Teacher Leadership, Ed.S.

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Program Description

The Education Specialist Degree (Ed.S.) in Teacher Leadership is designed for certified educators who want to increase their instructional and leadership strategies beyond the master’s level. This program ensures that current educators preparing for a teacher leadership role will develop the skills necessary to serve as wise educational leaders, mentors, and coaches for other educators. An Ed.S is a graduate degree specific to the field of education beyond a master’s degree that provides students with curriculum content and professional training to help them step confidently into educational leadership roles.

The curriculum is practitioner-focused and rooted in research-based pedagogy, with an emphasis on leading with virtue and building high performing school communities. Instruction focuses on applying organizational leadership theories, the principles of wise leadership1, and the practical skills needed by teacher leaders, academic, behavioral and instructional coaches, TOSAs, Literacy/Math Leads, PLC Coordinators, and Department Chairs to become leaders of flourishing learning communities.

Program Outcomes

Upon completion of the program, candidates are expected to become wise leaders of character and competence who:

Explore and understand personal development through the wise leadership model.
1. Candidates increase their knowledge and understanding of moral virtues including practical wisdom and its connections to leadership practice.
2. Candidates apply individual moral virtues and character traits to their administrative duties and leadership responsibilities.
3. Candidates model wise leadership practices and demonstrate their application in educational leadership settings.
Engage a full range of leadership competencies with an emphasis on wise leadership in the context of their organizations and communities.
1. Candidates analyze a range of leadership models and competencies and understand their application in different organizational contexts.
2. Candidates apply wise leadership principles and educational theories in the context of complex, contemporary educational and administrative settings.
Cultivate the necessary character traits and dispositions of a wise leader that foster respect for the dignity of every human person.
1. Candidates identify the components of wise leadership that are necessary to foster respect and dignity for every human person.
2. Candidates apply wise leadership practices through fostering moral reasoning and ethical leadership in themselves and others.
3. Candidates model character traits that foster respect for the dignity of every human person.
4. Candidates will be culturally competent educators who work effectively with diverse student populations and serve as change agents in educational settings who can lead the improvement of policy, programs, and practice.
5. Candidates are able to identify patterns of discrimination and inequality, recognizing their effects on the educational process, and can communicate through multiple perspectives to collaborate and build partnerships within and across communities.
Integrate practical wisdom and ethical behavior consistently in multiple educational leadership contexts.
1. Candidates demonstrate awareness of moral and ethical dilemmas.
2. Candidates are able to weigh multiple perspectives and responses in order to make moral judgments3.
3. Candidates apply and evaluate wise leadership practices in the face of moral challenges, dilemmas, and opportunities4.
4. Candidates synthesize acquired knowledge of wise leadership and moral reasoning in order to apply them to specific actions and behaviors aligned to these principles5.

¹Wise leaders exemplify prudence in judgment, virtuous decision-making, and model good, moral action. Through their awareness, judgment, and motivation, they draw on practical wisdom, and are called to act with virtue. Wise leaders foster an educational environment conducive to good moral action and thought in others.

²Morally sensitive (aware of opportunities to exhibit good moral leadership)

³A good moral judge (capable of good judgment based on practical wisdom)

⁴Morally motivated (oriented toward the good and inspired toward action)

⁵Prone to good moral thought and deed (committed to good moral action)

Program Structure and Delivery

All students take the foundational courses (18 credits) rooted in character and virtue education that will cover competencies common to all areas of educational and teacher leadership. Teacher Leadership EdS students focus on leadership including and beyond administrative licensure from the state, which will allow the additional coursework to complete licensure at a later date, if desired. Students will complete a final project to be presented for Education Specialist Degree (EdS) completion, 30 credits total.

Students will compile a comprehensive program manual that identifies and outlines a Problem of Practice that they have encountered in their district, school, program, field experience, etc., and a plan to address it.

