Required Core Subjects (10 hours)

• EDUC 5010 Graduate Study Seminar
• Research: EDUC 5933 Classroom Research & Institutional Effectiveness
• Foundation: EDUC 5203 Educational Practices
• Psychology: EDUC 5212 Psychology of Teaching
• Diversity: EDUC 5822 Multicultural Education

Related area of study: Educational Leadership (24 hours)

• EDUC 5103 Curriculum in Schools
• EDUC 5093 Curriculum and Instruction for Special Learners
• EDUC 5703 School Personnel and Administration
• EDUC 5782 Supervision of Teaching
• EDUC 5753 Principles of Public School Administration
• EDUC 5763 Public School Finance
• EDUC 5772 School and Public Relations
• EDUC 5783 Implementing State and Federal Requirements
• EDUC 5500 Internship for Educational Leadership (must be taken in final semester)+

*Note: This program prepares candidates for principal certification only. It may be taken as a fast-track, 18-month program.

**Note: On February 24, 2011, the NWOSU Teacher Education Committee voted to make successful completion (i.e. a passing score) of the Oklahoma Subject Area Test for certification a requirement for program completion in the Educational Leadership graduate program.

+Note: M.Ed. candidates may take only one other course with practicum/internship with the approval of their graduate advisory committee chair. M.Ed. candidates may take only one course after completing the practicum/internship. Any exceptions to these policies must be approved by each student's graduate advisory committee.

Educational Leadership Internship Handbook

The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparatio, CAEP, has approved new standards for Educational Leadership, Building Level. NELP (National Educational Leadership Preparation) standards replace the previous ELCC standards.

NELP Standard 1:  Mission, Vision, and Improvement

Candidates who successfully complete a building-level educational leadership preparation program understand and demonstrate the capacity to promote the current and future success and well-being of each student and adult by applying the knowledge, skills, and commitments necessary to collaboratively lead, design, and implement a school mission, vision, and process for continuous improvement that reflects a core set of values and priorities that include data use, technology, equity, diversity, digital citizenship, and community.

NELP Standard 2:  Ethics and Professional Norms

Candidates who successfully complete a building-level educational leadership preparation program understand and demonstrate the capacity to promote the current and future success and well-being of each student and adult by applying the knowledge, skills, and commitments necessary to understand and demonstrate the capacity to advocate for ethical decisions and cultivate and enact professional norms.

NELP Standard 3:  Equity, Inclusiveness, and Cultural Responsiveness

Candidates who successfully complete a building-level educational leadership preparation program understand and demonstrate the capacity to promote the current and future success and well-being of each student and adult by applying the knowledge, skills, and commitments necessary to develop and maintain a supportive, equitable, culturally responsive, and inclusive school culture.

NELP Standard 4:  Learning and Instruction

Candidates who successfully complete a building-level educational leadership preparation program understand and demonstrate the capacity to promote the current and future success and well-being of each student and adult by applying the knowledge, skills, and commitments necessary to evaluate, develop, and implement coherent systems of curriculum, instruction, data systems, supports, and assessment.

NELP Standard 5:  Community and External Leadership

Candidates who successfully complete a building-level educational leadership preparation program understand and demonstrate the capacity to promote the current and future success and well-being of each student and adult by applying the knowledge, skills, and commitments necessary to engage families, community, and school personnel in order to strengthen student learning, support school improvement, and advocate for the needs of their school and community.

NELP Standard 6:  Operations and Management

Candidates who successfully complete a building-level educational leadership preparation program understand and demonstrate the capacity to promote the current and future success and well-being of each student and adult by applying the knowledge, skills, and commitments necessary to improve management, communication, technology, school-level governance, and operation systems to develop and improve data-informed and equitable school resource plans and to apply laws, policies, and regulations.

NELP Standard 7:  Building Professional Capacity

Candidates who successfully complete a building-level educational leadership preparation program understand and demonstrate the capacity to promote the current and future success and well-being of each student and adult by applying the knowledge, skills, and commitments necessary to build the school’s professional capacity, engage staff in the development of a collaborative professional culture, and improve systems of staff supervision, evaluation, support, and professional learning.

NELP Standard 8: Internship

Candidates successfully complete an internship under the supervision of knowledgeable, expert practitioners that engages candidates in multiple and diverse school settings and provides candidates with coherent, authentic, and sustained opportunities to synthesize and apply the knowledge and skills identified in NELP standards 1–7 in ways that approximate the full range of responsibilities required of building-level leaders and enable them to promote the current and future success and well-being of each student and adult in their school.

In lieu of the capstone project, thesis, or the written comprehensive and oral follow-up examinations, the M.Ed. student will submit and defend an Action Research Project and will maintain a Graduate Candidate File (GCF) in ALCA. M.Ed. program options require three checkpoints: Milestone 1, Milestone 2, and Milestone 3. Below are procedures and details for M.Ed. candidates:

Required during first semster of enrollment. M.Ed. students will complete the course requirements for EDUC 5010 Graduate Study Seminar, will establish an ALCA account, and will contact graduate advisory committee members once theya re assigned. Also during the first semester, M.Ed. students will complete Mileston 1 by meeting with the graduate advisory committee or its chair, by completing the plan of study and graduate advisory committee forms, by having the appropriate credentials and required paperwork submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies (FA #212), by putting in appropriate materials to the Graduate Candidate File in ALCA, and by going over program expectations with the graduate advisory committee. All of theses elements are required before further enrollment in graduate courses are allowed.

