EDAS 500. Leadership Theories & Practice. (3 Credits)

Candidates will investigate leadership theories and practices. An exploration of organizational structure and problem solving to include historical and modern day approaches to leadership.

EDAS 501. Organizational Behavior. (3 Credits)

An understanding of human behavior within organizations. Candidates will study motivational theories, team management and coaching techniques as it relates to successful leadership within an organization.

EDAS 502. Organizational Communication. (3 Credits)

An in-depth study and practice of communication within organizations and major theories of organizational communication. Candidates will practice extensively written and oral communication practices.

EDAS 503. Org'l Change: Change Impl & St. (3 Credits)

A proactive study of managing change and the organizational and human issues that accompany change. Topics include theories of change, resistance to change, and becoming agents of change.

EDAS 504. Action Research for Organizati. (3 Credits)

An overview of the role of action research in communities and organizations. Candidates will examine the history and theory of action research. Candidates will be engaged in the action research process.

EDAS 505. Capstone/Comp Exams. (3 Credits)

EDAS 506. Critical Issues Seminar. (3 Credits)

An examination of the historical and contemporary leadership issues related to the cognate of study. Through critical analysis of assigned reading and class discussions, candidates will demonstrate an understanding of leadership and its influences.

EDAS 507. Child, Family & Community. (3 Credits)

A study of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed in the development of the preschool child. An investigation of the historical attitudes of family and children as well as the cultural and political factors that impact child care and preschool programs.

EDAS 508. Advocacy & Social Justice. (3 Credits)

A study of the various theories of social justice and an examination of their roots. Candidates will explore opportunities to make a difference in social justice issues.

EDAS 510. Stat & Pred Analytic Ed Leader. (3 Credits)

This course will allow candidates to demonstrate knowledge and skills necessary to use Statistical Data Procedures to create models to assist them in decision-making leading to school improvement. This course develops expertise in a standard set of statistical and graphical techniques, which will be useful in analyzing school-related data. The principles of data-based decision making and their applications in educational settings will be explored.

EDAS 513. Action Research for Educ Ldrs. (3 Credits)

EDAS 513 Action Research for Educational Leaders- 3 Semester hours This course will assist candidates with the development of knowledge and skills required to utilize Action Research as a tool to make effective curricular and instructional decisions both school-wide and at the classroom level. Their Action Research Project; based within a Social Justice Framework; will seek to address educational challenges by utilizing Change Leadership and implementing a Continuous School Improvement plan of action. The course is designed to prepare practitioners to conduct high quality research using various approaches; including, qualitative, quantitative, single-case design, and mixed methods to complete research to solve educational challenges.

EDAS 520. Foundations of Educ Leadership. (3 Credits)

This course will allow candidates to explore and develop foundational skills to become Culturally Responsive leaders and learn strategies to rectify race, class, and gender inequities that exist throughout educational systems. The course will introduce strategies to provide the tools that children, adults, families and communities need when confronting the devastating effects of Trauma. Candidates utilize trauma informed training to recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma in students, families, staff, and others and respond by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into school policies, procedures, and practices.

EDAS 530. Leadership for Spec Population. (3 Credits)

This course allows the candidate to develop leadership functions that support processes, instructional decisions, and implementation of educational modifications necessary to accommodate and meet the unique needs of Special Populations in schools such as students identified under Special Education, ADA-Section 504, and ELL protections, etc. It proposes that effective leadership for all special student populations involves particular knowledge and requires a strong equity orientation.

EDAS 579. Capstone/E-Portfolio. (3 Credits)

This course is a capstone seminar for EDAS master candidates during the final semester of enrollment. It provides synthesis, integration, and application of prior coursework on educational administration and supervision; specifically, instructional and organizational leadership, systems thinking and school improvement processes. Preparation for comprehensive exams and the SLLA are keys to this course. Prerequisite: Completion of all required coursework. To be completed in final semester of enrollment.

EDAS 583. Legal & Ethical Iss for Sch Le. (3 Credits)

This course is an introduction to school law that deals primarily with laws relating to elementary and secondary public schools in the United States and addresses non-public schools only inasmuch as they are affected by general status. The course is flexible and may meet the needs of students of educational administration, public school administrators, teachers or laymen who are concerned with current readings and implications of school law.

EDAS 584. Curriculum Development. (3 Credits)

This course provides a study of the fundamental aspects of school curriculum development and the basic issues underlying curriculum planning. Four significant aspects are educational directions, ordering potential experiences, patterns of curriculum organization, and the determination of principles and procedures by which change in the curriculum can be made, evaluated and sustained.

EDAS 587. School Plant Management. (3 Credits)

This course provides a study of educational facility sites and the design of buildings to assure maximum accommodation of modern education programs. The course will focus on educational specifications, building, planning, constructing, school plant management and maintenance. Current regulations pertaining to the ingress and egress of the handicapped will be considered.

