A cohort of 17 students is pursuing a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership with Superintendent Certification at Texas A&M University-San Antonio, focusing on practical, marketable skills and real-world applications in education.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The group is enrolled in two courses: EDAD 6301, Leadership in the Pursuit of Excellence, and EDAD 6350, Introduction to Education Research.<\/p>\n
The cohort includes teachers, assistant principals, principals, associate superintendents and superintendents. Many are already planning their dissertations, which will focus on research to support educational change throughout Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Classes meet online two nights a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 5:30 to 8:15 p.m. During the day, students work in their respective schools, where they can apply the skills they learn in the doctoral program to their current positions.<\/p>\n
The program was established by Sean Kearney, a professor of educational leadership in the Department of Educator and Leadership Preparation and former director of principal certification; Lawrence Scott, an associate professor in the department; and Elisabeth Krimbill, an associate professor of educational leadership. They worked with faculty in the department, led by Esther Garza, a professor of bilingual and ESL education and the department chair.<\/p>\n
The Ed.D. in Educational Leadership prepares Transformative System-Level Leaders through a multidisciplinary curriculum that provides graduates with the knowledge and skills needed to lead educational organizations and collaborate within their social and cultural contexts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kearney and Krimbill teach courses in the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis degree plan is designed around an action-oriented \u2018dissertation-in-practice\u2019 approach,\u201d Krimbill said. \u201cStudents will identify a problem of practice (PoP) in their research courses and design individual studies to collect data in response to an identified research question under their elected specialization of systems-level knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students will develop skills in:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Systems thinking
\nData-informed decision-making
\nChange management
\nProgram evaluation
\nTransformative and ethical leadership
\nHuman capital development
\nPolicy analysis<\/p>\n
According to Krimbill, the 54-credit program is divided into three areas: 18 credits focused on research methodologies, 18 credits toward superintendent certification and 18 credits in educational leadership, where students study current research on leading schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Krimbill also referenced the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board\u2019s 2022-30 60\u00d730 Strategic Plan, which notes that Texas has the ninth-largest economy in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe state is considered an established global leader, driven by the success of our increasingly educated workforce,\u201d Krimbill said.<\/p>\n
The strategic plan calls for Texas institutions of higher education to expand opportunities for Texans to earn degrees, certificates and other credentials.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could tell you we had more than 60 applicants for a cohort of 15 students, so it was a very rigorous application process,\u201d Krimbill said. \u201cAnd the pool of applicants were all really quite spectacular and amazing. Many of them are alumni of A&M-San Antonio.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Students will base their dissertations on a problem of practice, analyze data from their own school or district, and develop a study intended to improve students\u2019 educational opportunities or benefit their communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will become experts on their research and transformative leaders in their community and districts,\u201d Krimbill said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Griselda Aguirre-Garcia, an education doctoral student, said hearing the experiences and perspectives of other students in her cohort has been enlightening and helpful.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been very enlightening and insightful to hear from the other people in our cohort about how they think about education and the problems that we see happening right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aguirre-Garcia said she has also learned that gathering information for research involves protocols, approval processes and strict guidelines.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there\u2019s actual protocols and processes when you\u2019re doing research that you have to follow, like strict guidelines, \u201c Aguirre-Garcia said, \u201cand you need to ask for approval by this governing board and body of people to give you permission\u201d<\/p>\n
She has also learned to look at problems through different perspectives, a skill she has been practicing in her job at the Mays Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt actually expands your mind and amplifies your thoughts about what you\u2019re looking at, what you\u2019re studying,\u201d Aguirre-Garcia said. \u201cWhat the problem really is, and how complex it could be and then it\u2019ll enlighten us to be able to explore solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Aguirre-Garcia, one of the easiest parts of the program is having direct access to professors who are available to help students.<\/p>\n
\u201cEasiest is access to the professors-they\u2019re always available and helpful, very helpful. So that\u2019s the easiest part,\u201d Aguirre-Garcia said. \u201cWe know who our professors are. We know how to reach them. They\u2019re very available, very accessible.\u201c<\/p>\n
Balancing the program with her other responsibilities has been more challenging.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hardest part is managing my time, because I do have a full-time job, and I am a mom with two high school students, and they have a full life of evening activities and things that they need.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite those challenges, Aguirre-Garcia said pursuing her doctorate is manageable with flexibility and prioritization.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s definitely doable. You just have to change what you do on which days,\u201d said Aguirre-Garcia. \u201cYou kind of have to look at it like a game of Tetris and move things around. If nothing changes, nothing changes,\u201d Aguirre-Garcia said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A cohort of 17 students is pursuing a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership with Superintendent Certification at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-475694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}