Master of Education in Educational Leadership

The Master of Education program in Educational Leadership prepares participants for positions as school administrators, particularly the principalship. It is designed to develop effective leaders who are strong educators, focusing their work on the fundamental issues of teaching, learning, and school improvement. It consists of a series of integrated courses and experiences focusing on the various dimensions of school leadership to support teaching and learning in K-12 schools. Through classroom learning, experiences in the field, reflective activities, and action-based research, students move to an increasingly complex understanding of the role of leaders in today’s schools.

All participants begin the program during the summer term in a cadre, which provides continuity and support for its members as they move through the program together. During the summer term, participants concentrate their study at a cadre site in Lincoln or Omaha. Action research and field experiences are offered in Nebraska schools during the academic year, with seminars in Lincoln or Omaha.

Students seeking either a Master of Education in Educational Leadership and/or a Nebraska principal certification at one level, K-8 or 7-12, are required to complete 36 credits. A 45-credit hour program is available for those pursuing K-12 certification.

Core Values

The central responsibility of educational leadership is to improve teaching and learning.
Leadership is collaborative and inclusive, not exclusive.
Leadership is active, not passive.
Leadership includes an ethical dimension.
Leadership programs are essentially a college responsibility, but the design and delivery of the program includes the participation of practitioners in the schools.
Leaders promote building a group vision; developing and maintaining relationships; making effective decisions in collaboration with others; remaining open and supporting innovation; constructing a school culture for learning; providing a positive instructional environment; reaching out to the literature and research base; using research as a tool in solving problems and making decisions; supporting the needs of all learners, including those with special needs; increasing multicultural sophistication; collaborating with multiple stakeholders; analyzing data and interpreting outcomes; applying evaluation and supervision processes; maximizing human and physical resources; reflecting to celebrate and improve; and mitigating value conflicts and political pressures.

Program Outcomes

The Educational Leadership Program develops the knowledge, skills and professional dispositions of servant
leadership needed for effective school leadership.

Leadership Dispositions: Educational leadership program completers understand and demonstrate the capability to promote the success and well-being of each student, teacher, support staff, and leader by applying the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for professional norms; ethical behavior; values; relationships; decision-making; and learner. (CAEP Standard A.1.1 professional standards, A.1, A.2,; ELCC Standard 5.0; NELP Standard 2, 3; NDE Principal Standard 8; NDE Rule 24 Principal Guidelines Standard 5, 8; Praxis V; PSEL Standard 2, 3)

Essential Elements:

Professional Norms: Candidates, as servant leaders, understand and can enact the professional norms of integrity, fairness, transparency, trust, collaboration, perseverance, learning, and continuous improvement. (CAEP A.1.1 collaboration, A.1.1 dispositions, A.1.1 code of ethics, A.1.2; NELP 2.1; ELCC 5.1; PSEL 2.a, 2.b)
Ethical Behavior: Candidates, as servant leaders, understand and can model principles of self-awareness, reflective practice, transparency, and ethical behavior. (CAEP A.1.1 dispositions, A.1.1 code of ethics, A.1.2; NELP 2.4; ELCC 5.2; NDE Rule 24 5.1, 5.2; NDE Principal Standard 8; Praxis V.A; PSEL 2.c)
Values: Candidates, as servant leaders, understand, model, and can promote the values of democracy, equity, diversity, and social justice. (CAEP A.1.1 dispositions, A.1.2; NELP 2.3; ELCC 5.3, 5.5; NDE Rule 24 5.3; Praxis IV.B; PSEL 2.d, 2.e)
Relationships: Candidates, as servant leaders, lead with interpersonal and communications skill, socio-emotional insight, and understanding of all students’ and staff members’ backgrounds and culture (CAEP A.1.1 dispositions, A.1.1 collaboration, A.1.2; NELP 3.4; Praxis V.C; PSEL 2.e)
Decision-Making: Candidates, as servant leaders, understand and can evaluate the potential moral and legal consequences of decision making in the school. (CAEP A.1.1 dispositions, A.1.1 laws/policies, A.1.1 code of ethics, A.1.2, CAEP A.1.1 research; NELP 2.2; ELCC 5.4; NDE Rule 24 5.4; NDE Principal Standard 8; Praxis V.A.4)
Learner: Candidates, as servant leaders, understand and can model continuous learning to increase adult and student learning, to stay current, to be a thought leader, and to develop reflective practices on the application of their learning. (NELP 2.1; PSEL 7.c, 7.f)

