Building trust and developing effective relationships is at the core of effective leadership. Prepare to lead a school or district with an administration certification.
Whether you enter our school building leader or school district leader programs, LIFTS will put you in real-world situations where you’ll gain critical skills. A focus on diversity, equity and inclusion puts you in a position to recognize systemic inequity—and find ways to overcome it.
Cassandra Wright spent nearly 20 years as a special education teacher in the Buffalo Public School (BPS) district. It’s a position she thought she’d never leave. But a principal who noticed herleadership skills suggested she consider attending UB’s Leadership Initiative for Tomorrow’s Schools (LIFTS)—which opened the door to a career in administration. “My LIFTS experience was invaluable, as I realized my core values and non-negotiables,” said Wright, now associate superintendent of school leadership at BPS. “The LIFTS program helped me understand who I am as a leader and through LIFTS, I identified the passion that drives me and the issues I refuse to negotiate over."
LIFTS provides extensive networking opportunities that often turn into jobs: The program has a 71% placement rate for all certified graduates.
Relationships are at the core of LIFTS. You’ll build lifelong connections not only with your cohort, but the experienced local school and district leaders who support you.
Combine classroom instruction with real-world experience as you examine current issues and problems of school and district practice.
Find details about application deadlines and requirements, courses and more. Have questions? Contact our admissions office.
Academic credential granted | Administration Certification |
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Credentials required for admission |
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Credits required |
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Time to completion | 2 years |
Location | SBL/SDL – all courses on campus |
Clinical internship hours | 600 |
Application deadline | Summer admission only May 1 |
You are expected to complete a 600-hour clinical internship experience, either one academic semester full-time; one summer full-time plus one academic semester part-time; or two academic semesters part-time. Except in unusual circumstances, the clinical internship will take place in the last two semesters of the program.
Submit your completed online application, which includes:
Former/Maiden Name: Please provide us with your former/maiden name if you have one. When requesting transcripts, please ask the sending institution to indicate your current name and former/maiden name.
Admission Decision: The admission decision will be communicated to you as soon as review is complete. The decision is based on a number of factors and is the result of a thorough and deliberate process. All decisions are final and cannot be appealed.
In order to qualify for the in-state residency tuition rate, you must provide residency documentation indicating you have lived in New York State (NYS) 12 months before your semester start date.
If accepted, you will need to upload three documents to qualify for the in-state tuition rate. See Required Documents for Residency Application for more information.
All financial forms and supporting documentation with required signatures must be uploaded with your application and dated within one year of your intended enrollment date.
Graduates go on to become:
New York State prides itself on the high quality of its licensed and certified professionals. For the protection of its citizens, each license and certificate has requirements that individuals must meet in order to be licensed or certified in New York State. SUNY’s academic programs leading to licensure or certification are carefully designed to meet and exceed these State requirements. This is a role SUNY plays in protecting the public. Other states frequently have their own requirements, so if your goal is to practice in another state, this disclosure will help you check to see what that state requires.
Enrolled students and prospective students are strongly encouraged to contact their state’s licensure entity using the links provided in the full disclosure document to review all licensure and certification requirements imposed by their state(s) of choice.
A family-school liaison working to cultivate deeper relationships between a bilingual elementary program and the families it served encountered entrenched challenges exacerbated by white supremacy, according to research published by GSE researcher Jasmine Alvarado in the Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership.
In the paper, “A Family-School Liaison’s Negotiation of Racialized Scripts for Family Engagement,” Alvarado found the educator was hampered by a lack of support and resources that could be traced to long-standing inequities in the distribution of legal, social and material rights. By focusing on topics such as gender, culture and race, UB researchers are helping students, educators and leaders identify and contest deep-seated inequities.
Erika McDowell, a clinical associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy, knows where educators should turn first to upend a legacy of inequality in schools: Within themselves. McDowell, once a teacher and district-level leader in Philadelphia, now works with other educators through the LIFTS administration certification program. Here, she urges teachers and leaders to build safe, inclusive spaces for learners—but also understand their own needs as well. “We’ve got to dismantle the system so we’re all valued in the system,” she said.
UB is a member in good standing of the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP), a national accrediting organization recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. The programs on our accreditation page have been awarded full accreditation by AAQEP through Dec. 31, 2028. Full accreditation acknowledges that a program prepares effective educators who continue to grow as professionals and has demonstrated the commitment and capacity to maintain quality.