Required three (3) semesters before graduation. M.Ed. students will complete EDUC 5933 Classroom Research & Institutional Effectiveness with a passing grade and will submit the final research proposal and instructor's rubric with comments to the graduate advisory committee chair, who will then evaluate the course instructor's comments and the student's proposal to determine readiness for Milestone 2. To complete Milestone 2, the student will schedule a meeting with his/her graduate advisory committee and will present the Action Research Proposal to committee members. The student will also continue to put in appropriate materials to the Graduate Candidate File in ALCA. All of these elements are required before further enrollment in graduate courses are allowed. At this point, students should receive a letter of candidacy from the Office of Graduate Studies.

Required two (2) semesters before graduation. M.Ed. candidates will conduct the Action Research Project over two consecutive academic semesters and will continue to add appropriate materials to the Graduate Candidate File in ALCA.

Required the semester of graduation. M.Ed. candidates will complete Milestone 3 by presenting the completed Action Research Project to the graduate advisory committee and selected stakeholders, by adding any additional materials to complete the Graduate Candidate File in ALCA, and by completing all exit documents in order to graduate.

 

What is Action Research?

Action research seeks transformative change through the simultaneous process of taking action and doing research, which are linked together by critical reflection. Action research practitioners reflect upon the consequences of their own questions, beliefs, assumptions, and practices with the goal of understanding, developing, and improving social practices. This action is simultaneously directed towards self-change and towards restructuring the organization or institution within which the practitioner works.

The nature of action research places the researcher in the middle of the inquiry and not on the outside as an observer and/or experimenter. Action researchers do not claim ‘neutrality’ but rather account for their position in the action and inquiry. A strength of action research is that the researcher studies what she or he does in concert with others. Therefore, the knowledge created through action research is inevitably dialogical in nature, and is thus always a negotiated and cocreated knowledge. This knowledge is not inert, but serves to improve the quality of life by engaging participants in a quest for deeper understandings that lead to improvement.

Action researchers are often guided by questions of this kind, ‘How do I improve my practice?’ Action research takes time, energy, commitment, and courage because it is about changing oneself, which means changing one’s thinking, and recognizing that, once changed, there is no going back. However, action researchers are also engaged in a process of authentic collaboration with participants who seek to improve their practices. The focus is on the actors (participants) within their local social contexts. These participants are often coresearchers (but not always). The four key processes of an action research cycle include planning, implementing the plan, gathering and analyzing data as the plan is implemented, and reflecting on these results. The choice of specific data collection and analysis methods (practices) occurs in alignment with the action researcher’s personal and professional epistemological and ontological belief systems, while also reflecting the discourses of the larger organization and society within which the action research is being conducted. Further, the choice of research methods in action research is dependent upon the question, problem, dilemma or dissonance to be examined, and the nature of the practice situation. The cycles of action research represent iterative problem solving linked by reflection. Critical reflection on action and reflexive writing are key and central processes of action research.

Making decisions about involvement in action research carries certain risks. It involves interrogating one’s thinking and deciding actively to change established self-perceptions and personal and professional habits to move into the future, recognizing that action researchers are responsible for their decisions and the consequences of these decisions. Specific action research practices are informed by researchers’ values that carry hope for the future including the procedural principle of democracy and insights from the most advanced social theories of the day.

The action researcher, like all researchers, is expected to share research findings as part of the process of knowledge creation. Action researchers also expect to have those findings scrutinized by other professionals, including professionals whose knowledge and belief systems may vary markedly from those of the action researchers.

Rowell, L. Polush, E. Riel, M, & Bruewer, A. (2015) Action researchers’ perspectives about the distinguishing characteristics of action research: a Delphi and learning circles mixedmethods study. Access online at http://www.tandfonline.com/ doi/abs/10.1080/09650792.2014.990987#.VPlW0IH-Oxw

Plan of Study Form

Certification-Only Plan of Study

Graduate Advisory Committee Form

SLO 1: Candidates who complete the program are educational leaders who have the knowledge and ability to promote the success of all students by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a school vision of learning supported by the school community. 

SLO 2: Candidates who complete the program are educational leaders who have the knowledge and ability to promote the success of all students by promoting a positive school culture, producing an effective instructional program, applying best practices to student learning, and designing comprehensive professional growth plans for staff.

SLO 3: Candidates who complete the program are educational leaders who have the knowledge and ability to promote the success of all students by managing the organization, operations, and resources in a way that promotes a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment.

SLO 4: Candidates who complete the program are educational leaders who have the knowledge and ability to promote the success of all students by collaborating with families and other community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources.

SLO 5: Candidates who complete the program are educational leaders who have the knowledge and ability to promote the success of all students by acting with integrity, fairly, and in an ethical manner.

SLO 6: Candidates who complete the program are educational leaders who have the knowledge and ability to promote the success of all students by understanding, responding to, and influencing the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context.

SLO 7: Internship. The internship provides significant opportunities for candidates to synthesize and apply the knowledge and practice and develop the skills identified in Standards 1-6 through substantial, sustained, standards-based work in real settings, planned and guided cooperatively by the institution and school district personnel for graduate credit.

Course Rotations