THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

 

TO:	The Honorable the Members of the Board of Regents
FROM:	Johanna Duncan-Poitier
COMMITTEE:	Higher Education and Professional Practice
TITLE OF ITEM:	Master Plan Amendment: D’Youville College, Ed.D., Educational Leadership
DATE OF SUBMISSION:	February 27, 2004
PROPOSED HANDLING:	Approval (Consent Agenda)
RATIONALE FOR ITEM:	D’Youville College needs the Regents approval of a master plan amendment to offer its first doctoral program in the discipline area of education
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 2 and 4
AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

SUMMARY:

 

            D’Youville College, Buffalo, seeks approval of an amendment to its master plan to authorize it to offer its first doctoral program in the discipline area of education.  D’Youville now offers a Doctor of Education  (Ed.D.) program in Health Policy and Health Education, in the discipline area of the health professions.  The Department has determined that the proposed program would meet the standards for registration set forth in the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education.  

 

            Recommendation: I recommend that the Regents take the following action:

 

VOTED, That D’Youville College be authorized, effective March 23, 2004, to offer an Ed.D. program in Educational Leadership. This amendment will be effective only until March 31, 2005, unless the Department registers the program prior to that date, in which case master plan amendment shall be without term. 

D’Youville College

Ed.D., Educational Leadership

 

Academic Review

 

            A. Institutional Information.  Chartered by the Legislature in 1869, D’Youville College, Buffalo, offers undergraduate, first-professional degree, and graduate programs in the discipline areas of the biological sciences, business, education, the health professions, the humanities, the physical sciences, and the social sciences.  In the fall of 2003 it had a total enrollment of 2,490 students.  D’Youville offers one doctoral program, an Ed.D. program in Health Policy and Health Education.    

 

            B. Curriculum.  The purpose of the proposed Ed.D. program in Educational Leadership is to provide advanced graduate training for individuals who have previously completed degree and/or teacher certification programs in education or in a related field of management and who have demonstrated leadership qualities.  Its intent is to prepare those individuals for leadership positions in schools, educational institutions, and non-traditional settings such as business and industry.  The program is consistent with the mission of D’Youville College that emphasizes the College’s commitment to education and health as the twin “bookends” of its mission of service to its community and to its students.  The proposed program is directly related to the Health Policy and Health Education doctoral program, which the Regents approved in June 2001.

 

            The curriculum is designed to provide in-depth preparation in organization behavior, leadership theory, communications, law and policy, and financial control.  The curriculum also will deal with cultural perspectives, advanced curricular issues, assessment and computers, and technology in education.  It will include extensive field study, advanced research, and the conduct of a dissertation that is designed for problem-solving research.  The unique characteristics of the program include its design for working adult practitioners who have demonstrated capacity for leadership.  The program’s design is based in large part on the Essential Knowledge and Skills for Effective School Leadership put forward by the Commissioner’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Educational Leadership.

 

            Field mentors, who are recognized for their scholarly achievement and positions of leadership, will be involved with the faculty and students to ensure relevance and validity in the curriculum and the quality of the overall program. 

 

            C. Students.  Requirements for admission to the program will include academic success in studies prior to application, a promising career in professional education including demonstrated potential for leadership at an increasing level of responsibility, and nomination by recognized leaders and institutions that have worked with the applicant.  A team of faculty and field mentors will conduct interviews to assure the maturity and the quality of the applicants.

 

            The prospective student body includes public, private, and non-traditional educators who seek personal and professional advancement through a rigorous program.  By design, this program will emphasize quality in selection and admission.  It is intended that students will be admitted in cohorts of five to six persons, and that in the first years of the program no more than two cohorts would be admitted each semester.  Enrollment is designed for continuous registration; it is anticipated that the cohort format and the combination of faculty and field mentors will materially strengthen retention.  D’Youville anticipates that at the fifth year of the program there would already have been graduates from the first cohorts and that the matriculated student body would consist in toto of 50 students.

 

            D. Resources.  Internal and external committees of the College have carefully reviewed the financial readiness of the institution to engage in this program of advanced study.  The Board of Trustees and its Finance Committee have strongly endorsed the proposal and assure the financial soundness to carry it out.  Faculty resources have been studied as well as facilities, library and instructional resources, available student services, and the receptivity of the surrounding educational community.  These necessities are in place and were validated in the Report of the External Review Committee in August of this year.

 

            D’Youville College is in sound financial condition. 

 

            E. Program Registration.  To assess the ability of the College to offer the proposed program, staff and consultants visited the College in January 2004.  The team found D’Youville ready to offer the program.  The Department has determined that the proposed program, if authorized, would meet the standards for registration set forth in the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education.

 

Planning Review

 

            F. Need.  External review committees for this program have validated the critical need for school leaders in Western New York and the lack of sufficient opportunities at existing institutions to provide entry into this kind of program.

 

            The College surveyed the attitudes of educational leaders in the Niagara/Buffalo region as to the desirability of this program, the potential benefits, the need for such a program, and their general reception to the program.  While the sample was small, the consistency of the replies was extraordinarily positive.  One hundred per cent of the respondents, for example, said they would like to hire graduates of such a program.  These feelings were reinforced in the Report of the External Review Committee. 

 

            In addition to the needs of the Niagara/Buffalo region, the College points to a recognized need in adjacent Canadian communities for inclusion in its programs of graduate education.  Many Canadian students are enrolled in D’Youville’s master’s programs in education and health fields.  The College has Canadian students in the doctoral program in Health Policy and Health Education and is sure there will be a great deal of interest in a doctoral program in Educational Leadership.

 

            G. Effect on Other Institutions.  A canvass was conducted of all doctorate-granting institutions in New York State and all degree-granting institutions in the Western Region.  Six responses were received indicating no objections.