Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership at Fresno State
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--*DOCTORAL PROGRAM IN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AT FRESNO STATE PROGRAM REVIEW SELF-STUDY I. Introduction and Overview of the Program The Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership (DPELFS) offered admission to the first cohort during the fall 2007. The program was created as a result of legislative action (SB 724), which allowed the California State University System (CSU) to offer the doctorate independent of University of California Partners. Fresno State offered a joint doctoral program with University of California beginning in 1991 and had 15 cohorts admitted to the program. When the independent doctoral program was designed, it was decided that the program would be more “practitioner” oriented. In line with the desire to be focused on preparing professional practitioners, embedded fieldwork became part of the Core course design. However, the program philosophy and framework of the program includes theory and research informing practice. Shortly after the program was designed, the CSU asked Fresno State to represent all CSU institutions in the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) as the lead institution. As a result of the participation in this program, many of the principles and tenets of CPED have been put into practice in the doctoral program. The CPED mission and principles follow: “The professional doctorate in education prepares educators for the application of appropriate and specific practices, the generation of new knowledge, and for the stewardship of the profession.” With this focus, the DPELFS governing bodies have identified the following statements that will focus a research and development agendas to test, refine, and validate principles for the professional doctorate in education. The Professional doctorate in education: 1. Is framed around questions of equity, ethics, and social justice to bring about solutions to complex problems of practice. 2. Prepares leaders who can construct and apply knowledge to make a positive difference in the lives of individuals, families, organizations, and communities. 3. Provides opportunities for candidates to develop and demonstrate collaboration and communication skills to work with diverse communities and to build partnerships. 4. Provides field-based opportunities to analyze problems of practice and use multiple frames to develop meaningful solutions. 5. Is grounded in and develops a professional knowledge base that integrates both practical and research knowledge, that links theory with systemic and systematic inquiry. 6. Emphasizes the generation, transformation, and use of professional knowledge and practice. In helping DPELFS to meet the goals of preparing professional practitioners, several auxiliary programs were created. The Central Valley Educational Leadership Institute (CVELI) was founded to provide 1 leadership training for all groups of educators in the Central Valley. It was also envisioned that CVELI would provide doctoral students with opportunities to attend conferences with notable presenters as well as to work with CVELI on leadership training projects. The Co-Directors are funded by the doctoral program and doctoral students have had the opportunity to attend annual conferences, webinars, meet nationally renowned speakers such as Richard and Becky DuFours and Robert Marzano. The partnership between CVELI and DPELFS has been more extensive and productive than ever imagined. Another auxiliary, the Center for Research, Evaluation, Assessment, and Dissemination (CREAD) that was already in existence was redesigned to be more interconnected with the doctoral program. CREAD now offers opportunities for students to participate in evaluation projects and other research projects, such as the Lindsay Unified School District project that is assisting and studying the progress of the school district that has moved to a system of promotion by proficiency and not by “ time in seat”. DPELFS students are documenting implementation and assisting with the design of new grade-level assessments. CREAD was also created to provide students with assistance in formatting their dissertations and also with statistical analysis of their data for their research. The Center for Research and Publication (CRP) has just been created as another auxiliary of DPELFS. The mission of CRP is to provide students and faculty with assistance in getting their course work and their dissertations published in refereed journals. A coordinator has just been identified, and when she returns from her Fulbright in the spring she will begin providing support to DPELFS students. II. Previous Action Plan or Recommendations from Prior Review This review is the first program review for the doctoral program. III. Departmental Description and Evaluation of the Program A. Mission and Goals of the Program Mission: The Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership is designed to train proven educational leaders, educational administrators, teachers and other school personnel with high leadership potential, to examine critically current educational practices and policies from a broad theoretical perspective, to formulate administrative, and instructionally effective approaches that can improve the quality of instruction and the learning environment in schools and in the homes of students. 2 Goals: The general program goals are to increase the theoretical and methodological knowledge base of DPELFS students, to enhance their ability to understand and analyze complete educational problems (such as the student achievement gap), and to be capable of developing and implementing solutions for these problems. Therefore, the program will produce graduates and educational leaders who are able to: 1. Understand and use the literature related to educational leadership and reform, the social and cultural context of education, the role of the home languages and culture in the academic development of students, and the research methodologies required to investigate and understand educational effectiveness. 2. Competently play a key role in leading educational reform related to instructional practices and policies, educator professional development and support, curriculum, and community relations, and home, school and college learning environments. 3. Create adequate information bases, evaluate educational programs, analyze complex educational problems, identify solutions, advise teachers and other educators, monitor the impact of solutions adopted, develop collaborative teams of practitioners and applied researchers in schools and colleges, and develop research and inquiry capabilities necessary for the implementation of educational policy and practices that provides equitable education opportunities for all students. 4. Design and execute applied studies related to effective educational institutions, best-practices, leadership and student success. 1. Alignment of DPELFS with the University’s Mission and Goals The mission of the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership is in alignment with the University’s Mission and Goals, and specifically, with the following goals in the current Mission Statement and Strategic Plan goals: Mission: California State University, Fresno powers the New California through learning, scholarship, and engagement. The University faculty, staff, and administrators work together to: Make student success our first priority; Embrace a culture of diversity, internationalization, and inclusion; Advance our established distinction in liberal arts and sciences, professional programs, and community engagement; Produce transformative scholarly research and creative works that target regional issues with global significance; Exemplify the ethical stewardship of capital and human resources; and, Develop institutional, community, and intellectual leaders. Strategic Plan for Excellence IV: Goal 3: Transformational Scholarship 3 Strengthen graduate programs in research and creative activities. Develop distinctive selected professional programs at the certificate, masters and doctoral levels that meet the needs and addresses the diversity of the Central Valley. The doctoral program is engaged in achieving these goals through encouraging applied research related to problems of practice in the Central Valley of California. Further, the courses include fieldwork where students work directly with districts and school sites in addressing their issues related to student achievement and leading change. When the current Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership was established, it operated solely on the Fresno State campus. Today, there is an entire program offered at the CSU Bakersfield campus, and a hybrid on-line doctoral program is currently under development as a joint venture with CSU Channel Islands. The target for that program to be offered is fall, 2014. Goal 7: Engagement with the Region Collaborate with K-12 to raise the educational achievement of all students. The doctoral program includes a Regional Partnership Advisory Board that keeps the doctoral program faculty informed of current practices that are in place to raise the achievement of all students. Doctoral students are from these surrounding school districts and take back the new skills they learn in the program and implement them while they are participating in the program. The Central Valley Educational Leadership Institute (CVELI) is an active arm of the program that brings surrounding districts to campus to participate in leadership development and best practices in education. Doctoral program students regularly attend