What you'll learn

Have you ever pictured yourself leading a school, a district, a nonprofit or a community organization? The University of Colorado Denver's Doctor of Education (EdD) concentration in executive leadership will prepare those interested in innovation to develop the fundamental skills to inspire and lead.

Students in this concentration will:

• Learn to manage personnel, understand budgets, financial concepts and strategic planning processes
• Understand evaluation and accountability systems and lead professional development
• Develop and implement policy
• Build community relations within and outside the organization
• Engage with faculty, worksites, and districts to address problems of practice and policy
• Become data savvy for strategic planning and decision-making
• Culminate the program with a dissertation-in-practice

There are two options within the executive leadership concentration that may include a path to licensure: 1.) Leadership for Educational Organizations program with an option for administrative licensure from the Colorado Department of Education or 2.) Principal licensure program with an option for principal licensure from the Colorado Department of Education. Students do not need to pursue licensure to take this EdD concentration; it is optional.

Choose CU Denver's School of Education & Human Development

You can trust CU Denver to provide an education that will prepare you for excellence in your career as an executlve leader of an educational organization. The university and school are recognized for preparing leaders of distinction who value educational excellence and social justice. Additionally, CU Denver's School of Education and Human Development is counted among U.S. News & World Report's “Best Graduate Schools,” making us one of the top education schools in the country.

Courses

The 54-credit program begins each summer.

The curriculum includes:

• 18 hours in EdD core courses:
• Six credit hours equity core (two three-credit courses)
• Six credit hours leadership and organizational performance core (two three-credit courses)
• Six credit hours learning core (two three-credit courses)
• Nine hours in the research core (three three-credit courses)
• 12 hours in one of seven Concentration Areas (four three-credit hour blocks)
• 15 hours in completion of a culminating Doctoral Research Project (includes one hour of mandatory design workshop experiences, second fall semester)

All courses and experiences strive to expose students to context-specific best practices, interdisciplinary connections, and applied research in an environment that stresses the application of theory to practice. Course assignments focus on problem-solving experiences.

The EdD program has been designed to enable students to complete program requirements in three years, or five years for those taking one class per semester.