Course Descriptions

The Doctoral Studies Orientation provides new students with an entire overview of the program from course work to dissertation proposal and finally to successful completion of the dissertation. The orientation will cover the scope and sequences of the coursework with an overview of how the research benchmark assignments are integrated to prepare students for successful dissertation proposal and completion. The Doctoral Studies Orientation includes an overview of the library resources available within the library and through outside access. Also highlighted in this orientation will be an overview of the blended learning approach taken in the program and expectations for student performance as outlined in the doctoral student handbook.

This course will equip students with knowledge and skills to understand and practice their role as leaders. An emphasis will be placed on systems theory applied to education, leadership, learning communities, and effective practices for sustaining strong leadership in continuously improving organizations. Additional emphasis will be given to the role of leadership in setting the moral example, fostering a caring environment, and developing a community of learners respectful of all members and differences. Students will understand the dynamics of organizational management, operations and resources to create and sustain a safe and effective learning organization. Research skills will be strengthened through activities investigating theory in systems thinking, educational psychology, leadership, and organizational planning as they relate to successful leadership and effective schools.

This course will provide students with knowledge and capacity to lead an instructional program that is systemically structured to foster professional growth for teachers and benefit student achievement. Emphasis will be placed on service to diverse student populations, implementation of the Common Core State Standards, research-based pedagogical innovations, and successful use of summative and formative assessment measures. Students will develop sustainable instruction and assessment plans that could be implemented in their own organizational settings that intentionally focus on the alignment of instruction and assessment to student learning outcomes.

This course will provide students opportunities to learn and to utilize technology for pursuit of information, providing transformational instruction, communicating effectively with all stakeholders, and fostering an organizational culture that embraces technology toward ongoing improvement. The course covers a wide spectrum of available technological resources to help leaders better understand student achievement as well as contextual factors (ex. school climate, parent satisfaction, teacher satisfaction) in schools. Specific emphasis will be given to exploration of potential applications of technological resources in a current organizational setting for: becoming an integral component of leadership and school culture, performance monitoring, and enhancing learning options for students and staff members.

This course will provide students with the knowledge and skills to effectively manage human resources in a sustainable way that supports learning for all students, fosters a professional work environment, upholds contractual agreements, and develops employee capacity fairly and ethically. Specific emphasis will be focused upon promoting a learning organization through effective and collaborative performance reviews, legal compliance, and strategic placement of resources to maximize organizational effectiveness toward student learning.

This course provides students with an overview of successful fiscal leadership in schools by surveying the dynamic landscape of school funding from federal, state, and local levels. This course will provide students with abilities to effectively lead safe, efficient, and effective organizations through meaningful and compliant fiscal management of organizational components, operations, and resources. Specific emphasis will be given to the study of the major responsibilities a fiscal leader and the utilization of resources in effective and transformative ways.

This course will provide students with insight into the development of, response to, and ability to influence the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural contexts impacting educational organizations and practices. Specific emphasis will be given to standards, policies, and entities presently guiding decisions at national, state, district, and school levels. The course provides a rich history of the political aspects inherent to education policy and how these policies transverse from the federal government, to state education agencies, district offices, and are ultimately implemented at the local level.
** Group travel to Washington D.C. to meet with governmental officials will be incorporated into this course.

This course will provide students insight, knowledge, and motivation to lead in response to identified needs for educational change in global community: applying change-agent leadership vision, promoting future success among all groups of students, using influences of diversity to improve teaching and learning, and motivating others to seek innovation. This course prepares students to recognize threats to organizational effectiveness, develop sustainable plans to minimize threats, and focus learning organizations toward the meeting of goals. Specific emphasis is placed on applied theory and research on organizational change and systems thinking in diverse educational settings.
** Specific emphasis will be group travel to an international country (optional). The experience will be designed to generate a comparative analysis of different educational systems, and to identify desirable attributes to incorporate into local organizational settings.

This course will provide students with an overview of statistics as applied to the educational setting and for the purpose of leading schools. The course will review basic statistics and utilize the Statistic Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) as the technological platform for managing and understanding data to drive decision making in schools. Students will participate in hands on learning labs in the application of statistical analysis to real data sets. Students will become skilled in the analysis, interpretation, and consumer use of statistical analysis applied to school settings and situations

This course provides students with an exposure and skill development in the use of quantitative methods for the study of educational research. Students will learn and understand the theoretical underpinnings of quantitative methods and the application of these methods for effective leadership in dynamic educational settings. The course approaches conducting research and the understanding of research as a key competency for those who will successfully lead school organizations in the 21st century. Special attention is given to the quantitative methods that will help leaders guide teachers and stakeholders to better solutions for solving educational problems in the local context. This course also prepares students to craft and answer important educational questions using quantitative methods and applied statistical analysis.