Strategic Leadership: Educational leadership program completers understand and demonstrate the capability to promote the success and well-being of each student, teacher, support staff, and leader by applying the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for mission and shared vision; school culture; forecasting; support; and continuous improvement. (CAEP Standard A.1, A.1.1 professional standards, A.2; ELCC Standard 1, 6; NELP Standard 1, 7; NDE Principal Standard 1, 2; NDE Rule 24 Principal Guidelines Standard 1, 6; Praxis I; PSEL Standard 1 and 10)

Essential Elements:

Mission/Shared Vision: Candidates understand and demonstrate the capability to collaboratively develop, articulate, implement, and steward a shared mission and vision of learning for a school. (CAEP A.1.2; NELP 1.1, 7.2; ELCC 1.1, NDE Rule 24 1.1; NDE Principal Standard 1; PSEL 1.a,1.b, 1.d, 1.f)
School Culture: Candidates understand and demonstrate the capability to articulate, advocate, model, and cultivate a set of core values that define the school’s culture. (CAEP A.1.2; NELP 1.2)
Forecasting: Candidates understand and can anticipate and assess emerging trends and initiatives in order to adapt school-based leadership strategies. (CAEP A.1.1 technology, A.1.1 laws/policies, A.1.2; ELCC 6.3; NDE Rule 24 6.3; PSEL 10.f)
Support: Candidates understand and demonstrate the capability to build, maintain, and evaluate a coherent system of academic and social supports including school-wide behavior management, extra curricular activities, and accommodations to meet the full range of needs for each student. (CAEP A.1.2; NELP 1.3; PSEL 5.c)
Continuous Improvement: Candidates understand and can demonstrate the capability to systematically engage staff and school community to develop, implement, and evaluate a continuous, responsive, sustainable, data-based school improvement process to achieve the mission of the school. (CAEP A.1.1 data literacy, A.1.1 supportive school environment, A.1.1 research, A.1.1 collaboration, A.1.1 technology, A.1.2; NELP 1.4; ELCC 1.2; NDE Rule 24 1.3, 1.4, 1.5; NDE Principal Standard 2; Praxis I.A.1-2, I.B.2, I.C.1-8; PSEL 1.e, 10.b, 10.d)

Instructional Leadership: Educational leadership program completers understand and demonstrate the capability to promote the success and well-being of each student, teacher, support staff, and leader by applying the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for: equitable learning environment; learning system; instructional practice; assessment practice; responsive professional learning, and supervision and evaluation (CAEP Standard A.1, A.1.1 professional standards, A.2; ELCC Standard 2, 3; NDE Principal Standards 3, 4, 6; NDE Rule 24 Principal Guidelines Standard 2, 3; NELP Standard 3, 4, 7; Praxis II; PSEL Standards 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

Essential Elements:

Equitable Learning Environment: Candidates understand and can demonstrate the capability to develop, implement, and monitor a safe, caring, healthy, and culturally responsive school environment in which each student, teacher and leader is known, accepted, valued, trusted, respected, cared for, and encouraged to be an active and responsible member of the school community. (CAEP A.1.1 data literacy, A.1.1 supportive school environment, A.1.2; NELP 3.1, 3.4, 4.4, 7.3; NDE Rule 24 2.1; NDE Principal Standard 3, 4; Praxis II.A.4, B.8; PSEL 3.b, 3.h, 4.a, 5.a,5.b)
Learning System: Candidates understand and can demonstrate the capability to develop, implement, and monitor an aligned, rigorous, and coherent system of curriculum, instruction and assessment that is responsive to student needs while implementing high expectations for all students. (CAEP A.1.1 research, A.1.2; NELP 4.1; ELCC 2.2, 3.5; NDE Rule 24 2.2; NDE Principal Standard 3, 4; Praxis II.B; PSEL 4.b)
Instructional Practice: Candidates understand and can demonstrate the capability to promote, challenging, intentional, and engaging instruction that is consistent with learning theory, effective pedagogy, and the social, emotional, cultural, and intellectual needs of the student. (CAEP A.1.1 technology, A.1.2; NELP 3.4, 4.2; NDE Rule 2.4 2.3, 3.5; NDE Principal Standard 3; Praxis II.A.1; PSEL 4.c, 4.d)
Assessment Practice: Candidates understand and can demonstrate the capability to develop, implement, and monitor a system of assessment to collect, analyze, and utilize data to monitor student progress and improve instruction for all students. (CAEP A.1.1 data literacy, A.1.1 research, A.1.1 technology, A.1.2; NELP 4.3; NDE Rule 24 2.5; NDE Principal Standard 3; Praxis II.B.2, 5, II.C.1-4; PSEL 2.f, 2.g)
Responsive Professional Learning: Candidates understand and can demonstrate the capability to develop, implement, and monitor a system of continuous professional learning that builds instructional and leadership capacity to recognize, confront, and alter institutional biases reflected in the learning system, learning environment, and instructional practice that result in student marginalization, deficit-based schooling, and low expectations. (CAEP A.1.1 collaboration, A.1.2; NDE Rule 24 2.6, 3.4; NDE Principal Standard 6; NELP 3.3, 3.4, 4.4, 7.3; 7.4; Praxis II.A.2, 7; PSEL 6.c, 6.f)
Supervision and Evaluation: Candidates understand and can demonstrate the capability to develop, implement, and monitor a system of supervision and evaluation that provides actionable feedback about instruction, leadership, and other professional practices. (CAEP A.1.1 collaboration, A.1.2; NELP 7.4; ELCC 2.3; NDE Rule 24 2.4; Praxis II.A.6; PSEL 6.e)

