Degree Requirements

Doctor Of Education Program in Educational Leadership

The Educational Leadership EdD Program is an intensive 60 credit hour, cohort-based program designed for educators who wish to earn a terminal degree in educational leadership. The EdD program allows students to keep their current full-time jobs while also studying full-time. The program is intended to train an emerging generation of senior educational leaders with the knowledge and skills necessary to connect research, theory, and practice in leading high performing learning organizations to manage resources strategically, engage in evidence-based decision-making, promote continuous improvement, and encourage innovation. The program prepares graduates to be: research informed, practice focused, transformational educational leaders. 

Coursework is delivered using a combination of face-to-face (on campus), and blended, Hy-Flex, and fully online formats. Designed with a theory-to-practice focus, the program brings the research literature and best practices together with the problems of practice faced in day-to-day educational settings. The program design is aligned with the recommendations of the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED, 2022a) to improve the efficacy and reliability of the professional doctorate in education for the advancement and preparation of school practitioners and clinical faculty, academic leaders and professional staff for the nation’s schools and colleges and the learning organizations that support them.

The program is further guided by the following principles for the professional doctorate in education:

• Is framed around questions of equity, ethics, and social justice to bring about solutions to complex problems of practice;

• Prepares leaders who can construct and apply knowledge to make a positive difference in the lives of individuals, families, organizations, and communities;

• Provides opportunities for candidates to develop and demonstrate collaboration and communication skills to work with diverse communities to build partnerships;

• Provides field-based opportunities to analyze problems and use multiple frames to develop meaningful solutions;

• Is grounded in and develops a professional knowledge base that integrates both practical and research knowledge, that links theory with systemic and systematic inquiry; and

• Emphasizes the generation, transformation, and use of professional knowledge and practice. (The Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate, 2022b).

Program Objectives

• In preparing graduates for careers as PK-12 or postsecondary administrators, the program curriculum includes a PK-12 concentration and a higher education (HED) concentration that will meet the following objectives:

• Serve as a local venue for constituents of the southernmost part of the State of Alabama for the terminal degree in the field;

• Meet the needs of the local constituency with a cadre of highly educated professionals who have been trained in and taught the unique and specialized practices and policies of the State of Alabama;

• Fulfill the currently dwindling pool of mid-career and senior administrators in fields with high retirement rates in both PK-12 school districts and postsecondary institutions in the southern region of the state; and

• Help fulfill the mission of the University of South Alabama.

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Admission Requirements

EDD – K-12

• Master’s degree from a regionally accredited institution with a minimum 3.25 cumulative graduate GPA.

Official transcripts* can be sent by mail or electronically. Instructions can be found under “Help” on the application.
*USA students applying to a USA graduate program in the College of Education and Professional Studies should complete a transcript request form (PDF) found on the University Registrar's Office website.
In the Name/Organization field for the transcript recipient write, "USA Graduate School". There is no charge associated with this request. This option applies only to USA transcripts for students applying to USA graduate programs.

• ALABAMA Class A or Class AA Professional Leadership Certification in Instructional Leadership.
• Current service or experience at the level of PK-12 Assistant Principal or higher is preferred. Applicants must hold active professional positions that allow them to implement small-scale change.
• Completion of graduate level Research Methods and Evaluation course with minimum grade of “B”.
• Three letters of recommendation from individual’s familiar with the applicant’s work (to include the applicant’s principal or supervisor attesting to candidate’s leadership and management potential). Recommendations MUST BE COMPLETED ONLY on the Recommendation Form for Graduate Admission to the Educational Leadership Program (PDF) and SUBMITTED by email to: ceps@southalabama.edu.
• A two-page narrative indicating the applicant’s career plan and goals in pursuing the  Educational Doctorate in P-12 Leadership. Include how the program matches the applicant’s career goals (upload within online application).
• A resume with chronology of academic and/or professional employment (upload within online application).
• Interview with program faculty

​EDD – HED

• Master’s degree from a regionally accredited institution with a minimum 3.25 cumulative graduate GPA.

