Transformational Educational Leadership

Degree: Master of Science
https://www.towson.edu/coe/departments/leadership/grad/educational-leadership/

Program Director: Dr. Katherine Orlando
Phone: 410-704-4623
Email: [email protected]

The Master of Science degree in Transformational Educational Leadership is designed for certified teachers and other licensed professionals working in schools or school districts who aspire to become educational leaders at local and state levels. This program prepares leaders who are equipped to facilitate equitable access to engaging, rigorous, and productive learning for all students and colleagues. Our view of leadership includes leading from the classroom as well as the traditional school administrator pathway. This program is approved by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) and includes the required courses for Administrator I certification.

The Instructional Leadership and Professional Development Department offers three MSDE-approved programs for Administrator I preparation:  (1) the post-Master's certification in Educational Administrator I; (2) a Master of Science in Transformational Educational Leadership; and (3) a Certificate of Advanced Studies (Organizational Change). All fulfill the National Educational Leadership Preparation (NELP) standards required for beginning educational leaders. NELP standards are aligned with the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL) for current educational leaders.

Students who successfully complete a building-level educational leadership preparation program understand and demonstrate the capacity to promote the current and future success and well-being of each student and adult by applying the knowledge, skills and commitments necessary to:

1. Collaboratively lead, design, and implement a school mission, vision, and process for continuous improvement that reflects a core set of values and priorities that include data use, technology, equity, diversity, digital citizenship, and community.
2. Understand and demonstrate the capacity to advocate for ethical decisions and cultivate and enact professional norms. 
3. Develop and maintain a supportive, equitable, culturally responsive, and inclusive school culture.
4. Evaluate, develop, and implement coherent systems of curriculum, instruction, data systems, supports, and assessment. 
5. Engage families, community, and school personnel in order to strengthen student learning, support school improvement, and advocate for the needs of their school and community.
6. Improve management, communication, technology, school-level governance, and operation systems to develop and improve data-informed and equitable school resource plans and to apply laws, policies, and regulations.
7. Build the school's professional capacity, engage staff in the development of a collaborative professional culture, and improve systems of staff supervision, evaluation, support, and professional learning.  
8. Synthesize and apply the knowledge and skills identified in NELP standards 1–7 in ways that approximate the full range of responsibilities required of building-level leaders.