Organizational Leadership: Educational leadership program completers understand and demonstrate the capability to promote the success and well-being of each student, teacher, support staff, and leader by applying the knowledge, skills, and dispositions for: human resource system; equitable access; operational systems; communication systems; and legal compliance. (CAEP Standard A.1, A.1.1 professional standards, A.2; ELCC Standard 3.0; NELP 3, 5, 6., 7; NDE Principal Standards 5 and 6; NDE Rule 24 Principal Guidelines Standard 3; Praxis I, III; PSEL Standard 3, 6, 8, 9;)

Essential Elements:

Human Resource System: Candidates understand and demonstrate the capability to develop, implement, and monitor a human resource management system that recruits, hires, supports, develops, and retains effective and caring educational personnel. (CAEP A.1.1 collaboration, laws/policies, A.1.2; NDE Rule 24 3.2; NDE Principal Standard 6; NELP 7.1; ELCC 3.1; Praxis III.B; PSEL 6.a, 6.b, 9.b)
Equitable Access: Candidates understand and can demonstrate the capability to ensure that each student has equitable access to effective teachers, challenging learning opportunities, and academic, social, and behavioral support necessary for success. (CAEP A.1.2; NELP 3.2; PSEL 3.c)
Operational Systems: Candidates understand and can demonstrate the capability to develop, implement, and monitor school management and operational systems to efficiently use human, fiscal, and technological data and resources to support continual learning and improvement. (CAEP A.1.1 data literacy, A.1.1 collaboration, A.1.1 technology, A.1.2; NDE Rule 24 3.1; NDE Principal Standard 5; NELP 6.1, 6.2; ELCC 3.1; Praxis 1.B.3. III.A; PSEL 9.a, 9.c)
Communication Systems: Candidates understand and can demonstrate the capability to develop, implement, and monitor multifaceted, two-way communication systems to engage students, family, staff and community to develop collective accountability for student success. (CAEP A.1.1 collaboration, A.1.2; NELP 5.1, 6.3; Praxis 1.B.4; PSEL 8.c)
Legal Compliance: Candidates understand and can demonstrate the capability to comply with applicable laws and school-based policies and procedures to protect the welfare, safety and success of students and staff. (CAEP laws/policies, A.1.2; NDE Rule 24 3.3; NELP 6.4; Praxis III.C; PSEL 9.h)

Community/Political Leadership: Educational leadership program completers understand and demonstrate the capability to promote the success and well-being of each student, teacher, support staff, and leader by applying the knowledge, skills, and dispositions for educational environment; engagement; partnerships; advocacy; policy and political engagement, and supportive school community. (CAEP Standard A.1, A.1.1 professional standards, A.2; ELCC Standards 4.0 and 6.0; NELP 3, 5; NDE Principal Standard 7, 8; NDE Rule 24 Principal Guidelines Standard 4, 6; Praxis I, IV, VI; PSEL Standard 3, 8;)

Essential Elements:

