignments and other course requirements, as well as student networking, are provided through online technology. Program faculty are committed to promoting a scholarly and collegial community that informs and sustains both the academic work and professional responsibilities of cohort members. The program culminates in the writing and subsequent defense of the dissertation.
For more information about this program, check the Frequently Asked Questions, or contact Graduate Admissions. For application guidelines, see the Doctoral Programs Application Requirements.
Requirements: Applicants must have a Master's degree or Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study.
| PROGRAM OF STUDY | CREDITS | |
| Required Courses | 30 | |
| EAGSR 8102 | Interdisciplinary Seminar I | 3 |
| EAGSR 8108 | Achieving Academic Excellence for All | 3 |
| EAGSR 7004 | Adult Learning and Development | 3 |
| EAGSR 8107 | Critical Contexts for the Principalship | 3 |
| EAGSR 7116 | Learning and the Brain: Fitting the Nurture of Teaching to the Nature of Human Learning |
3 |
| EAGSR 7101 | Quantitative Research Methods I: Statistics for Research | 3 |
| EAGSR 8109 | School as Center of Student Achievement | 3 |
| EAGSR 7115 | Building Communities of Practice | 3 |
| EAGSR 7103 | Qualitative Research I | 3 |
| EAGSR 8104 | Interdisciplinary Seminar II | 3 |
| EAGSR 8110 | Change is a Process | 3 |
| EAGSR 7501 | Doctoral Seminar I | 3 |
| EAGSR 7502 | Doctoral Seminar II | 3 |
| EAGSR 8501 | Doctoral Seminar III | 3 |
| EAGSR 8112 | Dissertation Seminar | 3 |
| EAGSR 9151 | Doctoral Study | 0 |
| TOTAL CREDITS | 45* | |
*Students may transfer a maximum of 12 credits of post-master's work into the program. Courses must be taken at regionally-accredited institutions, approved within the doctoral study plan, and completed no longer than five years prior to the date of admission into this program. In order to transfer coursework, a student must have earned a grade of "B" or better. For students who have received a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study at Lesley, a maximum of 12 credits of required coursework may also be transferred/applied to this program. These courses may include any of the required cruses. All courses must be approved and have been taken no longer than five years prior to the date of admission into this program.
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS for REQUIRED COURSES
EAGSR 8102 Interdisciplinary Seminar I
This seminar includes lectures and discussions by faculty, visiting faculty, and participants concerning advanced professional roles. The focus of the seminar is the teaching/therapy interface and how it affects each advanced professional in the human service field. Note: Ph.D. candidates and C.A.G.S. students only.
EAGSR 8108 Seminar II: Achieving Academic Excellence for All Students
This seminar will concentrate on beliefs about the overarching purposes of education, the role of education in a democratic society, and competing ideas about how to attain those purpose and fulfill that role. Students will consider 1) historical perspectives about the purposes of education and the reasons for schools, 2) different perspectives about the needs of students and society and how schools serve those needs, and 3) views about standards in public education. Note: For Educational Leadership Ph.D. students only.
EAGSR 7004 Adult Learning and Development
This course will review the theories, research, and models on adult learning and development. It explores the social context in which adults learn and develop, and the influences of race, class, gender, and culture. Students will be required to apply the material to a practice setting. This is a seminar designed for advanced graduate students.
EAGSR 8107 Critical Contexts for the Principalship
In this seminar students will examine the principles, values and beliefs that inform contemporary educational leadership and look critically at the contextual factors that influence how leaders function in schools and school districts. Students will consider the social, economic, historical and political forces that shape school conditions and review the changing impact of Federal policy and national strategies on local educational settings.Note: For Educational Leadership Ph.D. students only.
EAGSR 7116 Learning and the Brain: Fitting the Nurture of Teaching to the Nature of Human Learning
In this course, educators will explore how neuroscience can be used to improve student learning. Learning occurs through the biological medium of the brain. Activating and altering neurobiological processes within the nervous system is key to learning. Participants will examine the physiological mechanisms involved in memory, executive function, attention, emotion, motivation, stress, and resilience, and investigate practical applications for improved teaching methods and curricular design.
