Doctor of Education in Educational Administration

The School and Department's vision is “We transform lives.” Specifically, the K-12 EAP’s mission is (a) to prepare leaders for public, charter, and private schools in Texas and the nation and (b) to prepare individuals to conduct research and/or teaching at a university, college, institute, or educational agency. As a result of these dramatic changes, the K12 EAP faculty is dedicated to attracting, mentoring, and preparing the "best, brightest, and culturally aware young leaders for key roles as superintendents, principals and university professors." To reach these goals, the faculty must prepare change agents to focus on improving schools and addressing inequities in schools. The EdD meets the challenges of preparing leaders to integrate theory and research to solve complex problems of administrative practice. The faculty members believe that both the school practitioner and the university professor must prepared to integrate reliable formal knowledge with clinical knowledge, i.e., theoretical with craft knowledge.

If you want to work at the district level, we offer a K-12 Doctor of Education (EdD) in Educational Administration degree. This allows you to be an administrator at the district and school level. The program’s format is a cohort model where students in lock step take classes together. The rationale behind having a cohort model is to create a network of peers across the state of Texas. The Record of Study (ROS) is the culminating research problem of practice for candidates in the program. As the student progresses through the program the ROS is woven into the course of study. A student’s Record of Study should address some aspect of school leadership, management, and areas inequities in schools. The ROS will have a context of addressing social justice in public education. Candidates will choose from three ROS options: a comprehensive district analysis/redesign; journal-ready articles; or research following traditional dissertation guidelines.

Upon successful completion of all required coursework for superintendent certification, the student must complete the following in order to be recommended for Superintendent Certification in the State of Texas, if they choose to pursue this route:

  • Complete all components of the required practicum experience;
  • Complete all preparation work recommended by faculty and provide a passing score on the superintendent certification practice exam;
  • Complete the SBEC online certification application;
  • Submit copy of passing 195 Exam scores and
  • Complete the School of Education and Human Development Certification and Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Developments Requirements.