Educational Leadership (EDLD)

Ontological, epistemological and axiological perspectives on various philosophical schools of thought related to education.

Current issues in educational leadership research; national, state, and regional perspectives examined.

Educational functioning from a political systems perspective; internal and external political forces influencing organizational effectiveness; shaping of educational policy; functional means of attaining and utilizing political power.

Proposal and dissertation research.

Assumptions of the major schools of thought regarding leadership; findings from research conducted pursuant to trait theory, behavioral theory and situational/contingency models; conceptions of leadership effectiveness; implications for leadership in educational organizations.

Students undergo assessment of personal leadership skills through assessment center methodologies. Abilities assessed include decision making, group participation, interpersonal communication and presentation skills.

Study of policy conceptualization; development and implementation integrated with decision-making processes; ethical and moral responsibility of educational leadership.

The nature of professionalism in education; points of conflict between bureaucratic and professional norms; accommodations to conflict; integrating professional norms with organizational requirements; organizational leadership of professionals; the character of professional associations in education.

Examines multicultural relations in American society and explores solutions to critical problems confronting educational systems in general and educational leaders in particular into the twenty-first century. Prerequisites: admission to the Doctor of Education program at Texas A&M-Kingsville

Theoretical basis for understanding instructional models and processes; research relevant to factors influencing instructional effectiveness and the interaction among instructional and learning variables.

Analysis of the school and classroom social system; examination of social, cultural and psychological variables that influence school learning.

Selected topics in an identified area of curriculum and instruction; advanced investigations of selected topics and problems dealing with curriculum theory, program design and experimental formulations. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.

An analysis of theoretical structures underlying curriculum development, implementation and evaluation.

This course provides an overview of the conceptual and operational aspects that impact the student personnel programs of higher education institutions in the United States. The course is designed to prepare individuals for leadership positions in the field. An overview of content areas of personnel services offered in colleges and universities. Legal, ethical, and professional identity issues are also examined.

An examination of the basic elements of successful school renewal programs with emphasis on systematic approaches to educational innovation and the process of change; studies of successful innovative programs.

Introduction to statistics for educational leaders. Topics include: descriptive and inferential statistics: frequency distributions, central tendency, variability; the normal curve, z-scores, percentile ranks; hypothesis testing, one-sample test, estimation, single-factor analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) bivariate correlation, bivariate regression and effect size indices. Course also includes hands-on microcomputer laboratory experiences in the use of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) with exercises related to the topics covered.

Experimentally based study of qualitative research philosophy, nature, purposes, design and practice. Additionally, course will elaborate as well as expand knowledge of the methods and various approaches to social sciences and educational research diversely known as ethnographic, participant observation, qualitative, case study, naturalistic or interpretive.

This course is designed to extend the student's knowledge of and expertise in areas of qualitative and quantitative research, use of electronic resources, styles, and format of writing research. Prerequisite: Admission to the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership.

An advanced level understanding of the process and method of data collection and the various methods of data analysis strategies in qualitative research as well as a deeper grasp of the description, analysis, and interpretation of qualitative research.

Topics covered will be parametric and non-parametric procedures, prediction and association methods, and test construction and scaling. The course includes hands-on microcomputer experience in the use of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) with exercises related to the topics covered. Prerequisite: EDLD 6333.

Principles of research design as they apply to both descriptive and experimental studies in educational leadership. Prerequisite: EDLD 6335.