UMass Boston

All application materials are due by March 1.

The total for tuition and fees for this 36 credit program can be calculated by using the graduate tuition rates listed on the Bursar’s website.

The program will recommend admission for those MEd and CAGS applicants who present evidence of their ability to do graduate work with distinction. Such evidence will normally include:

• At the time of enrollment, a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution of recognized standing or an international equivalent.
• An undergraduate grade point average at the time of graduation of at least 2.75 on a 4.0 scale (or international equivalent) or discipline specific GPA calculation, as evidenced by an official transcript.
• Two letters of recommendation. Typically, one or more letters from former professors familiar with the applicant’s academic abilities provide the strongest recommendations. Recommenders should have worked closely with the applicant in an academic, professional, or community service setting. Letters should not be written by friends or family members of the applicant. Letters should focus on the applicant’s abilities and past academic performance, while also indicating an ability to effectively complete graduate-level coursework.
• A résumé that documents two or more years of work experience as an educator or in the field of education.
• Statement of purpose. The statement of purpose is your opportunity to show the graduate admissions committee why you wish to pursue graduate study in this program, as well as your specific interests and goals.
• Submission of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or the Miller Analogies Test (MAT) scores (optional).

Applicants interested in Massachusetts Administrator License

Please note that all students in this program who are seeking Massachusetts administrator licensure must provide proof of a passing score on the Communication and Literacy Skills portion of the Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure (MTEL) as part of the licensure process and documentation of state educator license.

Required Courses

• ADM G 603 – Organizational Analysis & Change
• ADM G 613 – Personnel, Administration, Supervision, and Evaluation
• ADM G 622 – Curriculum Theories and Trends in Education for Social Justice
• ADM G 646 – Social Justice and Anti-Racist Education Leadership
• ADM G 655 – Advanced Seminar in Supervision
• ADM G 691 – Culturally Responsive & Anti-Racist Leadership (CAGS course)
• ADM G 670 – Legal and Political Issues in Special Education (CAGS course)
• EDC G 606 – Sociocultural Perspectives
• APLNG 623 – Sociolinguistics
• ADM G 686/687 – Practicum courses (two-year sequence)
• ADM G 627 – The Law of Public Education
• ADM G 632 – Facility Design and Fiscal Management

Capstone

The University of Massachusetts Boston requires a capstone experience for graduate degrees. All educational administration students must pass a comprehensive portfolio examination synthesizing a significant portion of their course work. The portfolio offers students an opportunity to collect and reflect systematically upon the various components of their own learning, drawing on readings, coursework, and practicum experiences. The electronic portfolio becomes a long-lasting tool for career advancement.

Program Length

This 36-credit graduate program is designed to be completed in two academic years.

Licensure

Applicants seeking licensure as principal/assistant principal must also complete the Performance Assessment for Leaders (PAL), a required component for the license. Applicants seeking the special education administrator license must apply for a professional license. Please visit the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s website for information on the Performance Assessment for Leaders or to learn about professional licensure.

By the end of a two-year, 36 credit hour program, students will become:

1. Instructional Leaders who can connect research, curriculum, instruction and assessment to improve learning for all students.
2. Anti-Racist Leaders who can use knowledge and skills about race, gender, and culture and how these constructs intersect with each other to build school and educational community environments characterized by social justice and equity. Students will learn to not just be leaders who oppose racism but leaders who implement policies, practices and structures that act against racism. 
3. Organizational and Cultural Leaders who can use solid understandings of organizational dynamics and culture to move successfully toward a shared vision for a school or community-based organization.
4. Managerial Leaders who can marshal the “nuts and bolts” of management and operations—human, financial, technological, and legal resources—to attain goals and serve a broad vision.
5. Leaders of other Leaders who can use their understanding of the principles and practices of professional development to support the growth of staff members and colleagues.
6. Data-Critical Leaders who can use data and enhance their organization’s capacity to use data not only for assessment, continuous improvement and decision-making but also for accountability, inquiry and action against injustices.
7. Communication Leaders who can use interpersonal, oral and written skills to work effectively with a variety of audiences, including parents and community members.
8. Reflective Leaders who can demonstrate the ability to integrate these tenets in context, to learn from practice, to assess strengths and weaknesses, and to plan for personal learning.

Through rigorous courses discussions, assignments and field experiences students will be able to: 

• Communicate a clear and compelling vision for educational systems, schools, districts and community organizations that demonstrates and represent their knowledge about race, gender, and culture that defines / represent the components related to social justice. 
• Design and implement a capstone project to leverage solutions to identified school- and community-based challenges and ensure equity and social justice is addressed in all aspect of the entry plan.  
• Understand the ways data is socially constructed and use quantitative and qualitative methods of research and evaluation as an equity tools to promote accountability of decisions and create change.   
• Identify, diagnose and manage change processes to turn educational settings into more strategic, coherent, equitable and just organizations. 
• Examine the ethical impact on leadership and form strategies to foster justice with an inclusive mindset.  
• Establish a community that addresses social justice on various levels: personal, institutional and societal. 
• Assess and identify intended and unintended consequences of decisions through reflection and progress monitoring. 

Careers

Our graduates are leaders who support the transformation and design of schools and community organizations at all levels.

Examples of positions our graduates have held or currently hold:

• Assistant Principal/Principal
• Director of Instruction
• Principal Leader
• Program Director
• Director of Special Education
• Curriculum Coordinator
• Assistant Dean of Students
• Senior Director of Teacher Development Initiatives
• Coordinator of Access and Equity in the Office of Charter Schools and School Redesign
• Preschool Director

• Liza A. Talusan, Associate Instructor, Department of Leadership in Education
• Casel Walker, Graduate Program Director, Instructor, Educational Administration Program
• Bodunrin O. Banwo, Assistant Professor, Urban Education, Leadership, and Policy Studies & Educational Administration
• Amy E. Collinsworth, Graduate Program Manager and Assistant to the Department Chair, Leadership in Education
• Stefani Harvey, Instructor, Department of Leadership in Education
• Patricia Krueger-Henney, Associate Professor, Urban Education, Leadership and Policy Studies
• Shantal Petrie, Administrative Assistant, Leadership in Education