Howard University
Educational Administration and Policy (EAP)
To be re-named
Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (ELPS)
Academic Renewal Plan for Program Revitalization
Doctor of Education Program
This renewal plan focuses on improving program quality and increasing efficiency in the Doctor
of Education program in the Department of Educational Administration and Policy. The first area
of renewal is a departmental name change from Educational Administration and Policy to
Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. When conceptualizing the direction in the
preparation of educational leaders and policy professionals, the department faculty envisioned
the following: a department entitled Educational Leadership and Policy Studies that consists of
two degree programs: Master of Education (MEd) and Doctor of Education (EdD) and one
certificate program: Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study (CAGS). The department
streamlined its degree programs in the 1980s, eliminating History of Education, Philosophy of
Education, Economics of Education, Adult Education, and Education Technology. These areas
of educational foundations became a significant integrated component of the two current degree
programs MEd and EdD. The outline below addresses the areas of improved program quality for
the EdD program. This renewal plan comes after the department faculty worked diligently on
revising courses and major program assessments in the MEd and EdD programs. This hard work
resulted in National Recognition status for all EAP degree programs by NCATE and the
Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC).
A. Emphasize Program Quality
1. Focus on relevant external benchmarks- Annually the School of Education issues
a graduate and employer survey. This data is used to inform the degree programs
how well we have prepared our graduates for the profession.
2. Challenge faculty and students with high expectations- As a Department we have
begun to document the academic presentations and publications of our students.
We visibly post these accolades and hence set the culture of expectation for the
student engagement in scholarship activity.
B. Improve the student learning experience
1. Enable and maintain a strong system of academic advising - The Department
mandates new student orientation and individual semester advisement sessions for
each student. Students are also directed to meet with a designated faculty member
when they are not successful on the Preliminary or Comprehensive Examination.
Re-taking the exam is not permitted without this meeting.
2. Engage faculty in the scholarship of teaching and learning in the respective
academic disciplines- Department faculty regularly visit CETLA for professional
development to improve their delivery of instruction. The Department is in the
process of submitting an application to be considered for the University Council
on Education Administration. This membership will increase the collaborative
opportunities to engage in research around education leadership and policy. If
accepted Howard University will be the only HBCU represented in this
membership body. Additionally, faculty regularly attend national conferences.
The Department Chairperson has begun to investigate participation in the
Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
3. Emphasize student research – The faculty continue to encourage and highlight
students that are conducting research, presenting at regional and national
conferences and publishing in a variety of media outlets. There is an annual
Research Forum that is sponsored by the Howard University Chapter of Phi Delta
Kappa. This event invites graduate students to present empirical research on
educational issues. The forum is very well attended. Doctoral students also
present at the Graduate Schools Research forum.
4. Promote interdisciplinary and international learning opportunities- During this
process, the faculty have revised and expanded cognate offerings across the
university. Previously doctoral students were required to take 12 credit hours
outside of the School of Education to supplement their coursework in education
leadership. Students could choose four courses from the following programs:
Political Science, Communications, Business, Social Work and Sociology. Some
students have done an excellent job conveying to the faculty how they might use
Women Studies, International Studies, etc as a cognate to make them a more
effective education leader. Therefore, faculty have decided to allow students more
room in deciding what discipline would be most effective in supplementing their
knowledge to make them a more interdisciplinary leader. Cognate course
offerings will become more theme based instead of discipline based. Students
must provide a strong rationale behind their proposed collaborative effort. It was
through an educational leadership training grant funded by the U.S. Department
of Education that allowed for collaboration with the HU School of Law. Students
that wanted to pursue a career path in Special Education Administration were able
to take 4 prescribed courses at the Law School. This partnership has developed
into conversations around a joint EdD/JD program. Similarly, discussions around
the offering of a higher education leadership strand have begun to emerge. In this
era of reductions, we are witnessing a steady growth of applicants that wish to
study higher education leadership. Since Howard University does not have this
academic program, some choose to enroll in EAP since it is the next best thing.
We envision planning the emergence of a higher education leadership strand with
opportunities to partner with local agencies such as American Council on
Education.
5. Promote service learning- An example of service learning includes the site project
administered during the practicum. Recently, the Department conceptualized
ways in which our current international student population might begin to foster a
relationship with various countries in the discussion regarding the preparation of
education leaders. The inclusion of embassies could serve as a vehicle to begin
this collaborative discussion. The Ralph Bunche Center is a resource that will be
used to assist with this idea. Additionally, we would like to continue to foster our
relationships with local agencies working in the realm of education policy.
Students have been used to learn and contribute knowledge in these settings.
C. Improve Program Efficiency
1. Reduce number of specializations and concentrations- In order to be more
responsive to the needs of the community the faculty’s recommendation has been
to create a greater emphasis on the education policy component of the curriculum.
This has included the creation of a new course on Education Policy.