Educational Environment: Candidates understand and can collaborate with staff and community members by collecting and analyzing information pertinent to the improvement of the school’s educational environment. (CAEP A.1.1 data literacy, A.1.1 supportive school environment, A.1.1 collaboration, A.1.2; NDE Rule 24 4.1; NELP 1.4; ELCC 4.1; Praxis 1.B.1)
Engagement: Candidates understand and can respond to community interests and needs by building and sustaining positive school relationships with families and caregivers. (CAEP A.1.2; ELCC 4.3; NDE Rule 24 4.3; NDE Principal Standard 7; Praxis IV.A; PSEL 4.b, 8.e)
Partnerships: Candidates understand and can demonstrate the capability to build and sustain productive partnerships in the public and private sectors to promote school improvement and student academic and social well-being. (CAEP A.1.1 collaboration, A.1.2; NELP 5.3; ELCC 4.4; NDE Rule 24 4.4; PSEL 8.d, 8.e, 8.j; NDE Principal Standard 7; Praxis I.A.4, IV.A,C)
Advocacy: Candidates understand and can demonstrate the capability to advocate for the needs and priorities of the school, district, students, families, and community. (CAEP laws/policies,, A.1.2; ELCC 6.1; NELP 5.4; NDE Rule 24 6.1; Praxis IV.B, VI.A, B; PSEL 8.d, 8.h, 8.i)
Policy and Political Engagement: Candidates understand and demonstrate the capability to operationalize policy and to advocate at the local, district, state, and national level for decisions to strengthen student learning in and out of school. (CAEP A.1.2; ELCC 6.2; NELP 5.2; NDE Principal Standard 8; NDE Rule 24 6.2; Praxis IV.B, VI.A, B; PSEL 8.h)
Supportive School Community: Candidates understand and demonstrate the capability to build and maintain a school culture that ensures each student and family is treated fairly, respectfully, in a responsive manner and free from biases associated with characteristics such as culture, exceptionalities, gender. language, race, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status. (CAEP A.1.1 supportive school environment, A.1.2; NDE Rule 24 4.2; NELP 3.4; Praxis IV.B, VI.A, B; PSEL 3.a, 3.e)

Doane EDL Learning By Doing

Leadership Experiences: Educational leadership program completers engage in a substantial and sustained school leadership experience that develops their ability to promote the success and well- being of each student, teacher, support staff, and leader by engaging in leadership practicums, leadership internship, and leadership field experiences that are school-based and supervised by collaborative mentors. (CAEP Standard A.1, A.1.1 professional standards, A.2; ELCC STANDARD 7; NDE Rule 24 Principal Guidelines Standard 7; NELP Standard 8, 9)

Leadership Experiences: Candidates design coherent, goal-based, authentic experiences that provide opportunities to synthesize and apply the content knowledge, develop and refine the professional skills and dispositions, and demonstrate their capabilities in each of the Educational Leadership Program Standards (listed previously). (CAEP A.1.2, A.2.2; ELLC 7.1; NDE Rule 24 7.1, 7.3, 7.4, 8.1, 8.2; NELP 8.1)
School-Based: Candidates engage in a minimum of 100 leadership practicum hours, 80+ leadership internship hours, and 100 leadership field experience hours that are active leadership within the school setting. (CAEP A.1.1 collaboration, A.1.2; ELCC 7.2; NDE Rule 24 7.2; NELP 8.2.
Collaborative Mentor: Candidates work with and are supervised by a collaborative team of mentors, including school-level supervisor/s and Educational Leadership Instructors who demonstrate effective leadership, are present for a significant portion of the leadership experiences and work collaboratively for mentoring and supervision purposes. (CAEP A.1.1 collaboration, A.1.2, A.2.1; ELCC 7.3; NDE Rule 24 7.3, 8.2; NELP 8.3)

Citations:

• CAEP - Council for Accreditation for Educator Preparation
ELCC - Educational Leadership Constituent Council Standards
NDE Principal Standard - Nebraska Department of Education Principal Standards, 2011
NDE Rule 24 Principal Standards - Nebraska Department of Education Principal Endorsement Guidelines
NELP- National Educational Leadership Preparation Standards for Building Level Leaders
Praxis - Educational Leadership: Administration and Supervision (5412) Topics - Content test required for Initial Certification for Principal Endorsement
PSEL - Professional Standards for Educational Leaders, National Policy for Educational Administration, 2015

Categories of Graduate Students

Two broad categories of graduate students are recognized by the Educational Leadership program: degree-seeking and credential-seeking. Degree-seeking students are those who are pursuing the Master of Education degree and the Nebraska Standard Administrative Certificate. Credential-seeking students are those who have already completed a graduate program and are pursuing only the Nebraska Standard Administrative Certificate.

