Education & Human Services

Welcome to the Education Specialist in Educational Leadership Degree Program

Thank you for your interest in the Education Specialist in Educational Leadership (ESEL) Program leading to P-12 Principal certification. The job of school principal can be the most rewarding administrative position in which you can really make a difference in the lives of students, teachers, parents, and the community. Our faculty includes experienced principals who are committed to providing you with the knowledge, skills and dispositions you will need to be an effective school leader. We work with area schools to jointly identify candidates and mentors to support the candidates in this program. You will meet current principals as instructors, fieldwork supervisors and guest speakers. These current principals are proven role models and mentors for teachers and students. Faculty, current principals, other school administrators, and community leaders collaborate to create relevant experiences to prepare you to understand school culture, curriculum, assessment, supervision of teachers to build capacity, and management of a school focused on school improvement.

You will meet other excellent teachers who aspire to become school principals. Our classes are delivered in several ways: face to face, online, a hybrid model and fieldwork classes in your school with district mentors. Your progress will be assessed in many ways: your ability to speak, lead professional development, your ability to lead Professional Learning Communities, law and ethics assessments, your work with the district and community, supervision of teachers and staff and your focus on student success.

The ESEL program will provide a teaching-learning climate in a series of courses, field experiences and applied research focused on the following goals:

• To work with area districts to identify and recruit the best candidates to be trained to become P-12 assistant principals and/or principals;
  
• To work with our Advisory Council to co-design and co-deliver classes that are relevant to district work;
  
• To provide field experiences that give candidates the opportunity to observe, participate and lead;
  
• To support, advise and encourage candidates who want to become school principals;
  
• To develop capstone projects that inform the school and district of relevant research to help them be successful;
  
• To assist candidates to get jobs as principals or assistant principals and support them in their careers.