Curriculum

Course Descriptions

  

Program Director:
Dr. Mona Chadwick

  

Educational Specialist
Educational Leadership

Center for Leadership and Learning (CLL) Mission
The mission of the Center for Leadership and Learning is to prepare, through a performance-based system, school leadership teams (administrators, counselors, teachers) with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to work collaboratively to develop a professional learning community focused on student success.

Educational Specialist, Educational Leadership
The Educational Specialist Degree program is based on the value-added concept of school leader preparation from the building leadership to the district level leadership positions, such as superintendent and Assistant Superintendent.

Degree Admission
Applicants for admission to the Educational Specialist Degree program must submit an on-line graduate application form and arrange for official complete transcripts of all undergraduate course work to be sent directly to the Arkansas Tech University Graduate College office. Applicants must also:

Unconditional Admission
Students are eligible to apply for unconditional admission to the Educational Specialist Degree Program if they meet the requirements listed above.

Conditional Admission
Applicants who fail to meet the grade point criteria specified for unconditional admission may be admitted to earn a maximum of twelve semester hours. To remove this condition, the student must earn a "B" average on the first twelve hours of graduate work attempted at Arkansas Tech University. Applicants who have satisfactory academic records at unaccredited colleges are also eligible for admission under these conditions, although in some instances transcript might be declared deficient. In such cases the applicants would be assessed a maximum of thirty hours to be completed before being admitted to graduate college.

Academic Advisors
The Director of the CLL program will assign a faculty advisor to each student admitted to the degree program. The advisor will assist the student in the program of study that leads to the fulfillment of degree requirements. Subsequently, the academic advisor, the Department Graduate Committee, and the Office of Graduate College monitor the student's progress as they progress through the program. It remains, however, the student's responsibility to understand and to satisfy all degree requirements.

Admission to Candidacy
Students who have been granted conditional admission are eligible for admission to candidacy for the degree upon the completion of twelve hours with a 3.00 grade point average and completion of all deficiencies. Students who have been granted unconditional admission are eligible for admission to candidacy upon completion of twelve hours with a 3.00 grade point average. Students who do not submit an "Application for Admission to Candidacy" prior to the end of the semester in which the student becomes eligible will not be allowed to register for subsequent graduate classes.

Program Requirements
Candidates for the Educational Specialist Degree program must complete a minimum of 30 semester hours (all at the 7000 level), including the completion of the following courses:

EDLD 7003 Seminar in Systems' Issues
EDLD 7013 Superintendency and Central Office
EDLD 7022 Building a leadership Community
EDLD 7033 School Personnel and Business Management
EDLD 7101 Administration Internship in Educational Facilities
EDLD 7112 Advanced Legal Issues
EDLD 7132 School Finance for District Level Administration
EDLD 7143 School Accountability Systems
EDLD 7201 Administrative Internship in District Level Finance
EDLD 7202 Administrative Internship in School Accountability Systems
EDLD 7023 School Board Relations

Portfolio
A candidate for an Educational Specialist in Education Leadership must complete a portfolio as part of the program of Study for the degree of Educational Specialist. This portfolio is an edited, integrated collection of an Educational Leadership candidate's evidence that competencies reflective of the  Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium Standards (ISLLC: 2008) have been acquired. It is not merely a file of course projects nor is it a scrapbook of professional memorabilia. It is a collection of a student's best work as an educational leadership candidate, demonstrates the student's expertise that is consistent with the program of study relative to the principles and standards for a district administrator. The portfolio is a collection of documents providing tangible evidence of the wide range of knowledge, dispositions, and skills possessed as a professional. The candidate's portfolio is a work in progress and should be updated regularly throughout one's program of study.

Special Conditions of Graduate Credit
Graduate Credit Taken Prior to Admission to Arkansas Tech University
A maximum of nine semester hours of graduate credit with a grade point average of "B" or better may be transferred from an accredited graduate school if deemed appropriate to the graduate program by the head of the student's major department and the Dean of Graduate College. Students must send a written request to the head of their major department to petition an acceptance of the transfer credit prior to requesting admission to candidacy to the graduate program. Graduate credit earned six years prior to the completion date of all degree requirements may not be applied toward the degree without the approval of the appropriate department head and the Dean of Graduate College. Credits earned by correspondence courses or for remedial purposes will not apply toward the graduate degree. No undergraduate course may be repeated for graduate credit.

Graduate Credit Taken After Admission to Arkansas Tech University
If after admission to graduate college at Arkansas Tech, a student wishes to take a course at another institution to count toward degree requirements at Arkansas Tech, the student must (in advance of enrollment) obtain written approval from the head of the student's major department and the Dean of Graduate College.

 

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