Program Quickview
The educational administration specialization within Warner's EdD in education has been designed specifically for K-12 educators, including school and district leaders, who want to advance in their career and/or seek faculty positions to prepare the next generation of school leaders. It does not lead to K-12 school leadership certification.
- A master’s degree in education or a related field.
- SBL/SDL certification for those who hold or seek administrative positions in K-12 public schools and districts.
- Prior experience as an educational leader is highly desirable.
- Minimum Credits: 90 graduate credits, of which up to 36 can be transferred from previous programs; graduates of Warner's K-12 leadership certificate program can apply up to 9 additional credits retroactively.
- Customizable: Includes a mix of required core research methods and content courses as well as electives to enable you to tailor the degree to your career interests and needs.
- Develop Key Skills: Core coursework in research methods, decision making, and program evaluation will enable you to develop highly relevant skills for today’s leaders.
- Relevant to Your Job: You are encouraged to work on a problem of practice related to your work as the focus of your dissertation.
- Opportunities for Additional Specializations: You can add an Advanced Certificate in Program Evaluation, Online Teaching, Digitally-Rich Teaching in K-12 Schools, or Urban Teaching & Leadership for only a few additional credits.
- Flexible: Programs can be completed on a part-time basis while holding a job, or full-time, starting in any semester.
Warner Doctoral Programs in Educational Administration
- EdD Accelerated Option (AA9): Includes a highly structured, faculty-supported, and cohort-based dissertation phase that must be completed in one academic year; choice of program evaluation or decision-analysis, field-based dissertation; degree can be completed in as little as three years of part-time study.
- EdD Traditional Option (AA2): More flexibility with regard to dissertation methodology and pace; dissertation is pursued independently; degree usually takes longer to complete than accelerated option.

- Advanced Certificate in Program Evaluation: To strengthen your research skills in planning and conducting evaluations of existing programs.
- Advanced Certificate in Digitally-Rich Teaching in K-12 Schools: If you are especially interested in supporting and/or researching the most recent advancements in instructional technology and their implications for transforming K-12 schools.
- Advanced Certificate in Online Teaching: To be more competitive for positions that may involve teaching online and/or administration in institutions engaging in online education.
- Advanced Certificate in Urban Teaching and Leadership: Prepares you to teach and lead in racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse urban settings.
- Advanced Certificate in Teacher Leadership: Prepares you to take on important leadership roles in K-12 schools.
While the required coursework may be similar, these two degree programs have different expectations concerning dissertation study, expertise in research methods, and residency requirements. Here’s what you can expect:
- PhD students are expected to focus on only a few specific areas early on so as to become experts in those areas. EdD students, on the other hand, are expected to develop a broad understanding of their own as well as related fields.
- While both PhD and EdD students take the same foundational research methods courses, PhD students are required to take additional, advanced research methods courses to develop expertise in using a rich array of traditional research methods.
- PhD dissertations require independent research that will contribute new knowledge to their field, while EdD dissertations may involve a wider array of choices, including: case studies of specific innovations; action research studies to improve specific programs or practices; research- and data-based analysis to inform important decisions; or rigorous evaluations of existing programs.
- In addition to their dissertation, PhD students are required to engage in research apprenticeships with faculty.
- EdD students can complete their program part time, while PhD students are required to complete at least one year of residency (i.e., be full time for two consecutive semesters, taking at least 12 credits of coursework each semester, or 9 credits if awarded an assistantship) and are encouraged to complete as much of their program as possible full time.
Our Approach
Preparing You to be an Innovative Educational Leader and Researcher.
Our graduates understand how to motivate others, make decisions, manage people and processes, and enable individuals to reach their highest potential. They also bring reflective and conceptual thinking skills – as well as expertise in research, program evaluation, and data-based decision analysis – to the challenge of improving K-12 schools and other educational institutions.
Students holding and/or seeking leadership positions in special contexts – such as religious or independent schools, urban or rural settings, schools and other educational organizations abroad – have opportunities to customize some aspects of their program to address such interests.

