Academic Program
Urban Educational Leadership
Doctoral Degree
The doctoral program in Urban Educational Leadership represents a radical departure from traditional methods of urban leadership by embracing a collaborative transformational approach. Foundational to the program is the review and critique of the research in urban education and educational leadership, and the subsequent revisioning and integration of this research with comprehensively conceptualized, locally and globally focused, sociopolitically located, multicultural, bilingual, and social justice education. Students in this program construct new ways of thinking about and actualizing leadership in urban schools which reflect a commitment to creating school communities in which every child will become a meaningful participant in society through the process of academic achievement; school communities in which the attrition of even one child is not accepted as inevitable, rather, aggressively guarded against; school communities in which the schools themselves, their students, and the students' families are not pathologized as "at risk," but instead, championed as "at promise." Toward these ends, coursework in this program explores multicultural organizational development, community organizing, community building, cooperative economics, critical legal studies, critical race theory, the prison industrial complex, restorative justice, alternative dispute resolution, and community health. This exploration is guided by critical, dialogic, problem-posing, inquiry-based border pedagogy, and shaped and informed by participatory action research-based projects in three general areas: A) Change Work at the Personal Level; B) Change Work at the School Level; and, C) Change Work at the Community Level, each comprising seven specific learning strands (for more information on these strands please see the Urban Educational Leadership Doctoral Program Handbook).
Admission Requirements
This program commenced in the 1999-2000 academic year. Students admitted to the program are actively integrated into the program design. Faculty being recruited for the program are internationally recognized scholar-activists in their fields, representing a wide range of interdisciplinary fields supporting the development of a collaboratively transformational conceptualized urban educational leadership doctoral program. Further, they are cultural workers committed to hope and possibility in urban educational leadership, and proactively engaged in the process of becoming more fully human. Together, students and faculty develop each other, through the reciprocity of the teaching-learning relationship, as a cadre of colleagues dedicated to the guarantee of academic success for all children in urban communities and, further, to the realization of the practice of "communityship" in urban educational leadership.
Applicants should be open to new ways of thinking about and actualizing school leadership, committed to social justice, and be avid collaborators, visionaries, and activists Applicants should submit the following in a highly creative portfolio:
- an application for admission (available from the program coordinator, program faculty, or the program administrative assistant)
- a personal statement detailing their experiences as related to urban educational leadership
- a philosophy statement detailing their vision of urban educational leadership
- evidence of commitment to issues of diversity broadly conceptualized (i.e., vis-a-vis race; ethnicity; socioeconomic class; language; gender; sexuality; physical, emotional, and developmental ability; religious or spiritual affiliation; age or generation; size and appearance, geographic origin; and environmental concern)
- a sample of scholarly writing (using APA or other formal citation style)
- evidence of three years of public urban school teaching and/or leadership experience or equivalent (i.e., urban community building/organizing work with an educational focus, urban private non-profit work with an educational focus, and so forth)
Preference will be given to applicants who are:
- organic members of urban communities (raised in and/or currently living in urban communities)
- bilingual in Spanish and/or American Sign Language
- from traditionally underrepresented social membership groups based on race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, first language, gender, sexuality, or physical ability
- currently employed in an urban educational leadership capacity
After an initial review of portfolios, applicants who are chosen to move forward in the admission process will be called for a face-to-face interview with program faculty and students. Teleconferencing will be utilized to facilitate the face-to-face interviewing of applicants who live at a great distance from the university.
Applicants must also comply with College of Education and Graduate School doctoral program admission requirements:
Applicants must possess a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university with an undergraduate grade point average of at least 2.8 (3.0 in courses relevant to the major) and/or a graduate grade point average of at least 3.0 calculated on a basis of a minimum of 12 hours of graduate work. Additional criteria are used by specific programs. Applicants should consult the program coordinator for details. Students should submit the following:
- Official transcripts showing all undergraduate and graduate course work completed;
- A statement of the applicant's professional and academic goals;
- A resume of relevant personal, professional and educational data;
- Graduate Record Examination scores (all sections of the Aptitude Tests). Check with programs for specific subject test requirements.
- Three letters of recommendation from individuals familiar with the applicant's academic and professional ability.
- Specific documents required by the particular program to which admission is sought.
All admissions to the College of Education doctoral programs are "to study." Following admission, the student must plan a program in conjunction with an adviser assigned by the division, who will also assist in the selection of the doctoral committee. The planned program is presented to the doctoral committee at a preliminary hearing following 9-12 hours of graduate course work in the college.
Before the preliminary hearing is concluded, the members of the student's committee must be satisfied that the student has submitted satisfactory evidence of writing skill and appropriate mastery of content materials.
International Admission Requirements
The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is required of all applicants whose native language is not English. The College of Education requires a score of 550 on the TOEFL. Any specific program may require a higher TOEFL score. For program TOEFL requirements, refer to the appropriate program handbook. This requirement may be waived for international students who have a degree from an accredited American college or university.
Application Information
Application Procedures
For more information, please see the Application Packet - Urban Educational Leadership Doctoral Program.
Financial Aid
There are some partial graduate tuition scholarships (University Graduate Scholarships) available every year. These are available on the basis of previous academic record. It is important to apply each academic year to obtain this scholarship. Summer quarter requires a separate application. Applications are available from the School of Education office (615 Teachers College at UC Clifton Campus) or by calling the office at 513-556-3600.
Curriculum
- UEL Core Courses by Topic
- UEL Required Courses by Quarter
- Program Overload Exception or Course Tuition
- Request for Program Overload Exception
- Request for Course Tuition Exception
Degree Requirements
A doctoral program merges the needs and aspirations of the candidate with the expertise of faculty and the structure of a discipline. Accordingly, the college, as a whole, does not attempt to specify the substantive content of a degree program; that is determined by the division(s) sponsoring the degree and the candidate seeking it.
-
The student shall have the equivalent of at least three years of full-time academic study beyond the baccalaureate degree including:
- A minimum of 135 quarter hours of graduate credit with a minimum of 90 credit hours of course work (not including dissertation), two-thirds of which must be for graduate students only and one-third of which must be advanced graduate level;
- A maximum of 30 quarter hours of transfer credits may be applied toward the 90-hour minimum requirement.
- Students must be advanced to candidacy within five years of the date of admission to the doctoral program.
- Students must complete a residency requirement of three out of five continuous quarters of full-time graduate study after admission to the doctoral program and prior to advancement to candidacy. At least one fall quarter must be included and summer may be counted as a quarter for this purpose.
- The student must complete all requirements for the degree within four calendar years after advancement to candidacy.
In addition to the Rules and Policies of the All-University Graduate Faculty, the College of Education establishes minimum standards for all programs operating in the college. Degree policies are specified in the College of Education policy handbook that can be obtained from the division office. It is the responsibility of the student to check with the program for additional policies and procedures. Other policies and procedures relevant to degree programs may be found in the Handbook of the Division of Graduate Studies and Research, a copy of which is available in the graduate office and the division offices.
Please see the following documents for more information:
Preliminary Hearing
Comprehensive Exams
- Results of Comprehensive Examination Planning Meeting
- Results of Oral Doctoral Examination
- Application for Admission of Doctoral Candidacy
- Department Admission Candidacy Form