MSEd in Educational Leadership

New York City public schools have great potential. At a time of higher standards and tougher assessments, there is a great need for exceptional educational leaders. These individuals must possess the confidence and passion to lead our schools, and, even more importantly, they must be prepared to weather this climate and to continue to lead effectively in spite of it. Our rigorous program, coupled with our supportive faculty, can help you meet that challenge.

The Program

Our program in Educational Leadership is based upon the notion that the greatest predictor of student achievement is the quality of the teaching, and the greatest predictor of the quality of the teaching is the quality of principal leadership.

Teaching Approach

Our approach is based upon the belief that adults learn best when that learning is directly linked to relevant real-world challenges. The program organizes learning around authentic problems, conditions and events reflective of an urban school environment. These challenges are presented to students both as hypothetical simulations and in the form of in-depth case studies of real schools. Students move through the curriculum as a cohort. The cohort is broken down into cooperative learning groups. The work for which students are responsible is organized around collaboratively developed responses to assigned challenges. The program makes limited use of traditional evaluation tools such as quizzes, final exams and term papers. The evaluation of student performance relies more heavily on indicators that are directly linked to the work that students will be doing when they become principals.

Additional Information

Program coherence across content areas is achieved through a common set of beliefs about organizational learning and principal leadership. These Guiding Principles are made explicit throughout the curriculum and provide students with a framework within which to make sense of what they are learning as well as respond to unanticipated situations and circumstances once they are on the job.

Required Courses		Credits
First Semester
PAF 9310 -	Administration of the Urban School	3
PAF 9314 -	Curriculum Development and the Improvement of Instruction	3
Second Semester
PAF 9301 -	Urban School Community Leadership	3
PAF 9312 -	Law for the Educational Administrator	3
Third Semester
PAF 9309 -	Instructional Leadership in Educational Organizations	3
PAF 9320 -	Internship and Seminar I	3
Fourth Semester
PAF 9319 -	Introduction to School Finance	3
PAF 9321 -	Internship and Seminar II	3

Elective Courses		Credits
PAF 9306 -	Education - Theories of Organizing and Personnel Mgmt	3
PAF 9313 -	Practicum in Supervision	3
PAF 9317 -	Seminar on Research for the Educational Administrator	3
PAF 9318 -	Analysis of Education Policy	3
View all Course Descriptions

Internship

Students complete all required courses before they begin the internship. Graduate students are usually supervised in their own current work settings, which support them through opportunities for internships in leadership roles. During the semester of supervised fieldwork students meet in a course setting on a weekly basis to evaluate their efforts. Upon completion of the 24 credits, the School of Public Affairs will apply for the provisional SBL certificate on behalf of all of the students in the cohort. Students should have completed the New York State Education Department (NYSED) required Child Abuse Identification Workshop, School Violence Prevention Workshop, and must have Fingerprint Clearance with the State (The New York City Board of Education will send fingerprints on file at their office to the NYSED at your request.)