Teacher Leadership Comprehensive Examination
(Updated February, 2015)
Nature of the Comprehensive Examination
Students are required to take a comprehensive examination after they have completed at least 24
credits of graduate work, with a minimum of a 3.0 grade point average, and have completed the core
courses in the program. Students should apply to take the examination by completing an application form
which is available both in the Office of the Department of Education and Counseling (302 SAC) and online at
the following website: http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/artsci/education.html. The application form
should be completed and submitted to the Department at least one month prior to the date of the
examination.
The Department will use the student’s grade point average, as shown in Banner, and if
the average is satisfactory and if the student has completed 24 credits of graduate work, the
chairperson will recommend to the Dean of the Graduate school that the student be permitted to sit for
the examination. In turn, the Graduate Dean will inform the student by mail that he or she has been
approved for the examination, as well as the date, time and location of the exam. He/she will also be
advised by the Graduate Dean in the weeks following the examination whether he/she has passed.
The comprehensive examination is offered in the Fall Semester, in the Spring Semester, and
during the Summer Session. All questions and parts of questions need to be answered in order to pass
the examination. If a student fails one or more of the three area questions, then that student has
failed the examination. In the event of failure, the re-examination on the area question or questions
failed is permitted, but not in the same semester. A failing student will be informed of his/her errors or
deficiencies by the faculty member(s) who graded the examination.
With permission of the Department, a student may elect to write a thesis, in lieu of six credit hours
of course work, to satisfy the requirements of the comprehensive examination. A student desiring to write
a thesis should contact Dr. Durnin early in their program to discuss this option and what will be required.
Permission to write a thesis is also dependent on permission of the Dean of Graduate Studies, though, in
the past, this has typically been permissible.
Format of the Comprehensive Examination
The Education Leadership comprehensive examination is a three-hour written examination that will
include 3 questions from the following areas:
1. Advanced Trends & Issues in Special Education (1 question)
2. Educational Research OR Assessment & Analysis (1 question)
The 3rd question will ask students to synthesize across the following courses:
1. Instructional Leadership
2. Policy Analysis
3. Standards Aligned Systems & Curriculum
The question from each of the above-mentioned areas may include more than one part. The questions
may be any one, or all, of the following types: essay, identification, or problems which call for application of
knowledge. The student is given a total of three hours to divide among the three examination questions.
The student is advised to give adequate time to each examination question.
Guidelines for the Comprehensive Examination
When preparing for the comprehensive examination, the following information may appear and
should be considered. The examiner will assess not only your knowledge of the information, but your
ability to synthesize and apply it appropriately.
Advanced Trends & Issues in Special Education
 Examine the historical and legal aspects of special education, paying particular attention to the
referral process and Individual Education Programs (IEPs).
 Explore a number of IDEA categories as related to special education.
 In addition to investigating information on the definition, prevalence, causes, and characteristics of
specific categories, address the question: How can you construct learning experiences and
assessments that meet the needs of the students in the classrooms?
 Understand the educators’ role as an instructor of students with Special Needs.
 Detail what you have learned from the individuals with special needs with whom you’ve worked.
 Accommodate for the physical, academic and social needs of individuals with disabilities.
 Articulate an understanding of the field of Special Education that is grounded in the knowledge
gained from course readings and class discussions.
Educational Research
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Identify and critique research problems.
Describe appropriate sources for conducting a literature review, summarize how a literature review
relates to educational research.
Evaluate participant selection for qualitative studies and sampling procedures for quantitative
studies.
Explain the basic principles of educational measurement and the types of educational measures.
Identify and critique strengths and weaknesses of different methodologies used in research.
Articulate the purpose and methods of conducting action research.
Examine the method of how to design an appropriate action research proposal.
Assessment and Analysis
Calculations may be required; so you should bring a handheld calculator
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Frequency
Standard deviation
Reliability
Mean
Graphs
Percentile Rank
Validity
Item Construction
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Central tendency
Variability
Standard Scores
Area under the curve
Objective tests
Scales of measurement
Item analysis
Instructional Leadership
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Define staff development, supervision, and appraisal.
Study the phenomenology of curriculum leadership and its requirements.
Elucidate a philosophy of democratic governance and to outline its implications for instructional
evaluation and staff development.
Examine normative theories in instructional leadership.
Synthesize instructional evaluation, a theory of democratic governance, and human resources
theory into a comprehensive long-term staff development program.
Demonstrate an awareness of the problems and issues involved in instructional evaluation and staff
development.
Policy Analysis
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Examine the values and assumptions that underlie different policies.
Identify the factors that shape policy design and implementation.
Evaluating the outcomes of specific policies.
Analyze policy issues from a variety of perspectives, deconstruct current policies, and formulate
alternative approaches.
Focus on three stages of the policy cycle: policy design and formation, policy implementation, and
policy evaluation.
Analyze the theories underpinning different policies, the contextual factors that influence
formulation and implementation, and the interplay between policy and practice.
Develop students’ policy analysis skills and to deepen their understanding of current educational
policies.
Apply various frameworks to analyze the values and assumptions of policies.
Identify and anticipate implementation obstacles and unintended consequences.
Recognize how data collection influences the outcomes of policy evaluation.
Standards Aligned Systems and Instruction
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Identify and explain the components of the PA Department of Education standards-aligned system.
Articulate the varied definitions and purposes of curriculum and describe how these concepts
influence instructional decision-making.
Cultivate skills in effective unit and lesson planning and evaluation.
Investigate professional curriculum organizations in the content areas and how they can aid the
teacher in curriculum development.
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Explicate the varied ways in which curriculum is defined and consider the implications of those
definitions.
Evaluate current curriculum theories and practices in terms of learning, teaching, and assessment.
Explain the processes of curriculum design, development, and implementation.
Assess the impact of the standards movement in education.
Present ways in which classroom instruction may be differentiated and adapted.
Articulate strategies for communicating curricular goals and classroom assessment processes with
school administrators, teachers, and parents.
Examine professional organizations in the content areas and how they can aid the teacher in
curricula development.
Demonstrate competence in assembling practical assessments and reporting approaches and
strategies.
Identify the links, interaction and tensions between learning, teaching, curriculum and assessment
in schools.
Integrate areas of knowledge and skill that underpin teachers’ professional practice, in and out of
the classroom.
Suggestions in preparing for the examination:
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Consider forming a study group with other students taking the examination.
Review all textbooks, handouts, class notes, and suggested review materials for all of the courses
that will be included on the examination.
Relax. A certain amount of stress is beneficial; too much is detrimental. Understand that the
information needed to pass the exam is most likely already in your knowledge base, and the vast
majority of students pass the test on their first try.
Read each question carefully; students need to know exactly what is being asked.
Sample Questions:
Question 1
Please respond to ONE of the following questions:
A. Explain how and why an instructional leader should disrupt the powerful norm of the closed-door
classroom and what Judith Warren Little (1990) calls “the persistence of privacy” among teachers?
Use citations to buttress your argument.
B. In the history of higher education, the notion of leadership has been discussed extensively.
Describe and discuss a leadership theory (or theorist) that has a particular meaning for you and
include the implications for higher education in the 21st. century.
PLEASE RETURN TO ANNE FELDMAN IN THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION & COUNSELING IN 302 SAC