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Curriculum Overview
The aim of the Joint Doctoral Program in Leadership for Educational Equity (JDP) is to prepare outstanding educational leaders who will create transformational change and promote equity and scholastic achievement in the 252 school districts located in the 14 counties that constitute the San Francisco Metropolitan Bay Area. These 252 school districts enroll more than 1.3 million schoolchildren. The JDP is guided by a collaboration between the University of California at Berkeley, California State University East Bay, San Francisco State University, and San Jose State University that resulted in the design of a program that incorporates what is expected to be the most effective means for preparing educators to engage in systemic educational reform. JDP students represent those who have distinguished themselves as exemplars of professionalism and who are challenged to make transformational educational change happen.
Program
Description (large) 3.27mb pdf
The JDP curriculum addresses four major themes, supported by two cross-cutting professional development areas:
The Four Thematic Areas of the Joint Doctoral Program in Leadership for Educational Equity
| Systemic Educational Reform: Theory, Policy, and Practice
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Purpose
Advance student understanding of the role of the superintendent as active agent of systemic, evidence-based educational improvement initiatives, particularly with respect to efforts intended to narrow the gaps in student academic achievement, teacher professional expertise, curriculum strategies and materials, and in the human, material, and technical resources available to schools within the district.
Also, advance student understanding of the responsibilities of staff at the school district office in supporting the superintendent’s role as an agent of intentional, purposeful change and improvement.
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Focus
The school and school district organizational arrangements most likely to optimize educational effectiveness, and the relationships between these arrangements and the accountability measures used by Federal and State education agencies to assess the annual yearly progress made by school districts in achieving their educational goals.
The theoretical, conceptual and practical aspects of accountability systems are examined in terms of whether they: (i) increase student achievement; (ii) enhance teacher expertise; (iii) improve the leadership skills of school principals; (iv) help schools with large numbers of underachieving students to become effective instructional settings; and, (v) encourage the replication of demonstrably effective educational strategies and practices.
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| Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment, and Professional Development
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Purpose
Advance student understanding of State and national academic content standards, student performance standards, and student assessment standards on student academic achievement, teacher effectiveness, and the coherence of the school district’s educational plans, goals, and objectives in the areas of student learning and teacher professional development.
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Focus
The empirical basis, pedagogical assumptions, and the normative beliefs informing efforts at the State and national level to foster Standards-based teaching and assessment practices in three academic content areas: (i) Mathematics and the Basic Sciences; (ii) Reading, Writing and Critical Thinking Skills; and, (iii) History and Social Studies.
The theoretical, conceptual, and practical aspects of Standards-based educational efforts are examined in terms of whether or not they increase the rigor, relevance, and effectiveness of district-wide teacher professional development programs, and in terms of whether or not they reduce disparities between the espoused and the enacted curriculum.
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| Achieving Educational Excellence and Equity in Practice |
Purpose
Comprehend the effects of current educational policies and practices on the quality of educational opportunities afforded to students from population segments that historically have not been well served by the public schools.
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Focus
The measures of educational equity that policymakers use to address unlawful educational policies and practices at the classroom, school, and school district level.
The measures and educational constructs that leaders can use to determine if existing district policies are effective in closing the achievement gaps that exist between various student population segments. These segments include: (i) economically advantaged and disadvantaged students; (ii) students enrolled in schools with large numbers of non-credentialed and inexperienced teachers, and students enrolled in adequately staffed schools; and (iii) students who are English language learners, and students who are fluent English speakers. To these groups must be added students from population segments victimized by State-sanctioned discriminated prior to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and students from segments that have never been the objects of State-sanctioned discrimination.
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| Budgeting, Financial Planning, and Resource Allocation |
Purpose
Comprehend the effects of existing revenue generation and resource allocation policies and practices on student academic achievement, on teacher professional development programs, on the coherence and cost-effectiveness of school instructional practices, and on the generative character of district-wide education strategies and initiatives.
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Focus
The laws, policies, and practices governing the generation and allocation of Federal, State, and local funds to school districts.
Whether these laws, policies and practices inhibit or advance (i) efforts to increase student academic achievement and close existing achievement gaps, (ii) high quality professional development programs, (iii) the number of schools attuned to the social circumstances and educational needs of their students.
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Thematic Professional Residencies and Courses in Evidence-Based Educational Decision-Making
| Thematic Professional Residencies |
Purpose
The purpose of these residencies is to permit JDP students to examine a troubling educational situation or problem close up, and to gain experience in preparing a case study of their findings and recommendations. Over time, student case studies must demonstrate familiarity with ethnographic and other means for collecting, integrating, and evaluating qualitative observations.
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| Courses in Evidence-Based, Educational Decision-Making |
Purpose
The purpose of these courses is to hone JDP student understanding of the role that empirical evidence should play in informing educational plans, policies, and practices. One course emphasizes evidence-based measurement and assessment. The second focuses on descriptive statistical and inferential methods and measures for monitoring, evaluating, and improving educational interventions and practices.
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