University Catalog 2024-2025

Educational Leadership, Policy and Human Development

The Adult, Workforce, and Continuing Professional Education specialization with the Ph.D. in Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development is unique in its emphasis on serving the spectrum of both formal and informal adult learning organizations, and its inclusion of administrative, instructional and technology-related leadership within a practitioner preparation program. Based on a land-grant, Research Extensive University, the department reflects the tripartite commitment to quality instruction, research scholarship and service outreach.

The Ph.D. in Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development with a specialization in Adult, Workforce, and Continuing Professional Education, is one-of-a-kind as its primary commitment is to part-time students who are full-time working professionals. Full-time students are eligible for consideration to receive full funding through scholarships, fellowships and research and teaching assistantships, which allow our students to work with top faculty on cutting-edge projects. To meet the needs of full- and part-time students, most courses are offered once a week during late afternoon or evening hours. Some courses are regularly available during summer sessions and weekends and through distance education technologies.

Student Financial Support

To be eligible for financial aid, students must be enrolled in Master’s or Doctoral degree programs offered by the University. Unfortunately there is no financial aid available for Graduate Certificate students. Occasionally graduate assistantships are available for full time students in our degree programs. Please check with your advisor about assistantship opportunities.

More Information

Educational Leadership, Policy and Human Development

Admission Requirements

Applications for admission are submitted through the Graduate School. We accept students from a wide range of educational backgrounds. To qualify for admission, applicants must have a master’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education in any field. International applicants must also have a TOEFL score of 100 or higher. Admission decisions are based on several criteria, including undergraduate GPA, work history and interest in the field.

Applicant Information

  • Delivery Method: On-Campus
  • Entrance Exam: None
  • Interview Required: Yes

Application Deadlines

  • Fall: December 1 (PhD Counselor Education Concentration)

Faculty

Professors

  • Duane Akroyd
  • Stanley Baker
  • Bonnie C. Fusarelli
  • Lance Fusarelli
  • Joy Gaston Gales
  • Marc Anderson Grimmett
  • Audrey Jaeger
  • March Krotee
  • Meghan Manfra
  • Sylvia Nassar
  • Stephen Porter
  • Alyssa Rockenbach
  • Siu-Man Ting
  • Paul Umbach

Associate Professors

  • Susan Barcinas
  • Lisa Bass
  • Timothy Drake
  • Anna Egalite
  • DeLeon Gray
  • Chad Hoggan
  • Keon McGuire
  • Tamara Young

Assistant Professors

  • Jennifer Ayscue
  • Alexander Becnel
  • Rawn Boulden
  • Roshaunda Breeden
  • Devon Graves
  • Michael Little
  • Brean'a Monet Parker
  • Lam Dinh Son Pham

Teaching Professors

  • Diane Chapman
  • Angela Smith

Teaching Associate Professor

  • Lacey Seaton

Teaching Assistant Professors

  • Krispin Barr
  • Cristina Braga
  • Nicole Childs
  • Bobbie Frye
  • Briana Gaines
  • Catherine Hartman
  • Erin Horne
  • Pooneh Lari
  • Francine Riddick
  • Claudia Smith
  • Terri Tilford
  • Carrol Adams Warren

Adjunct Professors

  • Lisa Chapman
  • Jeffrey Cox
  • Patrick Crane
  • Kandi Deitemeyer
  • Charlene Dukes
  • Pam Eddinger
  • Kenneth Ender
  • Linda Garcia
  • Algie Gatewood
  • Rufus Glasper
  • Sharon Morrissey
  • Daniel Phelan
  • Mary Elizabeth Rittling
  • Lawrence Rouse
  • Janet Spriggs
  • Robert Templin
  • Joshua Wyner

Adjunct Assistant Professors

  • Mary Lou Addor
  • Mark Bernhard
  • Jeffrey Covington
  • Callie Edwards
  • Peter Hessling
  • Pamela Howze
  • Melvin Jackson
  • Donna Petherbridge
  • Stephanie Helms Pickett
  • Makena Stewart
  • Cameron Sublett
  • Katherine Titus-Becker
  • Yolanda Wilson
  • Keith Witham
  • Carrie Zelna

Lecturers

  • Karen Anderson
  • Patricia Ashley
  • James Bartlett
  • Michelle Bartlett
  • Clinton Bolton
  • Brenda Champion
  • Dorothy Crissman
  • Mattie Fleener
  • Gregory Hicks
  • Richard Tyler-Walker Jr.
  • Thomas Stafford Jr.
  • Monica Osburn
  • Demetrius Richmond
  • Rhonda Sutton
  • Suzanne Wasiolek
  • Joseph Wescott
  • Cathy Sue Williams
  • Lesley Wirt

Emeritus Faculty

  • Raymond Taylor Jr.
  • Mary Ann Danowitz
  • Carol Kasworm

Courses

ELP 515  Education and Social Diversity  (3 credit hours)  

Overview of role of education within a culturally diverse society. Major attention to racial, socioeconomic and regional subpopulations. Issues discussed include subcultural influences on public school performances, equality of educational opportunity, social stratification and mobility, and the impact of schooling on intergroup relations.

