EdS in Teacher Leadership
The Educational Specialist (EdS) in Teacher Leadership develops servant leaders who are masters of their specialty but also masters of the big picture so they can improve the system and the lives of students. The 32-semester-credit program can be completed in two to three years and offers the following specialty options:
- The Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment concentration is specifically designed for current or aspiring instructional coaches, mentors and teachers on special assignment.
- The Reading concentration meets TSPC requirements for the Reading Endorsement along with passing the Reading Specialist Praxis II exam.
- The ESOL concentration meets TSPC requirements for the ESOL Endorsement along with passing the ESOL ORELA/NES exam. Students can add the Bilingual category to the ESOL Endorsement by reflecting that aspect in their practicum and passing an additional Content Knowledge and Productive Language Skills test.
- Library Media meets TSPC requirements for the Library Media Endorsement along with passing the School Library Media Specialist ORELA/NES exam.
Program Objectives
Educational Objectives
To enable students to:
- Understand and be able to articulate the personal relevance of the six “lenses” provided by the EDFL Conceptual Framework (Think Critically, Transform Practice, Promote Justice) and Professional Dispositions (Commitment to Courage, Integrity, and Seeking Multiple Perspectives)
- Develop expertise in a specialty area
- Use analysis of organizations, educational initiatives, and processes to promote and guide effective action
- Use research tools to investigate questions and apply educational research to problems of practice
- Understand measures of student achievement and know how to gather and use evidence appropriately
Professional Objectives
To enable students to:
- Attain professional endorsement related to specialty area
- Apply that area of expertise as a servant leader in a collaborative leadership context
- Create and sustain collaborative, collegial learning organizations
- Enact just leadership that provides effective, reasoned solutions to problems encountered in the process of meeting valued institutional and community goals
- Integrate personal faith commitments into professional practice
Course Requirements
The Educational Specialist program is generally two to three years in length with 32 semester hours of course work required as a minimum for graduation. Of those hours, 18 hours are in an area of specialization and 14 hours are in the EdS Integration & Application Core, which includes a four-hour Capstone Project.
