Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Higher Education Accelerated Option (ISIS code: HE9)

Conceptual Framwork
As reflected in our mission statement, the Warner School is informed by the following core values:

• Passion for improving education and individual lives in the pursuit of social justice.
• Belief in the key role played by research to inform meaningful, effective, and long-lasting change in education.
• Recognition of the importance of collaborating across fields and constituencies to address complex educational problems.
• Importance of conceiving of education broadly, so as to include the variety of contexts in which development and learning take place throughout the life course and the variety of professions that can support such development and learning.

More specifically, educational leaders in higher education need to understand multiple disciplines and their application to the tasks of educational leadership, including: vision formulation and planning; decision-making; establishing the conditions necessary for student learning; communication with multiple interest groups; and, building consensus, managing financial, human, and material resources and services.

Reflective Practice
Educational leaders need to think broadly about their roles and the goals that they should be striving to realize as educational leaders. We believe that administrators should be self-reflective and life-long learners who care about integrity, fairness, and ethics. Our program encourages students to think broadly about the goals and tasks they face as educational leaders and to reflect on their practice.

Reasoned Decision-Making
Educational leaders need to have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed for reasoned decision-making. Our programs promote high-quality decision-making and an appreciation for the value of data and research. Our graduates realize that they are accountable for their decisions, and have the knowledge and skills needed to evaluate the programs they create and help steward.

Academic Leadership
Student learning and growth is at the very heart of educational leadership and the entire educational enterprise. We believe that administrators must understand academic programs, curriculum, and instruction from the larger perspective of an educational leader. Our graduates are cognizant of what it takes to lead programmatic reform, and they understand the ways in which systemic reform influences authority relationships and the distribution and the allocation of power. Educational reforms are introduced within their historical, social, and political contexts, and throughout their courses, students develop the knowledge, skill, and awareness needed to enact them.

Alternative Conceptions of Leadership
Leadership is a holistic concept, and though it can be useful to dissect it into discrete skills, knowledge and dispositions to accomplish certain activities, it is important to think about it in ways that unify all three. We believe that leadership is more than the sum of a discrete set of aptitudes and skills. In our programs, graduates emerge cognizant of different conceptions of leadership and are able to conceptualize themselves as leaders based on their own personal preferred style of leadership.

Pursuit of Social Justice
Educational leaders should pursue their roles with an awareness and appreciation of the demands of social justice and its various conceptions. The themes of equity and non-discrimination flow throughout all of our courses, and our graduates have the capacity to understand the relevant principles and their application to specific educational problems and policies.