This course is specifically designed to be the culminating experience for the CAGS in Educational Leadership. It offers the opportunity for students to explore and implement the major concepts and practices they’ve studied through their required coursework and leadership experiences. The course offers two tracks:
The Capstone track serves as the culminating academic project within the Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study (CAGS) for Educational Leadership. It offers the opportunity to explore a key educational issue (K–12) through an in-depth research paper, wherein prior coursework and classroom-based experiences allow the author to synthesize and deepen their understanding of the topic. The capstone project may be theoretical, practical or action research-based.
The Practicum and Seminar track concludes the licensure candidate’s program, offering the student the opportunity to demonstrate proficiency in the Professional Standards and Indicators for Administrative Leadership and the Anti-Racist Leadership Competencies. The candidate will demonstrate practical application of the administrative standards and the leadership competencies in a weekly field experience at a school site. Candidates will be required to complete at least 500 hours of field experience by the end of the practicum course. In addition, candidates will provide portfolio evidence of performance assessments aligned with the standards and indicators and leadership competencies. During the field experience, the candidate’s mentor principal and program supervisor will conduct two observations and debriefings with the candidate, as well as two three-way conferences. The third and final three-way conference will focus on the candidate’s readiness for administrative practice and occur following submission of the candidate’s 500 hours of practical experience and completion of both the observation report and all course-embedded performance assessments. In addition, candidates will attend a bi-weekly seminar to discuss their strengths and growth areas.