Educational leaders are typically candidates seeking to lead a school as a principal, assistant principal, or another administrator role. However, classroom teachers also benefit from a master’s degree in educational leadership.
Why to Consider an Advanced Degree
As a Teacher
Teachers are leaders in the classroom. Each day a teacher plans a daily routine for students, and generates classroom protocols and policies to ensure student success academically and socially. These protocols and polices create a process for parents to engage with student learning. Teachers explain the landscape of the classroom procedures and allow plenty of time for students to practice the routines until the students grasp the ideas.
It is also imperative for a teacher to develop a strong communication style between students and parents that will allow strong relationships amongst all parties to develop naturally. Generating effective daily routines, classroom policies and procedures, and a balanced communication technique amongst teachers and parents are all the necessities for a successful individual classroom or entire school.
Some of the benefits to an educator receiving a graduate degree include:
- Understanding the importance of school culture
- The mechanics behind a school budget
- Curriculum mapping
- A school’s relationship with the community and the stakeholders
- Appreciating the global view of a school
Educators desiring the ability to strengthen classroom leadership, empower other educators within a specific grade level, or serve as a mentor to new teachers within a school could find an educational leadership graduate degree beneficial to furthering their career.
As an Administrator
The same skills needed to be in an educational administration role are the same skills needed to succeed in graduate work in that area. School administrators need to be able to:
- Embrace the mission/vision of a school and help to impart that to others
- Stick to a strong moral code of ethics and honesty
- Promote equity and inclusion for all stakeholders
- Encourage ongoing professional development for all
- Engage parents and community members
- Create a collaborative work environment
- Stay organized and be communicative with all stakeholders
- Be a creative problem solver
- Be able to make tough decisions with the best interests of the students at the forefront
This list is not comprehensive; however, it is a good starting place. If you can successfully demonstrate these qualities in your master’s degree in educational leadership, you can transfer them to your first administrative position.
The Importance of Strong Leadership Skills for a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership
Before any educator aspires to achieve a graduate degree in educational leadership, an innate desire to lead other educators must be present. Leadership roles in a school setting can include:
- Traditional administration positions
- Teacher mentoring
- Grade-level team leadership
- Curriculum coaching
- Content chair directing
A master’s degree in educational leadership provides the specific knowledge to strengthen the leadership abilities of educators. The course requirements for a graduate degree in educational leadership will enhance an educator’s understanding of:
- School law
- Strategic planning
- Finance
- Instructional leadership
These course topics and others make up the graduate degree, but the knowledge is only one aspect of what a candidate would learn in this program.
The program also:
- Develops a leader’s ability to coach teachers on instructional methods
- How to execute long-term or quick decisions that impact the school’s community
- How to build relationships with stakeholders while advocating for the best interest of the school
- How to effectively implement curriculum needs for students based on data
- How to design a school culture that welcomes students and other stakeholders
Coaching Teachers
Educational leaders are instructional leaders to all teachers. These leaders spend hours completing classroom observations, research professional development opportunities for teachers, and be a good listener for a co-worker. A strong leader can provide constructive criticism to a teacher through discussion instead of a strict directive.
Teachers have many ideas, and sometimes leaders must guide the teacher to use the ideas that will be most effective for the students each school year. Many times, an existing curriculum needs a new approach or an innovative method, and it can be the job of an educational leader to coach the teacher to a new method.
Organization
Organizational skills are key to running a building. Daily, weekly, and monthly communication is needed for all stakeholders. A building administrator needs to be ready to send out emails, calendars, newsletters, and other communications to students, staff, and parents regularly. There are tight deadlines for these.
Additionally, grants and other reports that the district will require have firm deadlines as well. Teacher and other staff evaluations run on timelines that, if missed, can have significant consequences. Time management is crucial to get all of these things to run on time and smoothly.
