The EdD program in leadership and innovation is designed for practicing educator-leaders who want to participate in creating better learning opportunities for students of all ages in a range of settings with the ultimate goal of transforming the practice of education.
The focus of the program is research in action. Students conduct multiple studies throughout the program to learn by doing and to influence change based on scholarship applied in their workplace.
Students in the program begin as accomplished teachers, teacher leaders, principals and superintendents, and edupreneurs or higher education professionals. Through their learning, they deepen their abilities to lead and innovate in educational organizations. The program is not designed to prepare students for academic tenure-track positions.
The cohort-based program begins in summer with an introduction to doctoral studies and the formation of a professional learning community that draws on the strengths of all group members.
Required courses are team-taught by faculty and require students to conduct research in their workplace, laying the foundation for the culminating project: the action research study documented in the dissertation.
Leader-scholar communities, formed at the end of the first year and consisting of five to seven students and two faculty members, meet regularly for the second and third years of the program. Students register for required research and dissertation hours as part of the LSC requirement.
Through these LSCs, students support each other, under faculty guidance, in the conceptualization, implementation and study of change initiatives. Students share their research at the end of each semester through roundtables, posters and symposia in a public research day.
Successful graduates have made a commitment to continuing systematic study of their professional practice and making a positive difference in their local workplaces putting their research in action. The program aims to enable more thoughtful, intentional and informed leaders, willing and able to implement and study change.
The program can make a difference in the way a student thinks and works as a leader in education, for the immediate and local benefit of school children, adult learners, the student's school or organization, the community and the world.
