Educational Administration, EdD

You may transfer up to 30 credits from your approved administrator preparation program. The transferred credits may not include those that were assigned to an internship or clinical experience. Prior to your formal admission, your advisor will determine which courses can be applied to your doctoral program. Courses older than 10 years at the time of admission must be petitioned before they can be accepted.

ELP 624 Research Paradigms and Problems in Educational Research
ELP 626 Educational Policy Formation and Analysis
ELP 630 Leading and Managing People in Education
ELP 677 Leading Curriculum and Instructional Improvement 

You must complete a sequence of at least five courses that reflect your particular academic and professional interests. You can choose courses offered within or outside the Graduate School of Education, depending on your particular interests and background and in consultation with your advisor.

Areas of specialization include school business and human resource administration; policy formulation, implementation and analysis; or leadership for curriculum and instructional leadership.

Your chosen specialization can incorporate the requirements for an existing Graduate School of Education advanced certificate such as the advanced certificate in school business and human resource administration.

In order to acquire and demonstrate your proficiency in research methods, you must take a minimum of 12 credit hours in the research component, and must include:

ELP 500 Nature of Inquiry (or equivalent) 
ELP ### 1 introductory quantitative research methods 
ELP ### 1 introductory qualitative research methods 
ELP ### 1 advanced quantitative or qualitative research methods 

(Research courses may be taken from other departments at UB with the permission of your advisor.)

Upon successful completion of the required coursework and with your advisor’s permission, you will take three to four hours of ELP 702 during the final three semesters of your program in order to maintain matriculation while completing your qualifying paper, capstone project/dissertation in practice research proposal, and your final project.

To be considered for admission:

• All applicants will be scheduled for an admission interview.
• You must hold a master's degree.
• You must hold at least one of the following school administrator certificates from New York State: SBL, SDL, SDBL, SAS, SDA or SBA. (Administrator certificates from other U.S. or international jurisdictions will be considered on a case-by-case basis.)
• You must have completed an officially approved administrator preparation program leading to state certification, such as UB’s 36 credit hour Leadership Initiative For Tomorrow’s School’s (LIFTS) program.
• Experience as an administrator is preferred, but not required, although in the case where you have not served formally as an administrator or supervisor, evidence of having assumed informal leadership responsibilities will be requested (such as teacher team leader).

Submit your completed online application, which includes:

• Application fee: A $50 non-refundable application fee, submitted electronically through UB's ePayment system.
• Contact information for at least three individuals* who will each be asked to provide an electronic recommendation letter. These letters should be from supervisors or equivalent and should address your teaching, leadership, writing and analytic skills, and other areas of educational work pertaining to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
  
• Unofficial transcripts from all colleges attended. (UB transcripts are automatically submitted for current UB students and alumni.)
• Statement of interest: Statement of your career goals and objectives. In this statement, you should discuss your potential Problem of Practice (PoP)—the area of interest in your setting around which you might center your studies. A PoP is directly observable in your local setting and is both malleable and actionable. Examples include disproportionate suspension rates, disproportionate teacher retention rates, low understanding of the needs of emergent bilingual students, etc. This statement should be no more than 1000 words double spaced and should help the admissions committee to understand what drives your desire to pursue doctoral work at UB.
• DEI statement: In a personal statement of no more than 1000 words double spaced, please share how you, as an educator, respond to issues pertaining to DEI. Please include one or two specific examples from your current practice to support your beliefs.
• Proof of administrator certification
• Resume that speaks to the following areas: professional experience; research experience (including assessment and evaluation experience, etc.); professional development (conducted and/or participated in); grants and other sources of funding acquired; and honors related to teaching and/or leadership.

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.