Program Sequence and Course Descriptions

First Year

280A. Inquiry and Practice: Qualitative Research for Educational Leaders (4 units). Prepares students to understand the nature/assumptions/logic of qualitative methodology as applied to educational settings, focusing on issues of design, conceptualization, interpretation, application of qualitative research procedures. Students will use these methods in conducting studies in their educational settings.

280B. Inquiry and Practice: Quantitative Research for Educational Leaders (4 units). Field-based and general quantitative research methods in education will focus this course. Students acquire skills and knowledge to collect, organize, analyze, and interpret univariate and multivariate quantitative data in educational research, dissertation projects, and field-based projects.

280C. Inquiry and Practice: Research Design and Application for Educational Leaders (4 units). Educational leaders are introduced to qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods educational research methods and learn to frame research questions, identify data/data sources, use descriptive statistics, critically examine research studies, make sense of educational research/policy, and conduct independent studies.

282A. Beginning Issues and Practices: Contemporary Leadership (4 units). In this first one-week intensive seminar, students explore the history and emergent relationships among leadership theories/practice and their application to current educational settings. Students will reflect on and refine their personal theory of leadership.

282B. Beginning Issues and Practices: Diversity Issues for Educational Leaders (4 units). The diversity of stakeholders and community issues in California schools and colleges will be explored. Emphasis will be placed on the interaction between underrepresented segments of society and educational institutions. “Best Practices” in leading diverse schools will be explored.

283A. Beginning Issues and Practices: Leadership Across Communities (4 units). Students examine the theory/practice/process of leadership in community-building and collaboration in/across communities, while addressing the utilization of human and material resources and the creation of partnerships, community linkages, and collaborative efforts.

284A. Policy: History and Theory of Educational Policy (4 units). Students learn/analyze the history/theory of educational policy. They see how education leaders have/can positively influence the process and implement effective policies in their local institutions. Policy issues covered: educational opportunity, equity, access, regulation, testing, tenure, accountability.

284B. Policy: Formulating and Influencing Policy (4 units). Students will conduct critical analyses of policy at the federal, judicial, state, regional and local levels. Specific California and federal policy environment structures, processes and people will be examined for intended consequences, ethical dilemmas, social justice and equity issues.

285C. Educational Finance, Human Resources and Law: Human Resources and Personnel (4 units). Human resources management research and theory; applying human resource techniques in the educational setting.

Second Year

281A. Problem-Based Learning Courses Part 1 (4 units).Students identify problems from their educational settings, engage in data collection/analysis, write-up the process/results, and present to class. Work may become a dissertation proposal, if the problem or its extension is of sufficient interest and value. Community applications of problem based issues.

281B. Problem-Based Learning Courses Part 2 (4 units). Continuation of Part 1; extensive writing or discussion; fieldwork.

281C. Problem-Based Learning Courses Part 3 (4 units). Continuation of Part 2; extensive writing or discussion; fieldwork.

283B. Advanced Issues and Practices: Leadership and Student Services (4 units). Provides students with both the practical and theoretical perspectives for building a sense of vision to lead the profession of student affairs and to meet the needs of the “whole student.”

284C. Policy: Possibilities and Limitations of Educational Policy in a Democracy (4 units). Students will critically examine the democratic purposes of education in light of existing national, state and local policy reform efforts, prompting questions such as “in what ways are these reforms and policies guided by democratic ideals and challenged by those ideals?”

285A. Educational Finance, Human Resources, and Law: Human and Financial Assets: Allocations and Budgets (4 units). Emphasis and overview on how schools/colleges acquire and allocate resources. Topic include: education finance theory, contemporary finance policy issues, intergovernmental relations, effective resource management, budget analysis and preparation.

285B. Educational Finance, Human Resources, and Law: Ethical and Legal Issues in Education (4 units). Focus on human resource and legal concepts and activities governing decisions of school leaders in public education. Attention to theory, application, and practice of personnel and risk management, curriculum, student services, teacher rights, torts, student rights.

286A. Organizational Structures and Change: Data-Driven Decision-Making for Change (4 units). Students use and examine multiple sources of information and data and trends found in making quality decisions to improve P-12/community college settings and addressing problems at sites. Students learn limitations of these data sources.

286B. Organizational Structures and Change: Curriculum & Instruction Issues in Education (4 units). This course addresses the historical development of various curriculum and instructional methodologies found in public and private schools and colleges, and their impact on current curriculum development and reform efforts at the national, state and local level.

Third Year

287. CANDEL Dissertation Seminars (12 units). Third year Seminars encourage students to complete dissertations within the year. In addition to meeting with faculty, Cohort members are expected to meet extensively with their Dissertation Chairs and Dissertation Committees to share their writing, data collection, analysis, discussion of results, development of conclusions/implications.

287D. CANDEL Dissertation (12 units). Prerequisite: passing qualifying examination and advancement to candidacy. Cohort members continue to meet with faculty and share their writing, data collection, analysis, development of conclusions/implications.