EAGSR 7101 Quantitative Research Methods I: Statistics for Research
This course is designed to introduce graduate students to basic statistical methods and involves two broad topics: descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. In addition, students are introduced to statistical model building through the technique of regression analysis and correlational analysis. While the course centers on parametric statistical techniques, a brief introduction to non-parametric statistical methods, such as the chi-square test, is included.
EAGSR 8109 School as a Center of Student Achievement
This seminar will examine the factors that affect a school’s capacity to improve and sustain student achievement. Participants will analyze school conditions proposed by current research and theory. Organizing principles for schools, approaches for using data and challenges related to closing achievement gaps will receive particular attention. Note: For Educational Leadership Ph.D. students only.
EAGSR 7115 Building Communities of Practice
If true reform is to occur in schools, school change leaders need to utilize approaches aimed at mobilizing student, teacher and parent communities. This course will examine a variety of ways school leaders may develop 1) a community of student learners that addresses self-responsibility academically and socially, 2) a supportive culture for teachers through induction, coaching and mentoring and 3) a plan to engage parents in the agenda of the school. Students will explore the literature that frames the importance of social learning, delve into historical beginnings of communities of practice and explore promising approaches in the US and in international settings. The course will also reference and reinforce the literature on professional learning communities and discuss the skills and processes necessary to build and sustain the professional capacities of building-based faculties.
EAGSR 7103 Qualitative Research Methods I
The purpose of this class is to learn to conduct qualitative social science research. Participants will read a variety of perspectives on the philosophical bases as well as tools of the practice of qualitative data gathering and analysis. Each participant will engage in a small qualitative study that is consistent with her or his graduate study goals. They will choose a topic and research setting, negotiate research relationships, collect and analyze data, and present findings. Readings, analytic memos, interview transcriptions, and field notes will provide material for the class to work with as co-consultants.
EAGSR 8104 Interdisciplinary Seminar II
Participants in this seminar examine the political, economic, and sociocultural forces that impact upon and shape the roles of professionals within institutions of social change. The seminar is structured around the consideration of a select number of critical issues and controversies surrounding professional work within institutions of social change. Presentations by invited professional practitioners supplement seminar readings and discussions. Note: Ph.D. candidates and C.A.G.S. students only.
EAGSR 8110 Change is a Process
In this seminar, new knowledge constructed from Achieving Academic Excellence for All, Critical Contexts in Educational Leadership, and Creating the School as Center of Academic Achievement will be reviewed, reinforced and applied to exploring the process of change. Students will examine work conditions that support change efforts, study models of change and discuss their implications for redefining educational leadership and redesigning schools. Students will examine the use of conceptual frameworks to initiate, facilitate, support, and sustain school or district-wide change efforts. Note: For Educational Leadership Ph.D. students only.
EAGSR 7501 Doctoral Seminar I
This seminar supports deepened inquiry into one of the four major lenses of the doctoral program: Leadership, Program Development and Evaluation, Research, Adult Learning Theory.
EAGSR 7502 Doctoral Seminar II
This seminar supports deepened inquiry into one of the four major lenses of the doctoral program: Leadership, Program Development and Evaluation, Research, Adult Learning Theory.
EAGSR 8501 Doctoral Seminar III
This seminar supports deepened inquiry into one of the four major lenses of the doctoral program: Leadership, Program Development and Evaluation, Research, Adult Learning Theory, and the development and execution of a pilot study.
EAGSR 8112 Ph.D. Dissertation Seminar
The Educational Leadership Ph.D. dissertation seminar is designed to assist students in finishing their dissertation. Questions/dilemmas about technology literacy, library research, data-based research, being a reflective practitioner, knowing how to make presentations, how to collaborate with others, analyze, synthesize, assess, evaluate, read critically, and write well will be dealt with in order to finish the dissertation. Note: Ph.D. students only.
EAGSR 9151 Doctoral Study
Doctoral students should register for this course every semester while taking coursework, and after, while completing the qualifying examination or dissertation.
Lesley University reserves the right to unilaterally add, withdraw, or revise any course offering in the above-mentioned program of study, including policies, provisions, requirements, and fees.
Lesley University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity institution and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, religion, color, creed, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, handicap, or disability in its educational programs, employment, or in admissions to, access to, or treatment in its programs or activities.