Typically offered in Fall only

ELP 518  Introduction To Education Law  (3 credit hours)  

Relationship of constitutional, statutory and case law to elementary and secondary public school settings, particularly in areas of students, teachers and liability. Particular emphasis on N.C. and federal law.

Typically offered in Spring only

ELP 550  Principles of Educational Leadership and Empowerment  (3 credit hours)  

Examines school organization theories and critical domains of leadership (e.g., school vision, culture, management, collaboration, ethics, and environments). Develops conceptual, managerial and interpersonal leadership skills through analysis of school goals and purpose; organizational design, development and improvement; curricular and instructional leadership; and school-community relationships. Instructional activities will include lecture, seminar discussion, case and problem-based analysis. Graduate standing required.

Typically offered in Fall only

ELP 551  Context and Challenges of School Improvement  (3 credit hours)  

Examination of social, cultural, political and policy environment of schooling with emphasis on NC. Analysis of major theories of school change and development. critical examination of opportunities and barriers to strategic change efforts. Instructional activities will include lecture, sminar discussion, case and problem-based analysis.

Typically offered in Spring only

ELP 552  School-Based Planning, Management, and Evaluation in Professional Learning Communities  (3 credit hours)  

Prepares administrators to strategically plan, manage and evaluate core programs and systems for the safe and efficient operation of schools. Operational domains examined will include information systems, management systems, curriculum, instruction, student behavior and school security systems. Instructional activities include lecture, sminar discussions, case, situation and problem-based analysis.

Typically offered in Fall only

This course is offered alternate odd years

ELP 553  Organizational Management I: Human Resource Management in K-12 Education  (3 credit hours)  

Examination and application of models, theories, and research pertaining to personnel appraisal in education, including recruitment hiring, retention, and dismissal; evaluation models for professional and classified staff; use of effective professional development models to support professional growth and development.

Typically offered in Fall only

This course is offered alternate even years

ELP 554  Organizational Management II: Resource Support and Sustainability in K-12 Education  (3 credit hours)  

Theories and practices of funding K-12 education including examination of: political frameworks and policy issues; concepts central to education finance and budgeting; purposes, designs, and uses of school budgets; procedures for generating, analyzing and interpreting issues related to education finance and school budgeting. Construct, manage and analyze school and district-level budgets; address issues of economic efficiency, equity and fiscal adequacy and their fiscal impact on the school community. Understand North Carolina's Uniform Chart of Accounts accounting structure for school budgeting.

Corequisite: ELP 553

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate even years

ELP 555  Data Use for School Leaders  (3 credit hours)  

This course is designed to help school leaders learn how to use data to inform their decision making and lead data use within their school. It includes developing students' competencies in the areas from NC State's School Leader framework.

Prerequisite: Graduate Standing

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

ELP 595  Special Topics  (1-6 credit hours)  

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

ELP 620  Special Problems In Education  (1-6 credit hours)  

Opportunity for graduate students in education to study problem areas in professional education under direction of member of graduate faculty.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing or PBS status

Typically offered in Fall, Spring, and Summer

ELP 651  Internship In Educational Leadership and Program Evaluation  (1-9 credit hours)  

Utilization of participant-observer role and required participation in selected educational situations with emphasis upon development of observational skills, ability to record relevant observations by means of written journals, skills in analyzing experiences identifying critical incidents and projection of events and consequences. Required development of possible alternative courses of action in various situations, selection of one of alternatives and evaluation of consequences of selected course of action.

Prerequisite: Nine hrs. in grad.-level courses

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

ELP 699/EMS 699/EOE 699/EAC 699/ECD 699/ECI 699  Master's Thesis Preparation  (1-9 credit hours)  

For students who have completed all credit hour requirements and full-time enrollment for the master's degree and are writing and defending their theses.

Prerequisite: Master's student

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

ELP 724  Contemporary Educational Thought  (3 credit hours)  

Reading and discussion of 20th-century works in educational philosophy. Consideration of such movements as pragmatism, reconstruction, perennialism and existentialism.

Typically offered in Fall, Spring, and Summer

ELP 728  School Law For the Administrator  (3 credit hours)  

Comprehensive study of constitutional, statutory and case law as related to elementary and secondary school administration. Emphasis on legal issues associated with governance, finance, property, personnel and curriculum.

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate years

ELP 729  Educational Finance  (3 credit hours)  

Historical and sociopolitical contextual analysis of underlying values, methodologies and policies associated with economic and financial planning of K-12 education (e.g., efficiency, equity, and liberty) and the economic and financial mechanisms used to generate, distribute, and expend revenues for educational purposes.