EDAS 588. School Finance. (3 Credits)

This course provides theoretical and contemporary bases for the acquisition and distribution of local, state and federal funds for the support of education. Problems and issues of financial support for schools will be analyzed in terms of developing alternatives for obtaining resources.

EDAS 589. School Community Relations. (3 Credits)

This course provides for the study of the place and function of the school in American social life and investigation of community agencies and institutions, including those concerned with drugs and behaviors, which may be utilized in the interpretation of the school to the community.

EDAS 590. Introduction Organ & Adm. (3 Credits)

Course focusing upon a description of modern practices in organizing and administering schools and other educational agencies; types of agencies and schools, selection and assignment of personnel, programs of study, records, management of physical facilities, pupil personnel guidance, retention and improvement of staff communication within the school and the public. The study of major administrative theories and the impact of management, leadership, and decision-making for school administrators will be addressed. Systems approach to designing and managing quality/high performing educational organizations with emphasis on systems theory, system dynamics and systems modeling.

EDAS 591. Instructional Leadership. (3 Credits)

Examines processes of instructional leadership in schools. Primary focus on developing school leadership skills necessary to provide a positive working environment through collaboration and team-building, as well as professional opportunities including supervision and evaluation of curriculum & instruction. Focus will be on best practices that lead to school cultures, which build communities of learning. Appropriate field-based project relating theory to practice will be required. Prerequisite: EDAS 593 Leadership Assessment & Development; EDUC 513 Educational Research.

EDAS 592. Human Resource & Fiscal Mgmt. (3 Credits)

A study of theories and policies related to resource projection and management in schools and school divisions. Finance topics include budget, purchasing and accounting, and procedures for obtaining equipment and materials. Human resource topics include staffing requirements, hiring, evaluation and dismissal procedures, and staff-personnel relationships. Appropriate field-based project relating theory to practice will be required. Prerequisite: EDAS 590 Introduction to Organization and Administration.

EDAS 593. Leadership Assess & Developmen. (3 Credits)

This course of study focuses on the school administrator as manager and leader. The assessment portion of this class will require candidates to participate in self-examination of their leadership skills and abilities. Based on simulation activities and practices, candidate will learn strategies for continuous self-development, growth and personal awareness. In addition, candidates will consider the role of school manager and address issues such as safety and educational facilities.

EDAS 594. Data Driven Leadership. (3 Credits)

This course focuses on the candidate as a school leader in school improvement. Candidates will explore the role in making effective decisions using data regarding instruction, finances, administration and school improvement. In addition, an in-depth study of the change process in relation to decision making as well as how to provide leadership in a diverse and political environment Prerequisite: EDAS 593 Leadership Assessment & Development; EDAS 591 Instructional Leadership; STAT 510 Statistical Procedures in Education.

EDAS 679. Internship. (3 Credits)

This course consists of laboratory experiences designed to acquaint educational leaders with the mechanics of leadership, as well as their role in helping other personnel under their leadership to function effectively in today’s educational climate. Prerequisite: Candidate must have advanced to candidacy and have prior approval from advisor to enroll in the internship.

EDAS 700. Hist/Philo Foundations of Educ. (3 Credits)

This course guides inquiry into the historical, philosophical, cultural, educational and social context of schools in our diverse society. It also provides candidates with a broad, interdisciplinary prospectus on educational and social issues to guide reflective, professional practice.

EDAS 701. Culturally Responsive Pedagogy. (3 Credits)

This course addresses the origin, concepts, principles, and trends of multicultural education, equity, and the conceptual framework of cultural diversity in relation to education. Topics will include concepts that facilitators of learning will need in order to skillfully and effectively teach in a multicultural setting. Discussions will focus on explication of the concepts and development of strategies for conflict resolution and situational leadership, thus enabling candidates to become better decision makers and change agents.

EDAS 703. Planning & Management Finance. (3 Credits)

This course provides a study of historical development, design, and management of systems of financing public education. Topics studied include fiscal planning, sources of revenue, state and local systems of school finance, building level financial management, budget development, and administration and federal participation in educational funding. Special emphasis is given to the Virginia system of funding public education and to contemporary issues in school finance.

EDAS 704. Human Resources Management. (3 Credits)

This course provides a study of personnel services for educational and public agency administrators. Selected retention, selection, induction, compensation, and evaluation are discussed.

EDAS 705. School Law & Policy Studies. (3 Credits)

This course provides an in-depth examination of the theoretical and conceptual bases of politics and public policy in education and their relationship to the successful practice of educational administration. This course will also focus on legal issues and professional ethics of particular concern to education policy makers and central office school administrators. Federal and Virginia school law will be included with attention given both to theoretical and practical concerns.