This course develops students skill set in the use of qualitative methods for the study of educational research. Students will learn and understand the theoretical basis of qualitative methods and how these methods are applied toward the successful leadership of schools and educational organizations. The course covers the collection, analysis, and reporting of qualitative data. This course also prepares students to craft and answer important educational questions using qualitative methods.

Dissertation Seminar 1 serves as an orientation to the dissertation process and structure of the dissertation proposal. This seminar will focus mainly on the initial stages of preparing the dissertation proposal and identification of the dissertation chair and committee members. Students will be provided with an overview of dissertation topics and sample dissertation proposals. The seminar will also reference work done on the Annotated Bibliography Benchmark Assessments one and two as a starting point for consideration of dissertation topics.

Dissertation Seminar 2 will build on the information covered in Dissertation Seminar 1 with the final outcome of the seminar to be the selection of a dissertation chair and committee members. In this seminar a focus will be given to the discussion, review, and guidance of students toward identifying problem statements and research questions that can guide their completion of the dissertation proposal. This seminar will build on the Preliminary Literature Review Benchmark Assessment and moving students toward a preliminary outline for chapters one and two of the dissertation.

Dissertation Seminar 3 serves as a time for students to focus specifically on the development of chapter one and chapter two of the dissertation proposal. In this seminar students will be guided through the proposal writing process for chapters one and two of the dissertation proposal. Students will be provided examples of chapters one and two and be required to present their current progress in developing chapters one and two of the dissertation proposal. Important in this seminar will be the student’s identification of a conceptual framework and the kinds of references they will need to continue to gather for the literature review. This seminar builds on the Annotated Bibliography and Preliminary Literature Review Benchmarks toward developing student broader understanding of their research ideas related to the literature base.

Dissertation Seminar 4 continues to build on the development of chapters one and two of the dissertation proposal. Students will receive chair and peer feedback on drafts of chapters one and two of the dissertation proposal in this seminar. The quantitative research questions for the dissertation proposal will be a focus of this seminar as students will continue to fine tune research questions based on skills that have been developed through the Analysis Framework and Quantitative Research Plan Benchmark Assessments. This seminar will also focus on the development of chapter three for the dissertation proposal and provide students with an overview of chapter three and samples. Time in this seminar will also be given to preparing students for the oral defense of the dissertation proposal.

Dissertation Seminar 5 serves as a time for review of proposals and the execution of the research plan proposed in the dissertation proposal. In this seminar students will be guided on the collection of data both quantitatively and qualitatively to lead them to the answering of their dissertation research questions. Time will be given to challenges that arise in the collection of data and strategies for addressing these challenges. Students will be provided with direction in developing a detailed timeline leading them to successful completion of the next stages of the dissertation process. In addition, students will have the opportunity to give research updates pertaining to their collection of data and execution of the research plan. Guidance for data analysis and the preparation of chapters four and five will be provided during this seminar. Students will also be provided with an overview of the dissertation oral defense as outlined in the doctoral student handbook.

In this seminar time will be given to challenges that arise in the collection of data and strategies for addressing these challenges. Students will have the opportunity to give research updates pertaining to their collection of data and execution of the research plan. Special attention will be given in this seminar to the successful preparation of chapter 4 and chapter 5 of the final dissertation document. Students will also be provided with guidance on the dissertation oral defense as outlined in the doctoral student handbook.

Working with the dissertation committee and under the direction of the chair, the student develops final versions of the dissertation proposal including the problem statement, literature review, and research design. Proposals are submitted to the institutional review board (IRB) at Concordia University. During this time the student also prepares for the oral defense of the dissertation proposal and work with the dissertation chair to schedule the oral defense of the proposal.

Dissertation Research 1 is ongoing dissertation research. During this time students will be implementing research designs, collecting data related to dissertation research questions and beginning to write chapters 4 and 5 of the dissertation.

Dissertation Research 1 is ongoing dissertation research. During this time students will be implementing research designs, following dissertation proposal timelines, collecting data related to dissertation research questions and preparing to write chapters 4 and 5 of the dissertation. Students will work with dissertation chair as needed to discuss the execution of the dissertation research plan and progress on data collection.

Dissertation Research 3 is a course extension continuous enrollment requirement for students who have not completed the dissertation and the dissertation oral defense.