School Leaders K-12 Program

School Leaders (K-12) Advanced Concentration (no certification)

The K-12 School Leadership Specialist Advanced Degree prepares school leaders to meet the leadership challenges of public and private educational institutions. The program is designed for those who want to further specialize in education and school leadership beyond a Master’s Degree. It is built on the four major domains that ELRM requires for learning: leadership foundations, research foundations, professional knowledge and experiential learning.

The leadership foundational knowledge base includes the basic tenets and principles of leadership. Leaders must develop leadership skills, a capacity to envision the future and be able to find opportunities within and outside of their organization for the benefit of those they lead. The Specialist Advanced program is centered on a school leadership professional knowledge base including technical knowledge, specialized skills, and ethical standards. It also includes advanced research methodology courses in both quantitative and quantitative methods so that these leaders can engage in and understand research. Finally, it includes experiential learning courses that bring theory to practice in real settings, including action learning and engaging in problems of practice. It is designed for those who practice and intend to continuously engage in research, scholarship, and leadership.

Unlike the Specialist with Certification, this program does not contain the set of coursework leading to Florida Educational Leadership Level I certification. The Specialist Advanced program is seen as a terminal degree with a unique set of required courses. Students must pass a Comprehensive Exam for program completion that consists of a formal testing experience. All formal writing is to be completed in APA format, latest edition.