EDAS 706. School, Comm, Public Rela Ed. (3 Credits)

This course focuses on the principles, knowledge, and skills related to effective interpersonal and public relations in educational organizations. Special emphasis is given to the study of communication theory and practice, the social ecology of organizations, conflict and crisis management, community relations, strategic marketing in educational organizations, and legal and ethical considerations.

EDAS 707. Adm & Instructional Leadership. (3 Credits)

This course is designed to analyze the relationship between administrative theory and practice by utilizing the literature and organizational theory and administrative behavior, and by applying the concept to administrative practice in educational settings. This course also focuses on curriculum and instruction, master theories, design implementation, and evaluation. Case studies and simulations that enhance change will be included. Equal emphasis will be placed on personal assessment and evaluation of leadership competencies. Provisions will be made for skill development and improvement.

EDAS 720. Research in Practice I. (3 Credits)

This course will canvass the application of basic statistical procedures to the decision-making process. There will be an emphasis on the most often employed statistical procedures and the ways these procedures support administrative decision-making and organizational change processes. Also, emphasis will be on research conducted in schools, presenting methods that are appropriate for school-based research. Candidates will be able to evaluate, design and conduct educational research specific to the school improvement process.

EDAS 721. Research in Practice II. (3 Credits)

This course introduces candidates to advanced research, design and evaluation methodology. Candidates will develop an in-depth understanding of experimental and non-experimental research designs used in qualitative and quantitative research as well as the uses and limitations of these designs. Survey research design and program evaluation will also be explored.

EDAS 722. Qualitative Research. (3 Credits)

This course is designed to study qualitative research from different theoretical and methodological approaches. It is designed to assist the educational leader in becoming a more effective facilitator of learning through knowing how to conduct research without formal hypotheses, allowing the hypotheses to evolve over time as events unfold. The researcher begins without preconceived ideas about what will be observed and describes behavior that seems important.

EDAS 723. Quantitative Research. (3 Credits)

This course provides administrators with the knowledge of the methods and analytical approaches in educational research that will aid in dealing with school restructuring. Measurement, design, and analysis procedures that are the most useful for dealing with a changing school system will be presented. An integrated approach to statistics and educational research will provide the student with an awareness of the interrelations and interdependencies among the statistics and research procedures presented.

EDAS 730. Leadership Internship. (3-12 Credits)

The leadership internship/seminar is designed to provide in-depth experiences with senior and experienced school administrators at the superintendent's level. A mentor relationship will be developed to assist the potential leader in analyzing complex practices and procedures related to school system-wide functions. Monthly seminar sessions will be held at various school systems or the University in order to provide an opportunity for students placed in different educational environments to discuss identified problems, practices and procedures. This course is limited to doctoral students. The advanced educational leadership internship will be a year-long educational experience that will provide an opportunity for students to engage in a series of clinical experiences. An individualized plan will be developed as a team by the student, the faculty advisor, and the supervisor in the participating school division. These experiences will be based on the experiences, background, needs, and professional goals of the student.

EDAS 732. Mixed Methods Design & Proc. (3 Credits)

This course provides students an advanced understanding of mixed methods research applied to educational problems of practice with an emphasis on social justice and equity. Course topics focus on developing research questions suited to in-depth mixed methods inquiry of educational issues, sampling adequately from vulnerable or hard-to-reach populations, employing rigorous quantitative and qualitative procedures tailored to community collaboration, integrating textual and numeric data to provide a more complete understanding of marginality and exclusion, addressing validity threats unique to educational mixed methods, and reporting compelling mixed methods findings to inform policy and practice.

EDAS 733. Advanced Qualitative Methods. (3 Credits)

This course builds expertise in rigorous qualitative approaches investigating complex educational and social issues, emphasizing marginalized perspectives. Through an applied project, students strengthen skills in: conceptualizing from critical paradigms; crafting research questions giving voice; principle-based sampling of hard-to-reach groups; innovative methodological applications; and ethical reporting of sensitive data.

EDAS 735. Teaching in Higher Education. (3 Credits)

This course provides professional development for doctoral students interested in pursuing faculty careers. Students will gain exposure to the range of faculty responsibilities across different types of higher education institutions, expand their understanding of effective teaching approaches and learning assessment, and develop skills related to service and shared governance.

EDAS 736. Evaluation & Grant Writing. (3 Credits)

This graduate-level course focuses on two essential skills for educational administrators: program evaluation and grant writing. Students will learn to design and implement comprehensive program evaluations to assess the effectiveness of educational initiatives. The course covers various evaluation methodologies, data collection techniques, and analysis methods. Additionally, students will develop proficiency in grant writing, including identifying funding opportunities, crafting compelling proposals, and aligning projects with funders' priorities. Through hands-on projects and case studies, participants will gain practical experience in both evaluation and grant writing, preparing them to secure resources and demonstrate program impact in educational settings.

