Leadership for Educational Equity Program

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The doctoral program in Leadership for Educational Equity (LEEP) prepares professionals of great promise for leadership roles in school districts and other organizations that further urban school improvement. The Program welcomes applications from outstanding school principals, district-level administrators, and other individuals who have leadership experience at or above the level of the principalship. We seek individuals who imagine themselves as champions for the educational needs of disadvantaged student populations and are excited to participate in an intellectually rigorous program of study. Graduates will be awarded an Ed.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Central Themes

Our program is a professional program whose mission it is to prepare experienced practitioners to make good decisions at the senior level in districts and like organizations. Decisions at that level can affect large numbers of people and have far-reaching consequences. Our program’s success is measured by the degree to which we help our students make decisions that are informed, reflective and adequate to the situation. Good decision making rests on strong problem solving skills. Solving problems requires the ability to recognize the boundaries of a problem, dig below the mere symptoms, gather information, imagine and design remedies, assess needed resources, and model and evaluate impacts and effects. In the program students have the opportunity to focus their energy on a number of themes that they pursue with concentration. The themes reflect current best thinking on how urban school reform can become successful under today’s conditions of inequity.

The five themes are:

• Achieving Educational Equity and Excellence
  
• Thoughtful Systemic Reform
  
• Focus on Instruction
  
• Resource Management in the Service of Students
  
• Decision-making Based on Evidence and Ethical Principles

Each theme is organized in a sequence of two courses and one theory-practice residence where students carry out on-the-job, problem-based research in district settings. This sequence of courses and practice-oriented residencies helps LEEP participants explore how to use federal and state policies to their students’ advantage; how to shape bureaucracies so that they deliver for schools; and how to influence teaching and learning so that students achieve at high levels and develop as citizens.

A Program for Working Professional

The program is committed to helping students complete a rigorous course of study in the context of their busy professional lives. Coursework lasts for 27 months so that graduates have the opportunity to leave within three years with an Ed.D. degree. The program begins with an eight-week summer session, during which classes meet three full days per week. During fall and spring semesters, classes meet every other weekend (Fridays 4:30-9 pm; Saturdays 9 am-5:30 pm). Classes meet at the Berkeley campus or are field-based and web-facilitated.

Doctoral Studies at Berkeley

UC Berkeley is widely recognized for rigorous scholarship,  intellectual depth, and critical thinking. The program is committed to these university-wide standards of excellence and first-rate performance. But we execute these standards within a curriculum that is relevant to the world of practicing educational leaders. We measure rigor by the degree to which our students contribute with their dissertations to solving problems in their districts or like organizations. Upon completion of their studies, LEEP students join the community of Berkeley alumni and are entitled to benefit from the University’s distinguished reputation and alumni network.

Students

For the most part, students should already have ample administrative and leadership experience at the level of the principal or above when they apply to the program. This should also be the case for applicants from the field of charter schools and community organizing. Our student-cohort model fosters a community of professionals. LEEP students, but also alumni, Berkeley faculty, and senior district administrators associated with the program belong to this community. When our graduates make their way into upper level leadership roles in school districts, they will be comfortable working in a dynamic community of practice, where information sharing, spirited debate, and knowledge building are the norm; and they will be able to rely on a support network for improving K-12 public education in California.

Faculty

UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education faculty are knowledgeable instructors, groundbreaking researchers, and prolific authors. Many LEEP courses are jointly taught by Berkeley faculty and distinguished public school leaders steeped in directing public school systems.

Contact Information

LEEP Program Assistant
Graduate School of Education
University of California, Berkeley
3659 Tolman Hall #1670
Berkeley, CA  94720-1670
telephone: 510.643.4733
e-mail: leep_info@berkeley.edu

download/view: Brochure (pdf)