Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership

Northern Kentucky University

We define educational leadership as the reflective, informed practice of facilitating learning, change, and growth in individuals and communities in both formal and informal settings. Educational leaders are those people who facilitate the growth and development of organizations and communities.

Our students (whom we call Learning Associates) come from a range of helping professions, including:

P-12 education
Higher/post-secondary education
Non-profits
Public/governmental sector
Health care
Consulting
Training and development
Museum education/interpretation
Bringing together Learning Associates across disciplinary backgrounds and experiences creates a more robust learning environment for everyone.

Our faculty are experienced, innovative leadership scholarly practitioners who are deeply engaged with our program and Learning Associates. Your classes are taught by a balance of full-time university faculty and part-time faculty who are primarily engaged in non-faculty roles to ensure that you get the benefit of both perspectives.

We are a proud member of the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED).

Defining elements of our program include:

Practitioner-scholar focus designed to prepare leaders who construct and apply knowledge to make a positive difference in the lives of individuals, families, organizations, and communities
A cohort model that provides opportunities for learning associates to develop and demonstrate collaboration and communication skills to work with diverse communities and to build partnerships
Emphasis on enhancing existing leadership skills by integrating theory and practice through job-embedded and ''puzzles of practice'' learning experiences
Focus on the knowledge and skills component necessary for effective practitioners as well as on the human or dispositional qualities associated with transformational leadership
A set of program outcomes that integrates both practical and research knowledge and links theory with systemic and systematic inquiry
A focus on current educational leadership challenges, often framed around questions of equity, ethics, and justice to bring about solutions to complex problems of practice
A commitment to action research, emphasizing the generation, transformation, and use of professional knowledge and practice.

College of Education