Typically offered in Fall only

ELP 735  Policy Research in Education  (3 credit hours)  

This course will draw on both classic and contemporary materials in educational policy research and will primarily focus on the substance of policy research rather than methodology. It addresses research pertaining to the foundations, implementation and evaluation of policy in all levels and sectors of the educational system. Major attention will be given to education in the United States, with comparative perspectives included.

Typically offered in Fall, Spring, and Summer

ELP 740  Education and Civil Rights  (3 credit hours)  

Graduate course focused on civil rights policies and educational equity in the United States from the perspectives of social science, education policy, history, and law. Topics examined include desegregation and resegregation in K-12 schools, the rights of emergent bilingual students and students who are undocumented, students' rights based on gender and sexuality, race-conscious admissions in higher education, and the role and functions of the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

R: Graduate Standing

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

ELP 741  Theories and Frameworks Informing Implementation Research and Evaluation in Education  (3 credit hours)  

This course introduces students to the major factors that impede the effective implementation of educational programs, policies, and practices as well methods to overcome those impediments. The course explores different theoretical and conceptual frameworks from different disciplines that can guide implementation research and evaluation and uses empirical studies to understand and contextualize failures and successes in the implementation of new and ongoing initiatives.

R: Graduate Standing

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

ELP 751  Politics of P-12 Education  (3 credit hours)  

Analysis of political interactions of individuals and groups in P-12 education, specifically, how politics shapes educational decisions within a federal system of governance. Topics covered include micropolitics and macropolitical systems at the school, district, municipal, state, and federal levels, as well as political culture, interest groups, advocacy coalitions, and institutions. Doctoral standing required.

Typically offered in Fall only

ELP 753  Data Decision Making for School Administrators  (3 credit hours)  

Understand the purposed and uses of school data for research-based school improvement. Understand different types of assessment needed for school and district-wide improvement. Develop models of administrative decision making incorporating key goals, resources, curriculum alignment, data, assessment, and evaluation. Doctoral student status required.

Typically offered in Spring only

ELP 756  Organizational Leadership & Mangement for School Leaders  (3 credit hours)  

Prepares district-level administrators to analyze the changing nature of the superintendency, including major management and leadership responsibilities and leadership approaches. Operational domains examined include school governance and organizational theory, school boards, school district policy, collaborative leadership, material and human resource management, systemic and sustainable reform, contemporary challenges, and personal practices management. Doctoral standing required.

ELP 780  Evaluation Theory and Practice In Education  (3 credit hours)  

Review of educational program evaluation with emphasis on (1) theory and conceptual models of evaluation, (2) evaluation design, and (3) environmental practical factors influencing design and implementation of evaluation studies.

Typically offered in Fall only

ELP 795  Special Topics  (1-6 credit hours)  

Special Topics in Educational Research and Leadership

ELP 820  Special Problems In Education  (1-6 credit hours)  

Opportunity for graduate students in education to study problem areas in professional education under direction of member of graduate faculty.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing or PBS status

Typically offered in Fall, Spring, and Summer

ELP 851  Internship In Educational Leadership and Program Evaluation  (1-9 credit hours)  

Utilization of participant-observer role and required participation in selected educational situations with emphasis upon development of observational skills, ability to record relevant observations by means of written journals, skills in analyzing experiences identifying critical incidents and projection of events and consequences. Required development of possible alternative courses of action in various situations, selection of one of alternatives and evaluation of consequences of selected course of action.

Prerequisite: Nine hrs. in grad.-level courses

Typically offered in Fall, Spring, and Summer

ELP 885  Doctoral Supervised Teaching  (1-3 credit hours)  

Teaching experience under the mentorship of faculty who assist the student in planning for the teaching assignment, observe and provide feedback to the student during the teaching assignment, and evaluate the student upon completion of the assignment.

Prerequisite: Doctoral student

Typically offered in Fall only

ELP 891  Problems Of Research Design In Education  (1-3 credit hours)  

Provision of individualized but structured investigation of alternative problem definitions, research methodologies and statistical analyses for a problem of student's choosing, usually associated with thesis or dissertation. In small groups or individually with instructor, student consideration of research design, measurements and statistical analysis necessary to conduct research.

Prerequisite: ELP 742

Typically offered in Fall, Spring, and Summer

ELP 892  Research Projects In Educational Leadership and Program Evaluation  (1-3 credit hours)  

A project or problem in research in education for graduate students, supervised by members of graduate faculty. Research chosen on basis of individual students' interests and not to be part of thesis or dissertation research.

Typically offered in Fall, Spring, and Summer

ELP 895  Doctoral Dissertation Research  (1-9 credit hours)  

Dissertation research.

Prerequisite: Doctoral student

Typically offered in Fall, Spring, and Summer

ELP 899  Doctoral Dissertation Preparation  (1-9 credit hours)  

For students who have completed all credit hours, full-time enrollment, preliminary examination, and residency requirements for the doctoral degree, and are writing and defending their dissertations.

Prerequisite: Doctoral student

Typically offered in Fall and Spring