Initial Administrator License

A specialty for those interested in obtaining the Initial Administrator License

The Department of Educational Policy, Foundations & Administrative Studies (EPFA) offers a Master of Science or Master of Arts in Education with a specialization in Initial Administrator License.

Initial Administrator License Guiding Principles

The Initial Administrator License specialty prepares educational leaders to respond positively, creatively, and proactively to the diversity within our communities. This program offers prospective school leaders an experience that reflects the faculty’s commitment to teaching, research, and service along with the department’s mission to provide and develop responsive leadership. Underlying the work of our faculty is the assumption that at every level, traditional approaches to education and schooling should be challenged.

• All learners can be successful.
• Learning activities must build on individual strengths and life experiences rather than deficiencies.
• Curriculum and instructional practices must be designed to include and facilitate the personal development of the increasingly diverse population of learners served in metropolitan areas.
• Reflective practice is a characteristic of the professional educator.
• Life-long learning and personal responsibility are goals of the professional educator.
• Schools are fluid organizational systems that must adjust internally to be responsive to the communities they serve.

Initial Administrator License Learning Outcomes

The IAL curriculum and methods of instruction are responsive to the special needs of adult learners. Participants are expected to assume much of the responsibility for their learning and to cultivate within themselves the habit of reflection and the desire to grow personally and professionally throughout their lives.

Initial Administrator License Program Offerings

• Convenience- Academic year Cohort classes are held one evening a week for three consecutive terms.
• Cohort class- Participants enter as a cohort (learning group) and remain together throughout the program. This feature enhances the opportunity for personal growth and professional development by giving students the chance to get to know a few colleagues—colleagues they can rely on while in the program, and on whom they can call in the future as working administrators.
• Practical experience- IAL integrates formal and informal learning opportunities and offers administrative candidates many occasions to apply ideas discussed in the classroom to actual practices in the field throughout an on-going practicum.
• Problem-based learning- IAL incorporates an integrated curricular approach that focuses on actual problems of practice rather than on traditionally discrete academic disciplines/courses.
  
• Portfolio development- The IAL experience results in artifact-creation — a collection of materials that attest to a participant’s administrative beliefs, accomplishments, and experiences. This portfolio could be invaluable in seeking administrative employment.
• Career guidance- Participants will have numerous opportunities too interact and speak with successful school principals and superintendents in the area school districts about prospective career plans. They will help students identify personal strengths and limitations, and will offer suggestions for achieving goals as professional educators.