Educational Leadership, Administration and Foundations

Ph.D. Degree Program in Educational Administration- Specialization in School Administration

Program Description: The Ph.D. Program in Educational Administration with a specialization in School Administration is intended for post-educational specialist students who desire a terminal degree preparing them to be scholar/practitioner leaders. The program is designed to prepare persons for roles in public school administration, educational policy, college teaching and research, and governmental and industrial positions requiring competencies relevant to educational administration and research. The 72 credit hour program consists of 24 hours of coursework taken as part of a required two semester cohort experience (the Wednesday Residency) and 6 hours generally taken in the summer prior or summer after the residency experience. Students also complete 18 hours of dissertation. The remaining coursework is applied from one’s master’s and/or Ed.S. coursework. Program content focuses on school law, policy analysis, theory of educational administration, school finance and budget processes, change theory, power, politics, and human resource management, research in educational administration, staff and program evaluation and development, statistical methods, and educational foundations.

The distinct features of the program include:

• Cohort experience of 10-15 students from the superintendency and central office, all levels of the principalship and other administrators. Classes are offered on-campus from 7:30am – 6:45pm on Wednesdays during the fall and spring semesters.
• Team taught curriculum.
• Designed to serve public and private sector working professionals for positions of leadership in either setting.
• Linkages with large network of alumni for mentoring and support, many of whom have won statewide honors for their work.
• Scholarship and grant opportunities available to help you to fund your degree.

Information on scholarship and grant opportunities:

There are a variety of sources of funding to support your studies. The federal, state, and institutional opportunities can be found on the School of Graduate Studies website. The department also has some limited scholarship and grant award opportunities (ranging from a few hundred dollars to $1-2,000). These are typically awarded every Spring via application from students who are enrolled in the program. Thus, you would be eligible once you have begun your studies. Please let the ELAF Office know of your interest so you can be contacted once the award programs are announced, generally in mid-March.

Program Curriculum:

The Wednesday Residency coursework is shown below. Students who hold the Ed.S. degree prior to starting the program will generally only need to take an additional 6 hours of coursework either just before or just after the Residency experience. Students with a master’s degree but not an Ed.S. will need to take additional pre-requisite coursework. Please contact the ELAF Department for additional information.

Wednesday Residency Curriculum

657 Human Relations in Education Administration—3 hours. Focuses upon the interrelationships of people and groups in the school setting. Attention is given to building and maintaining productive working groups, to awareness of ethnic minority groups and special purpose groups, and to the individuals functioning in the group process.

708 Seminar in the Foundations of Modern Education—3 hours. Analysis of educational problems and issues in education using the disciplines of foundations of education.

755 Research Seminar in Educational Law—3 hours. Case law as it affects public, private, and higher education. Prerequisite: 655, its equivalent, or consent of instructor.

806 Seminar in Educational Thought—3 hours. Theory in education which uses relevant concepts from the social, behavioral, and humanistic disciplines. Emphasis is on the development of research potential in education utilizing theory as a frame of reference. May be repeated once.

850 Advanced Leadership Theory, Governance, and External Relations— 3 hours. Designed to develop and extend the student’s knowledge pertaining to the roles, policy development, planning, issues, and trends in education administration, governance, and external relations through examination of various related theories concerning individuals in organized settings.

859 Research Seminar in Educational Administration—3 hours. Required course for all doctoral students in educational administration. Attention will be given to research design and methodology. Each student will select a dissertation topic, prepare a dissertation proposal, and defend the proposal.

612 Statistical Methods—3 hours. A basic course in statistics. Topics include descriptive statistics, probability, selected sampling distributions, correlation and simple linear regression, and elementary hypothesis testing (e.g., t-tests, chi-square). Students learn to use computer software appropriately to analyze their data, and to interpret computer output.

712 Statistical Inference—3 hours. Hypothesis testing procedures including multiple correlation and regression and analysis of variance (e.g., one-way, factorial, repeated). Students learn to use computer software to analyze their data, and to interpret output.

How to Apply:

Admission Requirements:

1. Earned master’s degree from an accredited college or university.
2. Have graduate work and experience commensurate with the student’s objectives as evaluated by the ELAF faculty.
3. Additional requirements for admission and/or progress toward the degree may be applicable. See the Graduate Catalog from the School of Graduate Studies.

Application Materials Required:

1. The bulleted items below are to be sent to the ELAF Department via
   email attachment : ELAF@indstate.edu or Fax : 812-237-8041 or
   Mail to :
   ELAF Office
   1202 College of Education
   Indiana State University
   Terre Haute, IN 47809
   
   • Departmental application with personal Narrative of professional goals and past experiences.
   • Resume/vita
   • Documentation of all licenses and certifications held.
   • Three letters of recommendation from persons who can comment on your potential and/or fit for the program.
     
2. The items below are to be submitted to the School of Graduate Studies:
   • School of Graduate Studies application submitted on-line.
   • Official transcripts from each undergraduate and graduate institution attended.
   • Official GRE scores sent to the School of Graduate Studies.

Applications completed by February 15 will receive full consideration although we will continue to accept applications until the cohort is full. Failure to submit all of the above items in a timely manner can delay your admission decision.

GRE information:

We do not have minimum performance expectations on the GRE nor do we use GRE scores in isolation from other components of your application given that the research on its use for admissions decisions emphasizes the benefits of the GRE in combination with other application elements. However, stronger scores are always more advantageous than weaker scores. Thus, we advise that students take the time to adequately prepare for the exam, including purchasing a test prep guide, and/or consider taking a test prep course. Guide materials can be obtained from most bookstores. The GRE can be scheduled and taken at any Sylvan or Prometric Learning Centerand your unofficial scores will be available to you immediately after the exam given that the test is taken on computer. Please email your unofficial scores to the ELAF Office immediately after taking the exam to: ELAF@indstate.edu since your official scores will generally not be received by the School of Graduate Studies for approximately 3 weeks.