EDAS 739. Dissertation Sem/Capstone Proj. (3 Credits)

This seminar offers students a collaborative setting for exploring a topic area, refining their research questions and beginning the process of constructing a coherent research proposal for the Dissertation or the Capstone Project. This is an introduction to research in leadership that is designed to help students to think like researchers and analysts, to effectively search all relevant information sources (both print and non-print), to read and critique research, and to provide opportunities for “hands-on” research practice. Successful completion of the seminar includes the submission of a written Project Proposal for completing the Dissertation or Capstone Project.

EDAS 740. Dissertation/Capstone Project. (3-6 Credits)

Doctor of Education candidates have the option of completing a Dissertation or a Capstone as the final culminating product leading to program completion. Dissertation: This is a formal research investigation related to current educational problems that will allow the researcher to build upon the body of established knowledge reflected in the literature. The dissertation process serves to bring together all of the experiences in which students have engaged during the entire program. The dissertation culminates the theoretical and practical research experiences of the candidates. The applications of theory and research to solve. Capstone: A self-directed experiential project through which students apply what they are learning to solving some real educational problems or dealing with emerging challenges in the educational settings. Doctoral students are expected to demonstrate their understanding of leadership theories and models by integrating theories/research with practices. Student synthesize and apply skills and content from across the leadership curriculum and their primary academic discipline to research, design, critique alternatives, propose a solution, and effect change in a leadership challenge or community problem needing leadership. Students identify a personally meaningful real world problem and lead positive change to address that problem. Capstone Projects Process Identifying a Problem of Practice Gather relevant Data Interpret Data Design a Plan of Action Evaluate Results .

EDAS 790. Intro to MSI in Higher Ed. (3 Credits)

In broad strokes, this course examines the origins, contemporary landscape, structures, and stakeholders in Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs)—Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Institutions (AANAPIs)—and the challenges and opportunities for research and practice in MSIs. The course will explore the values/mission, characteristics and issues related to MSIs as is specific to each institution type or designation (e.g., HBCU, TCU). On a larger scale, the course seeks to examine the emergence of the use of MSI as a Federal designation in higher education and consider the impact that may have at the institutional level with respect to students, faculty, and staff as it relates to campus climate, student learning, and engagement.

EDAS 791. MSI Admin & Org. of Higher Ed. (3 Credits)

This course provides supervised opportunities for experiences within MSI higher education administration. The course will engage in an in-depth examination looking at the duality between the university academic administration and university operational administration structure within the context of MSI university missions. The course will also examine strategic planning in the context of moving MSI Higher Ed. organizations forward.

EDAS 792. Higher Ed Law & Public Policy. (3 Credits)

This course examines legal issues relevant to American colleges and universities to provide students with the fundamental knowledge of higher education law for administrators. This course will examine the origin and evolution of the laws and policies that govern race, gender, national origin and sexual orientation in the United States. The course will commence with a consideration of the legal status of groups under state and federal law. It will explore the impact of the post-civil war constitutional amendments on the legal status of groups during the Reconstruction Era. Subsequent developments, from the establishment of state-sponsored segregation at the end of the 19th century, through the enactment of the civil rights legislation of the 1960s will be analyzed. The final weeks of the course will focus on contemporary civil rights issues including, among others, school desegregation, affirmative action, voting rights, criminal justice and fair housing. The course will examine emerging and consider the implications of the Supreme Court’s current approach to civil rights issues.

EDAS 793. Equity-Centered Change LDR. (3 Credits)

This course is designed to provide advanced exposure to current research and practice in leading for equity and inclusion within professional educational settings. This course is geared toward deepening students’ understanding of the challenges, the techniques, and the burdens associated with initiating and implementing major change in an organization. Throughout the course, the objective will be to prepare students to meet the challenges of organizational change successfully with a strong conceptual foundation in leadership theories that enhance equity in terms of access, student outcomes, and institutional culture, There’s an emphasis on application of leadership approaches to real world administrative settings in educational and human service contexts. The course is practice-oriented and utilizes class discussion, personal reflections, and case studies in leadership to prepare students for taking actions in their own practice that promote equity and inclusion.

EDAS 794. Inst'l Assmt. Accred. & Eff.. (3 Credits)

The purpose of this course is to introduce the concept of institutional effectiveness which focuses on an institution’s ability to use planning strategies and evaluation information to assess current performance and plan for improvements. The design and appropriate implementation of assessment evaluations methods as they relate to addressing various accreditation standards will be examined. The course will explore assessment programs and research that informs planning and results in measurable improvements for students. The course will also explore how assessment can be used to align programs with the goals and values of the institution, while satisfying accreditation requirements. This course explores assessment strategies that leaders within higher education can use to bring about continuous improvements, which align with the mission and values of the institution while simultaneously satisfying the requirements of accreditation agencies and other stakeholders.