EdD Doctor of Education

Shape Education and Policy and Build Partnerships by Earning an Educational Leadership EdD

The Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership program at Southern New Hampshire University helps prepare a new generation of transformational leaders to engage and lead positive change in education organizations and education systems. This cohort-based program will help develop participants as scholar-practitioners by advancing their knowledge of leadership theory and practice, organizational development and research methodologies.

The cohort model supports those who wish to work beyond the confines of conventional leadership as they develop innovative ways to contribute to the success of an organization. Program content is immediately applicable in the workplace and participants are encouraged to develop their leadership practice with others within a cohort learning environment.

See Yourself Succeed in Educational Leadership

A major objective of this EdD program is to build a new generation of leaders who are as familiar with the latest scholarship on modern leadership as they are with the nature of positive organizational change. Like all doctoral students, graduates of the EdD program have a great depth of knowledge of scholarship, theory, and professional practices. Graduates of the EdD program have an added strength in being able to continuously connect scholarship to practice and practice to scholarship.

What makes SNHU an ideal choice for Doctorate in Educational Leadership candidates? We use innovative teaching practices led by excellent teachers and provide access to exceptional resources for learning what must be done to bring about positive change in schools, districts, universities, colleges and other organizations.

Cohort Model

The cohort learning environment offers a collaborative experience for doctoral candidates with diverse career experiences and backgrounds. The program includes hybrid courses occurring in a condensed weekend format during the spring and fall as well as a 5-day residency each summer.

This highly rewarding pathway employs action-based frameworks, innovative strategies, scholarly readings and collaborative conversations to engage all candidates in the analysis of and reflection on contemporary educational issues. Cohort members will become a source of support and encouragement to one another. Each candidate's program and dissertation will be based on his or her interests as a scholar-practitioner, coupled with review and analysis of the candidate's mastery of the program competencies targeted for the three-year course of study.

Ideal candidates are in a position to influence the ideas and actions of others through positional or non-positional leadership opportunities. School leaders, community leaders, leaders within nonprofit and government organizations and local entrepreneurs are welcome to apply for program admission.

Careers & Outcomes

Upon completing the EdD program, students will be able to demonstrate a wide range of core competencies. Graduates will demonstrate doctoral-level reading and writing skills, as well as an ability to analyze and synthesize both theory and research to address issues and problems common to educational settings. They will use research and research methodologies to identify and understand these issues, using appropriate skills to gather, analyze and draw defensible conclusions from data.

Graduates will also demonstrate sociocultural responsiveness by working toward the goal of equitable learning for all students and building the habits of mind necessary to engage in ethical, moral and socially just practices.

Reflection and evaluation are important parts of the program and students will engage in leadership-level critical reflection throughout. They will use deductive and inductive reasoning to identify theories and assumptions in matters of professional practice and use reasoning, collaboration and research to evaluate them. Graduates are expected to demonstrate strong decision-making skills by applying research findings and sound judgment to their educational settings.

Employment prospects are very good within educational leadership positions; for example, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that employment of elementary, middle and high school principals will grow by 8% between 2016 and 2026. Similarly, postsecondary education administrators should see employment prospects grow by 10% over the same time period. The BLS notes that those with advanced degrees and significant field experience should have an advantage. The EdD program through SNHU puts graduates in a position to earn both.

Curriculum

The EdD Education Leadership program is a 48-credit program and is influenced by SNHU’s active participation as a member of The Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate.

For specific curriculum and course information, visit the SNHU on campus Academic Catalog.

University Accreditation

Southern New Hampshire University is a private, nonprofit institution accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) as well as several other accrediting bodies.