2. Enforce minimum enrollment requirements
a. Cancel under enrolled classes- with the increasing enrollment in the
doctoral program, there are very few, if any, courses that are under
enrolled.
b.Carefully manage the scheduling and sequencing of classes- The Department
makes every effort to offer courses that do not conflict with other program
courses. Additionally, courses have been offered on Friday evenings and
Saturday mornings to avoid conflict and increase the opportunities for more
students to be enrolled, particularly since the majority of our students work full
time.
3. Cross-list courses with other related programs/disciplines- Cross listing courses
within the School of Education has been a common practice. For example, the
Department offers foundation courses that are required by several degree
programs within the School of Education. Additionally, the Department has
decided to eliminate the Masters course Administrative Behavior and Theory
(EDAP 286) and replace it with the doctoral course Organizational Change in
Education (EDAP 514). Similar consideration with Legal Aspects of School
Administration (EDAP 385) and Caselaw in Public School Administration (EDAP
525). Both courses cover very similar material but use different examples to
illustrate the themes. For example, Administrative Behavior and Theory and
Organizational Change both discuss leadership theories that are used in
educational settings. Further examples of these theories can be used in micro and
macro settings. There have been occasions where students were not able to take a
required statistics or research methodology course due to scheduling conflicts. In
these cases, we have allowed students to take these foundation courses in another
discipline on campus or through the consortium.
4. Manage faculty workloads and other resources to the best advantage- Faculty
workloads will be monitored by the Department Chairperson to best maximize
faculty capacity to serve in the areas of teaching and research.
D. Begin envisioning program clusters – Faculty have decided to revise and expand cognate
course offerings so that they are more theme based instead of discipline based. Please see
discussion above regarding the revision of cognate course offerings.
1. To promote interdisciplinary collaboration
2. To achieve more efficient use of resources
3. To provide cutting edge research and learning experiences for faculty members
and students
E. Align curriculum and pedagogy with current trends in the discipline
1. Develop learning objectives for students at the program level
a. Assure progressive mastery of core competencies as well as discipline specific
skills and knowledge - The Doctoral Program Coordinator will work to tighten
data management of program assessments so that the faculty may be able to
closely monitor the areas in which our students tend to be the strongest and
weakest. This information will improve program quality.
b.Develop appropriate assessment measures and feed-back loops- Assessments
were revised two years ago to reflect professional standards. Data will be
reviewed annually by the Program Coordinator. The report from this review
will allow the department to base any curricular changes (deletions or additions)
on data.
c. Emphasize research, including international research experiences – Dr. Rc
Saravanabhavan has published and presented in the area of international
leadership perspectives. His expertise in this area is finding its way into
creating opportunities for students to be exposed to education leadership and
policy in global arenas. Ideas that emerged were hosting Brown Bag
Symposiums to showcase the work of international scholars in the field of
education leadership and policy.
2. Revise and update courses
a. Delete obsolete courses from catalogue listings
b. Take advantage of instructional technology - The faculty discussed where we
might be able to offer distance technology opportunities. The use of Webex
and Blackboard will provide assistance for virtual meetings and assignments
in courses such as Human Resource Management, Financial Management, and
Information Technology.
c. Create challenging and engaging learning environments for students.
d. Enable the most dynamic senior faculty to teach introductory courses
e. Engage faculty in mentoring and advising students- All EAP faculty carry a
full advisor load. With our student population increasing, the need for
additional faculty to better serve students is beginning to arise, particularly in
the area of dissertation advisement.
F. Anticipate program’s role in proposed interdisciplinary initiatives- The Department will
continue to develop a partnership with the HU Law School for a joint EdD/JD program.
Additionally, there will be further investigation of the Public Administration courses
within Political Science to be used as a cognate for those students that express an interest
of working in the area of education policy.
G. Begin managing resources to achieve a higher student-faculty ratio
1. Anticipate moving to a ratio of 10:1 over the next five years- the consolidation of
masters and doctoral courses will increase the ratio of students to faculty.
2. Assume the need for larger enrollments in selected classes to enable smaller
enrollments in others- This need has been taken in consideration when planning
the upcoming academic year.
3. Anticipate the need to meet benchmark headcounts of student taught per FTE
faculty member.
H. Identify administrative and cost saving opportunities
1. Consolidate services where practical to avoid duplication
2. Increase class sizes to room capacity unless special instructional requirements
dictate otherwise
3. Schedule classes in non-peak hours- Selected courses are being offered on Friday
evenings and Saturday mornings.
4. Reduce the number of under-enrolled courses
5. Re-examine workloads of faculty (based on numbers of students taught not
number of classes taught)- The Department Chairperson is balancing faculty
workload to also allow for faculty time to dedicate to their scholarship.
6. Assure that assignments of graduate teaching and research assistants help to
achieve the departmental instructional and research goals.- The Department
Chairperson works with assigned research assistants to help faculty with tasks that
will help progress their research projects.
Respectfully Submitted,
Dawn G. Williams, Ph.D.
Department Chairperson