When you compare this to what is expected in a graduate-level program in educational leadership, you will see much of the same thing. In the coursework, the student must adhere to timelines and assignment deadlines and use good time management skills to get to class and complete the required work. Once entering the internship part of the program, the required activities are almost the same as the ones that the building leadership uses daily. This, along with the coursework, requires the same stringent organizational skills.
Decision-Making
All leaders are faced with making daily decisions and solving problems for others. Decisions impacting long-term goals are crucial in a leadership role. These decisions have the luxury of time, and the opportunity for extensive research before declaring the final decision.
Many times, leaders are joined with other stakeholders to assist with long-term decisions.
Problem-solving for employees professionally and personally can also fall under the responsibilities of a school leader. Many teachers at different times during their time at a school could request the advice of a school leader. When asked to help with problem-solving, a leader must maintain patience, good listening ability, defer from judgement, and a positive attitude.
Relationship Building
A school leader is like public relations spokesperson. The leader must speak highly of the school and offer opportunities for outside community member to become stakeholders. It is necessary for the teachers and support staff to feel confident with the school’s leaders in all capacity and this can only be achieved through authentic positive relationships. Occasionally, a school leader may be called upon to advocate for the outcome of a change at the school. The leader must be strongly convicted and well-prepared to defend the school’s position.
People skills are not to be underestimated in school leadership. Staff should feel their administrators are a source of support, and if that relationship is not there, the overall climate suffers. Relationships need to be built with the students and families, so they feel they are an important part of the school and are welcomed with open arms.
When in a graduate program, building relationships with your cohort will be necessary for all of you working together on projects and discussing things in class. Building a relationship with each professor will be important as well. You can continue a relationship with these people long after the coursework is complete, and they can be a valuable resource to you as you begin your administrative career.
The relationships you build with your school’s principal will be the most important since that is the most likely person who will be your intern supervisor during your internship. You will work closely with that person to complete your internship activities and a great deal of learning will take place during this time.
Curriculum Needs
Students must complete and master many different objectives within a state curriculum. School districts usually choose the textbooks and educational program to be used in the individual schools of a district. However, the student population of each school in a district varies.
It is the responsibility of the school’s leader(s) to review standardized testing data to determine if the methods accompanying the textbooks are effective for a school’s student population. If a leader needs to change the methods for a whole school based on testing data, it can take a leader to be persuasive and vocal for the best interests of the students.
Mirrors Future Positions
The assignments that you will be asked to complete for your educational leadership degree can mirror what you are asked to do as a school administrator. For example, you may be asked to do scenarios around budget cutting and school funding in your finance class. In your law class, you may be asked to outline procedures and policies with respect to school law that you will also need to do as a school administrator, such as how to conduct a dismissal, take disciplinary action, or respond to other general situations that pop up putting the school at risk for being sued.
Many times, there are group assignments and projects that will also have you needing to demonstrate that you can get along well with your group, take a leadership role, and bring the group to a successful outcome for that assignment. This can mirror what it is like to lead staff members in a committee or project.
The classes’ internship portion especially gives you chances to practice good school leadership skills. They may require that you head a committee/team or conduct research with a staff member’s class. They may have you doing practice evaluations on a staff member. Other parts of the internship can have you sitting in on different kinds of interviews and analyzing them.
Designing School Culture
A school’s culture is the first impression all stakeholders feel when becoming a part of a school. The school’s leader(s) are responsible for creating a school’s culture, or the underlining feeling teachers, students, and their families feel about the school. A school leader has the responsibility to set the tone of the school’s culture. The school’s leader should work alongside the teaching faculty to determine the expectations and goals for strong and positive school culture.
Creating an effective school culture is a team effort. The school’s leader must be open to other school leaders’ involvement to voice thoughts and ideas on how everyone will feel comfortable in the school’s environment. A master’s degree in educational leadership will provide school leaders in and out of the classroom with the tools to instruct other teachers to be more effective in the classroom and assist in building a strong school community through creating stakeholder relationships and a positive and welcoming school culture.
Interested in pursuing your educational leadership graduate degree? Check out our available programs and get started today!