Students may transfer a maximum of six graduate semester credits from a regionally accredited institution. Credits must have been earned during the five years prior to admission, be administrative in nature, have been approved by the program director and the dean, and have not been used as a part of another degree program. After acceptance into the program, all subsequent courses must be earned at Saint Mary’s University.

The Teacher Leadership EdS Degree is offered remotely with the addition of a summer institute. Students may start at the beginning of fall and spring semesters only.

Because Saint Mary’s students who have successfully completed the Teacher Leadership Education Specialist Degree program have already successfully completed the six foundational courses in the program (18 credits), they may apply to be readmitted to Saint Mary’s at any time to complete the final 12 credits (three courses plus the field experience) in the Principal or Director of Special Education graduate licensure courses, depending on their teacher licensure and requirements outlined in MN statute 3510.0100.

Degree Requirements

Core Courses	18 cr.
Teacher Leadership Courses	12 cr.
Total	30 cr.

Core Courses: 18 cr.

Teacher Leadership Courses: 12 cr.

Problem of Practice Manual

Finally, students will incorporate elements of the knowledge gained throughout their courses into a comprehensive program manual that identifies and outlines a “Problem of Practice” that they have encountered in their school, district, program, department, grade level, classroom, or Professional Learning Community (etc.), and they will create a plan to address it. This manual will include a literature review of the issue, its background, history, prevalence, potential causes, and historical, successful, or tried solutions. Students will outline a plan moving forward addressing their chosen solution, a step-by-step plan, including relevant and necessary support, financial needs and potential sources, legal ramifications, a communication plan, and timelines. It will include the potential and prospective ethical challenges of wise leadership through conflict, and applicable course materials that apply. The goal of this structured plan will be to answer the question, “What are you going to do with what you have learned, and how do you, as a wise leader, apply thoughtful planning, problem-solving, and conflict resolution skills?” It will also include letters of recommendation from stakeholders and leaders who encourage and support the design, process, and possibilities for improvement the solution represents, as well as the person’s process and ability to achieve success.

Faculty

The faculty members for this program have earned doctorate or master’s degrees. Faculty are selected for their combination of educational and professional experience and expertise.

Admission Requirements

Applicants may apply for admission to the specialist degree at any time during the year. A master’s degree from a regionally accredited institution, for which applicant maintained at least a 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale, is required for admission. Applicants must demonstrate the language proficiency necessary for successful graduate coursework. All applicants must complete an interview with the program administrators.

Application Process

Applicants must submit:

Completed application form with the nonrefundable application fee (fee not required for alumni or students seeking readmission or veterans and active military personnel) and,
Official transcripts issued to Saint Mary’s University from the institutions granting the applicant’s completed master’s degree(s) and other graduate level course completed (an official transcript is one that is sent or carried to the university in an envelope sealed by the granting institution. Transcripts from countries other than the U.S. must be evaluated by a Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota accepted evaluation source, such as World Education Services, www.ece.org, and deemed equivalent to accredited U.S. University standards.)
As part of the application process, using the education administration competencies listed in Minnesota Rule 3512.0510, the applicant’s transcripts are evaluated by the Program Director to determine which, if any, courses may be eliminated from the applicant’s personal learning course of study. If the applicant indicates a desire for a graduate certificate or an Education Specialist degree on completion of his or her program, his or her transcript is evaluated for possible course transfer, subject to the maximum of 6 credits transfer in policy.
All applicants must submit a reflective essay which includes:
1. brief description of the applicant’s background, training, and experience and,
2. statement indicating the career goals of the applicant and his or her reasons for seeking admission to this program and,
3. description of the areas which the applicant considers to be his or her strengths and area in which the applicant wishes to develop greater strengths and abilities and,
4. personal information the applicant wishes to share.
Letters of recommendation that verify professional and/or volunteer experience and academic ability and,
A current resume listing educational background and work experience.

Please note: Application materials should be sent to the office of admission on the Minneapolis campus:

Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
Office of Admission
2500 Park Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55404

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