Program Overview
The Ed.D. in School System Leadership, Specialization in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and Dual Language Education (SLTL) program, is the first of its kind in the entire state Maryland, as well as in the local DC area, solely dedicated to preparing current teachers, teacher leaders, school and district administrators to address multilingual learners鈥 needs at the macro levels (i.e., school and district levels) to parallel the already important changes teachers are making at the micro levels (i.e., individual classrooms). Given that the multilingual learner populations of the Mid-Atlantic region have increased substantially, including more than doubling in Maryland鈥檚 entire P-12 system in less than a decade, school districts have recognized the ever-increasing need for more teachers and administrators to understand how to address these student populations鈥 academic, language and cultural needs across the curriculum. While teacher education programs in this area have started to increase, teacher leader and administrator preparation continues to lag severely.
As opposed to a traditional doctoral programs with a culminating dissertation focusing on theoretical contributions to a larger field, this program has students addressing real-time school district problems of practice in the form of a capstone project through the lens of Improvement Science, the goal of which is for these doctoral projects to be proposed to the school districts after graduation for implementation.
Note that this program is for those already with foundational knowledge and formal training/teacher education in working with multilingual learners. See admissions requirements for more details.
Summer courses are a blend of online synchronous and in-person sessions (all in-person summer class sessions take place on Saturdays on 沈芯语老师家访麻花视频鈥檚 campus) while fall and spring courses are fully online with a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous sessions.
Learning Goals
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, graduates will have mastered the following competencies:
- Demonstrate knowledge of current and historical theories and research of second language acquisition by creating effective pedagogical practices for language learners using linguistically鈥恦aried and culturally responsive teaching and assessments that are district鈥恮ide.
- Identify the perspectives and needs of diverse members of the school community and the importance of meeting those needs.
- Engage and communicate with diverse school communities and identify culturally and linguistically appropriate strategies for developing and sustaining family/community partnerships.
- Effectively communicate their District鈥檚 vision, mission, and core values, including a commitment to equity, diversity, and community as it relates to language learners.
- Evaluate the gap areas between their district鈥檚 vision/mission and current reality, including gap areas related to language and cultural equity, diversity, technology, and community.
- Identify a Problem of Practice as it relates to language learners in the school system through the analysis of multiple sources of data.
- Design, implement and evaluate a developmentally appropriate, accessible and culturally responsive system of assessments and data collection, management and analysis that supports instructional improvements for language learners.
- Identify the environmental forces, institutional factors, policy network activities and interest group pressures that affect education policy in their systems as it relates to successfully addressing the language, cultural and academic needs of their language learners.
- Juxtapose national and state policies, rules, laws and regulations with education in their county in order to identify the implications of the educational policies for individual schools including how the policies are to be implemented.
How to Apply
How to Apply
A new cohort starts every other year during the summer session; the next cohort will start Summer 2026. All applications for the next cohort are due on Sunday, March 1, 2026. Visit our for more details on attending our Information Session in January, about the program, and about the admissions process.
Program Requirements
Program Requirements
The program includes 41 credits of coursework, 7 credits of an applied apprenticeship, 6 credits of Capstone proposal, and 6 credits of Capstone. Below are the courses.
- Core: EDUC705 - Education Policy Making and the School Leader
- Core: EDUC740 - Managing Educational Organizations in a Diverse Society
- Core: EDUC767 - Seminar on School District Leadership
- Core: EDUC770 - System Innovation and Transformation Management
- Specialization: TLPL637 - Teaching for Equity in Bilingual/Language Immersion Programs
- Specialization: TLPL740 - Language and Education
- Specialization: TLPL743 - Teaching English Language Learners: Current and Future Research Directions
- Specialization: TLPL744 - Research Foundations of Second Language Education: Examining Linguistically Diverse Student Learning
- Research: TLPL 791 - Qualitative Research I: Design & Framework
- Research: EDUC701 - Applied Research and Data Based Decision Making for School Leaders (Quantitative Research)
- Research: EDUC702 - Applied Research Design for Education Leaders (Improvement Science)
- Professional: EDUC703 - Conducting Library Research for Capstones
- Professional: EDUC704 - Introduction to Writing for Education Leaders
- Professional: TLPLC888 - Apprenticeship in Education
- Evaluation: EDUC828 - Mid-Program Evaluation Portfolio - Capstone Proposal
- Capstone: EDUC829 - Doctoral Capstone
Contact
Contact
Info Session & Events
Upcoming Events