Admission Requirements

All students applying for admission to the Educational Leadership program will submit a packet that contains the following items:

A completed application for admission.
A copy of a current teaching certificate.
A resume.
A writing sample (about 250-500 words) indicating reasons for interest in Doane’s Educational Leadership program and philosophy about teaching and learning.
Official transcripts from the institutions granting the undergraduate degree and any graduate work that is to be considered for transfer credit. The undergraduate GPA must show an overall minimum GPA of 3.0. Those transcripts must be sent directly from the institution to Doane University, Graduate Studies in Education, 303 North 52nd Street, Lincoln, NE 68504. They must bear the official stamp of the issuing institution.
Letters of recommendation from three professional associates. Using the forms posted on the online application site, these letters must be sent directly to Doane University.

An interview with an Educational Leadership program director or a full-time faculty member who teaches in the Educational Leadership program is scheduled after the above materials have been received. The Educational Leadership program director will then determine, based upon the credentials submitted and the interview, if the student is admitted to the program. A letter of acceptance to the student will follow.

Full Graduate Standing

After completion of nine credit hours of graduate credits (including EDL 675 and EDL 680 /EDL 681 /EDL 682 ), the files of all students in the cadre are reviewed by the directors of the program concerning the students’ eligibility for full graduate standing. The criteria for full graduate standing in the Master of Educational Leadership program are as follows:

The student must have completed all admission requirements.
The student must have completed at least nine hours of graduate study at Doane with a 3.00 or higher cumulative grade point average. A student receiving any grade below a B for any graduate course will have his/her file reviewed even though the student’s cumulative GPA may be 3.00 or higher.
The student has not been found guilty of a felony or misdemeanor or entered a plea of guilty or no contest to a felony or misdemeanor in any criminal, drug, or juvenile court.
No order or determination is currently in effect by a court or any other governmental body which finds the student to be any of the following: a mentally ill and dangerous person; mentally incompetent to stand trial; acquitted of criminal charges because of insanity; an incapacitated person in need of a guardian; or unable to manage your property due to mental illness, mental deficiency, chronic use of drugs or chronic intoxication as required the State of Nebraska in Title 92, NAC Rule 20
The student is reviewed for leadership potential, including the ideals expected of individuals in school administrative positions and outlined in the program’s core values, for attitudes and skills that promote what is needed for effective school leadership, and for indicators of probable success in the field.

Decisions are communicated to the student in writing as soon as practical after the student completes the first nine hours of the cadre experience and prior to enrollment in the spring practicum.

Transfer Credit

A student may transfer up to six hours of credit into the Educational Leadership program. This credit must have been earned from regionally accredited institutions of higher learning. Any course considered for transfer is reviewed individually for recency and relevancy of the material as it relates to best practice and theory at the time of the review. The recency standard includes work that is completed within seven years before beginning the program. Courses are reviewed for relevancy as they relate to educational issues in the areas of instructional improvement, critical issues, and assessment as they may take the place of EDU 600 (or EDU 613 ), EDU 601 , or EDU 602 in the program of study.

Final determination of transfer credit is made by the program directors. Only graduate courses in which the student’s letter grade is “B-” or above may be considered for transfer credit and applied toward fulfilling degree and certification requirements. A maximum of three credits of courses with an earned grade of a “Pass” or “Credit” may be transferred. All transfer courses are entered on the transcript with a grade of “P” (Passed).

Each student is responsible for making a formal request to have his/her official transcripts sent to Doane University. These transcripts must be received prior to beginning coursework in the program.

Time Limitations

A student is expected to complete the degree within seven years of beginning graduate study at Doane. If a student withdraws from the cadre experience, it is necessary to wait one year to resume with the next cadre. The program directors will determine if a student can resume participation in the program if the time away from the program extends beyond one year. If the course material is no longer relevant, the student must then retake appropriate graduate courses as part of the program of study. If a student stays out three years or more, the coursework must be repeated.

Second Master of Education Degree

Students who have completed Doane’s Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction degree and want to become certified as principals must add 27 credit hours of courses needed for certification to complete the Master of Education in Educational Leadership. These students will have already completed nine credits of EDU 600 (or EDU 613 ), EDU 601 , and EDU 602 , which will apply toward the 36 credits required for the Master of Education in Educational Leadership.

Programs

Educational Leadership, M.Ed.