EdD: Attachment I
01.10
Educational Leadership EdD Concentration Course Descriptions
EDL 9880: Special Education and Advanced School Law.
Special Education and Advanced School Law is a second-tier law and policy course, deepening students’
understandings and application of school policy, governance and regulation. The course particularly
focuses on federal and state laws and regulations of students with exceptionalities (including, but not
limited to, English-language learners, students in transition, and students with exceptionalities). Through
this lens, students will explore policy development and implementation in education.
EDL 9882: Educational Planning for Transformation.
This course is designed to inform doctoral candidates how policies and practices are developed and
implemented through writing policy briefs in areas of interest. Understanding the value and use of
qualitative and quantitative research in the formulation of policies and practices is an integral part of the
course. Candidates will focus on the process of policy development and the impact of outside forces on the
operation of schools and school districts with the goal of becoming informed practitioners. This course will
be of interest to school leaders, policy makers, and those employed in governmental agencies and
institutions where decisions are policy driven.
EDL 9883: Performance for Educational Executives: Politics, Power, and Policy
This course introduces the conceptualization of schooling as politics and is designed to help students
understand the political contexts and the institutional environment in which educators operate. Through a
general awareness of conceptual frameworks (such as system framework, diffusion framework, values,
demands and interest groups, micro and macropolitics), used to examine the politics of education, students
will obtain, assess, and assemble data and interpret data to discover connections and contradictions about
the concepts from the readings and literature relating to our current educational climate. This course
includes a performance-based field experience.
EDL 9884: Emerging Leadership Trends in Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
This course explores different strategies for bringing about change leading to curriculum, institutional
improvement, evaluation, and reform. The focus is on guiding doctoral candidates toward understanding
trends and issues with an emphasis on curriculum, instructional methods, and effective assessments.
Candidates will engage in research that identifies political, ethical, and societal changes that impact
curriculum, instruction and assessment. Special attention is given to the educational leader’s role in
building a strong collaborative culture and increasing systems capacity to change.