Official transcripts* can be sent by mail or electronically. Instructions can be found under “Help” on the application.
*USA students applying to a USA graduate program in the College of Education and Professional Studies should complete a transcript request form (PDF) found on the University Registrar's Office website.
In the Name/Organization field for the transcript recipient write, "USA Graduate School". There is no charge associated with this request. This option applies only to USA transcripts for students applying to USA graduate programs.

• Academic and/or Professional experience as a manager or director of units, or other supervisory position. Applicants must hold active professional positions that allow them to implement small-scale change.

• Completion of graduate level Research Methods and Evaluation course with a minimum grade of “B”.

• Three letters of recommendation from individual’s familiar with the applicant’s work (to include the applicant’s principal or supervisor attesting to candidate’s leadership and management potential). Recommendations MUST BE COMPLETED ONLY on the Recommendation Form for Graduate Admission to the Educational Leadership Program (PDF) and SUBMITTED by email to: ceps@southalabama.edu.

• A two-page narrative indicating the applicant’s career plan and goals in pursuing the Educational Doctorate in Higher Education Leadership. Include how the program matches the applicant’s career goals (upload within online application).

• A resume with chronology of academic and/or professional employment (upload within online application).

• Interview with program faculty. 

​Readmission Procedures

Under extraordinary circumstances, a student in good standing may desire to reapply to the program. The readmission procedures include: 

• EDL readmittance procedures begin with USA’s Graduate School Guidelines for Re-admission. 

• Writing Samples (2)

  • Personal Statement: What has changed in the time since your last enrollment in the EdD program? What will be different this time to propel you to completion? 

  • Scholarly Writing: Submit a previously submitted scholarly writing sample. 

• A resume’ with reverse chronology of academic and/or professional employment history including dates and locations

• Review of transcripts (transcripts from USA will be reviewed)

​Dismissal Procedures

The following headings in the EDL EDD Handbook contain items that may lead to dismissal from the program.

Information regarding program dismissal may be found at: https://bulletin.southalabama.edu/programs-az/graduate/

Assessment of Students' Professional Dispositions will be carried out systematically to ensure students are meeting the professional disposition requirements for the program. 

Students must complete the requirements of their program within ten (10) years of their admission to the program. Failure to do so will result in dismissal from the program.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Common Core
To be taken for Higher Ed and K-12 options
EDL 695	Mentoring Leadership (see footnote table below) 1	3
EDL 689	Quantitative/Action Research	3
EDL 699	Research Project (see footnote table below) 1	3
EDL 694	Dir St and Research	3
EDU/IDE 692	Research Proj Seminar (see footnote table below) 1	3
IDE 615	Assess & Eval for Leaders	3
IDE 631	Intro Qual/Mixed Methods Res (see footnote table below) 1	3
Higher Ed Concentration
To be taken only for Higher Ed option
EDL 720	Global Education	3
HED 611	Human Relations in Higher Edu	3
HED 621	Program and Curriculum Develop	3
HED 631	Sem Higher Ed Mgt Skills	3
HED 701	Adv Org Theory for Higher Edu	3
HED 702	Higher Ed Finance	3
HED 703	Adv Leadership for Higher Ed	3
HED 707	Multiculturalism and Organizational Change in Higher Education	3
HED 732	Ethics and Law for Higher Ed	3
P-12 Concentration
To be taken only for P-12 option
EDL 607	Lead Schs/Multicultural Soc (see footnote table below) 1	3
EDL 694	Dir St and Research (see footnote table below) 1	3
EDL 611	Human Relations Skills (see footnote table below) 1	3
EDL 621	Sem Prog Curriculum Dev (see footnote table below) 1	3
EDL 631	Sem Ed Management Skills (see footnote table below) 1	3
EDL 701	Adv Organizational Theory	3
EDL 702	School Finance	3
EDL 703	Adv School Leadership	3
EDL 732	Ethics and Law for Ed Leaders	3
EDU 650	Instructional Techniques (see footnote table below) 1	3
Culminating Project Hours
To be taken for Higher Ed and P-12 options.
(If culminating project is not complete in 12 semester hours, student must register for 1 hr of EDL 797 each semester until culminating project is complete.
EDL 797	(Research/Culminating Project)	12

Footnote

¹

Required courses for Ed.S. Instructional Leadership