Educational Leadership and Management EdD

Major: Educational Leadership and Management
Degree Awarded: Doctor of Education (EdD)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 59.5
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 13.0401
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 11-9033

About the Program

The Doctor of Education (EdD) in Educational Leadership and Management is a part-time doctoral program designed to be completed in three or five years. The EdD experience ensures graduates develop the advanced knowledge, skills, and dispositions to solve complex problems of practice and lead change at the individual, group, and organizational levels. The curriculum focuses on sustainable leadership, systems inquiry, equity and social justice, and research in practice. The EdD program prepares graduates for leadership roles in public school districts, universities and colleges, foundations and organizations, corporations, healthcare organizations, and/or government agencies.    

Designed for working professionals, the EdD is offered in two formats: (1) completely online with both virtual and one-on-one sessions with faculty (and no residency requirement); and (2) in a hybrid, “executive” format delivered online (60%) and on-campus (40%) in Philadelphia on three weekends per academic quarter. To provide ultimate flexibility, both formats offer a three-year plan of study with students taking two courses per term, and the online format also offers a five-year plan of study with students taking one course per term. University policy requires that students complete the EdD program within seven years of the initial date of matriculation.

The Drexel EdD program has a national reputation as an innovative leader in the field. Drexel is a proud member of the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED)—a member organization of more than 100 institutions working together to continuously improve the EdD as preparation for scholarly practitioners. In 2019, CPED named Drexel's EdD the EdD Program of the Year.

EdD students learn in cohorts, supporting and challenging each other as they move together through the program. The curriculum includes core leadership courses focused on sustainable leadership; research courses that provide opportunities for students to apply their learning in real-life settings and prepare for dissertation study; and a doctoral dissertation experience wherein students complete a dissertation in practice. Students also specialize in one of the available concentration areas: Creativity and Innovation (including Mind, Brain & Learning), Educational Administration (with Pennsylvania Superintendent Letter of Eligibility or Pennsylvania Principal Certification), Education Policy, Higher Education Leadership (Administration or Student Success track), Human Resource Development, Learning Technologies, Nursing Education, and Special Education Leadership.

Drexel EdD students have access to all School of Education faculty and benefit from their expertise and experience. All School of Education faculty teach in the program and/or supervise EdD students' dissertations.

Additional Information

For more information about this program, visit the School of Education EdD in Educational Leadership and Management website.

Admission Requirements

Application Requirements for New Applicants

For details regarding the items below, please review the Admission Application Checklist.

• Transcripts from all colleges and universities attended, verifying completion of a master's degree (with 3.5 GPA or better)
• Résumé indicating at least 3 years of professional work experience
• Three professional letters of recommendation. Use the Electronic Letter of Recommendation form to submit recommendation letters.

Submission Part 1: Professional Goals and Aspirations (300-word maximum)

• Discuss your professional goals and aspirations, including how your current skills, along with your study of educational leadership, will support your attainment of these goals.

Submission Part 2: A Problem of Practice (750-word maximum)

• In the Drexel EdD program, our students identify a problem of practice that becomes central to their dissertation research. While the final dissertation topic and the dissertation document evolve over time, generally our students arrive with one or more ideas for a problem of practice they have an interest in studying.
• In this essay, you are asked to identify and describe a problem of practice relevant to your current (or a former) context of professional practice.
• Describe the significance of this problem to this organization.
• Based on your present understanding of the problem, discuss the potential underlying causes and contributing factors that have created the current challenges.
• What questions could be explored to learn more about the problem that may help to create potential solutions?

Submission Part 3: Solo-Authored Academic Writing Sample (5-30 pages)

• Submit a 5-30 page writing sample that demonstrates your academic writing abilities. You must be the sole author of the sample. It is suggested that academic papers from prior coursework or journal articles (both that cite peer-reviewed articles) will represent you best in the admissions process. If a prior academic paper is not available, you may craft an academic paper 5-8 pages in length on a topic of your choice. Alternatively, you may provide a work-based report that evidences your critical thinking and writing skills. Again, you must be the sole author of the sample.

Supplemental Application Materials for New Applicants
To make your application more competitive, applicants are encouraged to submit one or more of the below documents. The EdD program is a very competitive program and additional materials for the faculty review committee to consider are encouraged.

• A detailed statement describing sustained leadership activities
• A detailed statement describing significant creative activities/products
• A detailed statement describing significant research activities/publications

Additional Information

More information about how to apply is available on the Graduate Admissions at Drexel University website.

Degree Requirements

Students in the EdD program are required to complete core leadership courses, research courses, and concentration courses. Upon completion of coursework and successful defense of a dissertation proposal, students become doctoral candidates, conduct their own research, and complete a doctoral dissertation in practice. 

EdD Candidacy Requirements

In summary, the sequence of events leading to EdD candidacy include the following:

• All core and research courses must be passed with a grade of B or better. All concentration courses must be passed with a grade of C or better.
• The dissertation proposal must be approved by the committee. (At this point students have completed at least 54.5 of the 59.5+ credits required in the program.)

As doctoral candidates, students register for doctoral dissertation credits (EDUC 997). Students must earn a minimum of 5 doctoral dissertation credits overall and be registered in the quarter in which they graduate.

Note: Doctoral candidates receive a special billing benefit when registering for EDUC 997. Students will only be charged tuition for 1 credit hour per quarter even when actual registration exceeds 1 credit.

Program Requirements

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Academic advisors will provide students with a list of available elective courses in the required term.