- Integration of Research, Theory, and Practice: We believe that doctoral candidates should recognize the false dichotomy between theory and practice, as well as the complementary values of basic and applied research. Our graduates will not only gain an excellent understanding of key theories in their field, but will also be able to identify and critically examine the theoretical framework informing research reported in the literature, as well as their own. EdD candidates also form a solid research and theory base that grounds their leadership in their field of practice.
- Interdisciplinarity and Collaboration: We encourage doctoral candidates to recognize the need and value of collaborating across fields and constituencies to address complex problems in education.
- Commitment to Social Justice: We strengthen our doctoral candidates' commitment to equity and social justice and for conducting research that is inclusive of all individuals, communities, and cultures.
- In-Depth Knowledge of Area of Specialization: Our doctoral candidates develop a broad and solid knowledge of relevant research in their area of specialization, while understanding how that field is connected to others.
- Research Practices: Our doctoral candidates articulate and pursue worthwhile research questions, and are familiar with and able to use a variety of research methodologies relevant to their field of specialization.
- Academic Writing Practices: We prepare our doctoral candidates to effectively communicate research results in scholarly publications, consistent with academic writing expectations.
The Warner Advantage
Preparing Graduates to Innovate, Advocate, and Elevate.
- Become an innovator and a thought leader in your field by learning the necessary skills to be an effective, evidence-based decision maker.
- Use your field-based dissertation to demonstrate your skills as a thoughtful, evidence-based leader to prospective employers.
- Broaden your skillset and increase your competitiveness in the job market by adding an advanced certificate for only a few additional credits.
- Network with the best and the brightest educators and future leaders.
- Learn from an accessible, supportive faculty of accomplished researchers and practitioners who will prepare you to conduct research and utilize evidence to address ever-changing educational challenges.
- Give your degree even more recognition by leveraging the reputation of a leading research university.
- Start any semester and go at your own pace during the coursework phase by choosing between full-time or part-time options.
- Use your electives to specialize in your area of interest and/or add advanced certificates.
- Take advantage of online courses to reduce trips to campus.
- Reduce tuition costs by taking advantage of a wide range of competitive full and partial assistantship opportunities.
All About Experience

Center for Urban Education Success (CUES)
This Center, led by Warner faculty member Shaun Nelms, leverages the University of Rochester’s educational partnership with East High School to develop research-based solutions to support all urban schools. As such, it provides unique opportunities to participate in research that can make a difference for the most underserved students in the country. CUES supports the Warner School’s underlying belief that the improvement of education is in pursuit of social justice.

Learning from Successful School Leaders
Stephen Uebbing’s 2011 book on The Life Cycle of Leadership share important lessons about the development of effective schools and the leadership practices this work calls for. These two former school superintendents teach at Warner and lead administrative professional development efforts in the region through Warner’s Center for Professional Development and Education Reform.

The Hidden Costs of School Security
Warner professors Brian Brent and Karen DeAngelis’s timely research on the real costs of school security received considerable attention from the national media. The intent of the research is to provide a comprehensive and more refined account of school security costs than is presently available.
Career Opportunities
Warner Doctoral Programs Provide the Perfect Pathway to Wherever You Want to Go.

Faculty
An Accessible, Supportive Faculty of Researchers and Accomplished Practitioners.
Core Program Faculty
(decision making; K-12 and higher education finance)
Karen DeAngelis, PhD
(decision making; educational policy; quantitative research methods)
Nahoko Kawakyu O'Connor, PhD
(program evaluation)
Patrick McCue, EdD
(equitable grading and instructional practices)
Stephen Uebbing, EdD
(decision making; school and district leadership)
Learn More About All Warner School Faculty
Scholarships
Making Warner Affordable.
We also have institutional agreements with selected educational institutions in the Rochester region that can reduce your tuition costs. Contact admissions for more information.
Are You a UR Employee? Inquire about your tuition benefits. If eligible, up to 95% of your tuition costs can be covered depending on your position. Contact the UR benefits office at benefitoffice@rochester.edu.
