Persons with this degree can be employed as a principal or assistant principal of an elementary, middle, or high school; as a supervisor in an elementary, middle, or high school; or as a central office administrator.

What is the work like?

They have the opportunity to affect the lives of students, their parents, teachers, and other administrators. The number of persons supervised depends on the size of the school to which a person is assigned. Successful completion of responsibilities could lead to assignment to larger schools to positions in area offices, such as those in the Memphis City Schools or to positions in the office of the superintendent.

Why is the CEHHS/program name the best place to start?

The program is up-to-date in following national standards and additional stipulations from the Tennessee Board of Education. Its professors are involved in the establishment of programs that are modeled after national programs and are exemplars to other institutions. Professors are on the creative edge of leadership theory. Their efforts are accredited the Tennessee Board of Education and NCATE, and there is conditional accreditation by the Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC).

Students are involved with fieldwork and courses that deal with an introduction to educational leadership, school business management, school law, the principalship, the supervisory process, educational research, participatory governance, education and community, leadership exploration seminar, and race, ethnicity, and gender. The capstone courses that place students in the field are an internship and a culminating experience.

Students completing this degree (36 hours) will have developed skills affecting leadership, change, and policy formation; will have had opportunities to analyze data and its relationship to organizational effectiveness; and will have achieved a vision of effectiveness for schooling that is shared by experts in the field.

How do our faculty work in this career community?

Faculty members supervise all of the fieldwork embedded in the coursework and supervise the internships of all degree recipients. They are actively engaged in formative and summative evaluation procedures administered throughout the program. One faculty member acts as a coordinator of each cohort.

Faculty members have had experience in the K-12 classroom and have served in the role of principal, associate superintendent of schools, and superintendent of schools.