Educational Leadership Majors Guide

What Does it Mean to Study Educational Leadership?

All high-level educational administrators need educational leadership skills to deal with increasingly complex school environments and changing job demands. In an environment where parents demand stronger accountability from teachers and higher levels of achievement on student standardized tests, educational leaders must walk a fine line between the social responsibility to their pupils and the fiscal responsibility to their bottom lines.

Educational leadership careers can involve all kinds of learning environments, from pre-kindergarten to adult extension programs, and from public schools to private institutions. Success in educational leadership requires a detailed understanding of the educational process, empathy with instructors and their challenges, and insight into the needs of students. An education degree in educational leadership program fosters leadership skills in the seven functions noted above.

Successful educational leaders understand their environment. They know how to create a vision and implement programs that move toward that vision. Having been teachers themselves, they recognize the challenges that teachers face in an increasingly diverse and complex society.

Types of Educational Leadership Degrees

Nearly all educational leadership degree programs exist at the master’s level and higher, attracting educational professionals who already hold at least a bachelor’s degree. Some educational leadership degree programs focus on learning policy areas, while others require field-based experiences and internships.

What Can You Do With a Major in Educational Leadership?

Educational leadership graduates can find opportunities in primary and secondary schools, community colleges, universities, technical schools, governmental and adult schools, filling positions such as:

Principal

Principals do much more than lay down the law for misbehaving students. In fact, principals spend the majority of their time working with their staff, including teachers and support workers. They visit classrooms, review their school’s educational objectives, and evaluate learning materials. Much of the time, they coach their teachers and implement professional development programs designed to retain quality staff members in a very competitive job market. Principals also serve as the outward face of a school, working with politicians, school board administrators and funding sources to find opportunities for their students. They create and monitor budgets and report out to concerned parties about their school’s overall efficiency and effectiveness.

Public or private school administrator

Whether they lead departments under the guidance of a principal or they direct an independent learning facility, education administrators enforce standards at their places of employment. Many administrators set the policies and procedures for their department or their facility, and they work with their direct reports to make sure their ideas are carried out correctly.

Administrators often oversee line managers, support personnel, librarians, counselors, teachers, coaches, and other specialists who keep a school running. Many administrators handle back-office affairs as well. Educational leadership majors who add courses in accounting or finance can find ample job opportunities as record keepers and budget coordinators.

In smaller facilities, especially day care centers, an administrator may handle a multitude of tasks, even dealing directly with parents. Meanwhile, in larger institutions or school districts, administrators often oversee a focused department or program. Many administrators share their knowledge by serving on advisory groups and non-profit boards of directors.

District-level Administrator

Working from central school district offices, another group of administrators coordinates system-wide educational efforts. Many district-level administrators concentrate on specific programs, making sure that principals and teachers are aware of changes in curricula. Specialists who used to teach areas like special education or mathematics can segue into roles as administrators and coordinators after earning a graduate degree.

Other district-level administrators work with national and regional grant programs and other funding providers to synchronize school district policies and procedures with educational standards. These specialists often play an important role in evaluating other school systems as part of reciprocal accreditation programs.

College Admissions Director

Although some parents may view them as little more than talent scouts, college admissions directors use their educational leadership skills to perform a careful juggling act. They constantly attempt to balance the needs of prospective students with the financial goals of their institution in a way that honors their academic standards.

College admissions directors must evaluate each year’s crop of candidates before issuing acceptance letters to lucky students. They must issue more invitations than the school can possibly hold, since many students will accept other offers. If the admissions director guesses wrong, their school could end up awash with underserved first-year students. Or if they accept too few, they could face four years of empty halls and tuition pressure for the remaining degree seekers.

College admissions directors maintain strong relationships with faculty heads and other college administrators, in order to accurately answer student questions about school offerings and campus life. Many college admissions directors travel frequently so they can recruit new students in person.

College Department Chair

Every college and university president relies on a network of deans and chairpersons to maintain a set of high educational standards. A department chairperson, in addition to maintaining his own teaching schedule, must coordinate the efforts of the faculty and staff in their specialties.

Department chairs synchronize course schedules and class offerings with campus resource administrators and room schedulers. They handle the same kinds of personnel chores as an office manager, such as scheduling staff vacations and administering performance evaluations. They also lead search committees whenever a new tenure track position opens up in their department. Since many schools hire professors for life, a strong chairperson can influence a college or university for decades after her departure.

Many department chairs start off as tenured faculty members who take advantage of their college’s professional development program to gain administrative skill through classes and hands-on experience. Most college deans appoint chairpersons based on their track record with publishing important research, as well as their interpersonal skills and their commitment to the mission of the institution.

Corporate Trainer

Corporate trainers work directly with front line staff members in banks, at call centers, on the floors of department stores, and just about anywhere else where businesses directly connect with their customers. Corporate trainers use practices from the academic world to help staffers improve their skills with and for consumers. These positions are more important than it may first appear: a single slip-up by an employee can cost a company many thousands of dollars, or even millions.

Educational Leadership Certification, Licensure and Associations

Like teachers, most school administrators must earn a license before they can be a principal or educational leader. Although a handful of states do not yet require licenses, most states follow the national guidelines set by the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium.

As with teachers, state school boards and other employers require administrators to receive on-the-job training. Some states require administrators to keep their licenses current by participating in regular continuing education courses. Many regions also require school administrators to participate in accreditation programs for their institutions. During the accreditation process, administrators travel to other schools to evaluate their peers. They receive a similar site visit of their own, helping them to identify areas of opportunity.

Most educational leaders must prove themselves in a teaching or a training role before an employer will consider them for a position as an administrator. Experienced leaders enjoy watching new leaders develop within their organizations.

The Praxis Exam

Most educational leadership majors who want to transition from a teaching career into an administration position have probably already have passed the Praxis Exam. Most states have integrated the Praxis teacher certification examination into their teacher licensing program.

On the other hand, business professionals likely have not taken the Praxis exam, and so may need to if they are looking to move into a position as an educational administrator.

Special Considerations for Child Care Administrators

Because of the special demands of running a child care facility, many states now require child care administrators to earn a credential like the Child Development Associate designation, sponsored by the Council for Professional Recognition. The CDA assessment process evaluates administrators on their effectiveness in meeting six very important goals:

• Establishing and maintaining a healthy environment.
• Advancing physical and intellectual competence.
• Supporting emotional and physical development while offering positive guidance.
• Establishing positive and productive relationships with families.
• Ensuring a well-run program, responsive to participant needs.
• Maintaining a commitment to professionalism.

In addition to the guidelines set for the CDA designation, the National Child Care Association also offers a National Administration Credential. Recent college graduates may voluntarily obtain this credential, which can qualify job seekers for positions at larger child care centers or in nationwide day care corporations.

Certification for Business Educators

Although corporate trainers do not require state or federal licenses, many trainers and coaches have bound together to form organizations that can extend voluntary certification to members.

Coaching and business education groups like the International Coach Federation can validate a business educator’s formal education, along with the amount of on-the-job experience they have gained over the course of their career. As with other educational leaders, coaches and trainers must maintain their certifications by participating in ongoing professional development activities, such as continuing education courses or association conferences.

Other Associations and Certification Bodies

• Council of Chief State School Officers
• Interstate Consortium on School Leadership
• National Policy Board for Educational Administration
• National Association of Secondary School Principals
• American Society for Training & Development
• Society for Human Resource Development