Select courses in EDAM, EDEX, or NURS require background checks, clearances, field placement components, or other licenses prior to enrollment. Please consult an academic advisor for details or to determine eligibility.

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Students enrolled in Dissertation Courses (EDUC 899 and EDUC 997) will be billed for only one credit hour per term despite registering for 5 credit hours in each course. (Please see: https://drexel.edu/drexelcentral/cost/tuition/graduate/)

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Students may only repeat EDUC 899 a maximum of three (3) times for a maximum total of 15 credit hours. Students who do not successfully defend their dissertation proposal by the end of their third term in EDUC 899 will be subject to dismissal from the program.

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After defense of the dissertation proposal, students will enroll in EDUC 997 each term until they successfully defend the final dissertation. Students may repeat EDUC 997 as many times as needed until they either: (1) successfully defend the dissertation and graduate; or (2) reach the maximum program time to completion (seven years). Students who do not successfully defend their dissertation and graduate within seven years are subject to dismissal from the program. (Please see: https://drexel.edu/graduatecollege/forms-policies/policies-procedures-guidelines/time-to-completion/).

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Students do not need a background in neuroscience to complete the Mind, Brain, Learning concentration.

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For students with the background and interest in seeking Pennsylvania School Superintendent Certification.  

If a student's home state has a school superintendent certification, the student will need to contact that state’s department of education for eligibility requirements. 

Any student required to participate in a program field experience and/or internship as a component of their coursework will be required to submit all required documents with regard to background checks/clearance(s) and field placement applications.

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For students with the background and interest in seeking Pennsylvania School Principal Certification.  

If a student's home state has a school principal certification, the student will need to contact that state’s department of education for eligibility requirements. 

Any student required to participate in a program field experience and/or internship as a component of their coursework will be required to submit all required documents with regard to background checks/clearance(s) and field placement applications.

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For candidates entering the program without previous formal study in the area of Higher Education.

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For candidates entering the program who have a strong background in the area of Higher Education and who seek to extend their previous studies in this area.

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A 3.0 credit substitute course will be identified to replace EHRD 500 for students who have already earned a master's degree in Human Resource Development.

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For students with the background and interest in seeking Pennsylvania Supervisor of Special Education Certification.  

If a student's home state has a special education supervisor certification, the student will need to contact that state’s department of education for eligibility requirements. 

Any student participating in field experience and/or internship placement related to a Drexel University School of Education course will be required to submit all required documents with regard to clearance(s) and placement.

Sample Plan of Study

3 Year Option (All concentrations except EDAM - Principal Certification, EDAM - Superintendent Certification, Supervisor of Special Education)

3 Year Option (Educational Administration with Principal Certification Concentration)

3 Year Option (Educational Administration with Superintendent Certification Concentration)

3 Year Option (Supervisor of Special Education Concentration)

5 Year Option (All concentrations except EDAM - Principal Certification, EDAM - Superintendent Certification, Supervisor of Special Education)

Note: Multiple terms are less than the 4.5-credit minimum required (considered half-time status) of graduate programs to be considered financial aid eligible. As a result, aid will not be disbursed to students these terms.

5 Year Option (Educational Administration with Principal Certification Concentration)

Note: Multiple terms are less than the 4.5-credit minimum required (considered half-time status) of graduate programs to be considered financial aid eligible. As a result, aid will not be disbursed to students these terms.

5 Year Option (Educational Administration with Superintendent Certification Concentration)

Note: Multiple terms are less than the 4.5-credit minimum required (considered half-time status) of graduate programs to be considered financial aid eligible. As a result, aid will not be disbursed to students these terms.

5 Year Option (Supervisor of Special Education Concentration)

Note: Multiple terms are less than the 4.5-credit minimum required (considered half-time status) of graduate programs to be considered financial aid eligible. As a result, aid will not be disbursed to students these terms.

Program Level Outcomes

Keystones of the EdD in Educational Leadership and Management Program

Drexel’s Education Doctorate (EdD) program is committed to developing leaders who possess the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to transform educational organizations and other complex institutional settings. As an experienced member of the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED), Drexel’s EdD program prepares its graduates to be scholarly practitioners able to integrate research with insights from professional experience to “name, frame, and solve problems of practice” (CPED, 2021, para. 7).

The EdD keystones  align with the CPED principles and represent ongoing collaboration between faculty, students, and alumni to illuminate the program’s vision of its graduates. This vision is the framework for the program’s curriculum, where the keystones are operationalized as learning objectives in the courses (Phillips et al., 2018).  The keystones presented below are not ranked in order of importance; instead, they are organized to show how the development of scholarly practitioners begins with self and extends to society.

EdD Keystones:

• EdD graduates understand the systems and structures that result in inequity and injustice and use that knowledge to exercise leadership toward a more equitable and just society. 
• EdD graduates reflect on how their worldviews, assumptions, values, and beliefs shape their evolving identities and inform their practices. 
• EdD graduates possess the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to create collaborative and sustainable change to positively impact the lives of individuals, families, organizations, and communities.
• EdD graduates apply inclusive leadership practices to transform systems shaped by local and global forces.
• EdD graduates employ critical, ethical, and equitable utilization of existing and emerging technologies to effectively connect, communicate and engage with persons of all ages and identities.
• EdD graduates explore problems of practice framed around questions of ethics, equity, and social justice through an array of critical frameworks and competencies.

Education Faculty

Emeritus Faculty