Program Highlights
Foster continuous organizational improvement with a doctoral program designed for future leaders.
Lead Change to Improve Outcomes for All Students
The Doctor of Education (EdD) in Educational Leadership is designed for leaders who are looking to drive systemic change in education and learning. This includes individuals looking to accelerate in leadership responsibility and to senior level positions in their current areas of practice as well of those looking to grow their leadership as transition to new areas of interest.
The program is both interdisciplinary, working across professional practice and expertise in core courses, and designed to dive deeply into specific content and skill areas based on professional needs in concentration courses. Concentrations include K-12 Leadership, Higher Education Administration, Leading Instructional Change, and Educational Psychology.
The EDL program also offers a series of current topic electives to choose from that change each year based on student input, to ensure we are responsive to rapidly changing education landscapes and your leadership needs and opportunities within them. With unparalleled access and mentorship from expert faculty, courses are focused on moving research and theory directly into practice.
Offering both online and on-campus modalities and options for weekly class schedules, the program is designed for students working full time while building the skills to distinguish themselves as leaders in their organizations, advancing equity in education and learning and driving innovative solutions for the future. The cohort model and extensive support structures are purposefully designed to ensure success.
Upon completion of the program, you with be equipped with the experience, expertise, and network to:
- Engage in interdisciplinary rigor and collaboration to generate more robust and sustainable strategies and solutions.
- Use research, data, and skills of inquiry to inform policy, decision-making and future directions.
- Develop a personal pedagogy of practice as a critically conscious leader.
- Mobilize human, fiscal, physical and technological resources to facilitate meaningful change.
- Engage in reflective practice that examines underlying assumptions, beliefs, and systems, enhancing your own, your team’s, and your organization’s capacity for learning, growth, and building greater equity in complex environments.
- Analyze, design, and lead adaptive, innovative initiatives to expand and improve education and learning opportunities and outcomes for children and adults.
- Create a culminating dissertation in practice, integrating program learning to frame, study, and act on a problem of practice or opportunity in your professional context.
Flexible
Pursue a degree on your own terms via online and on-campus modalities, evening courses, and full-time and part-time options.
Transformative
Develop the skills to lead educational and learning institutions and shape their futures.
Prestigious
Earn a doctorate from a program and university with a reputation for producing leaders and be connected to a robust Trojan alumni network.
Practical
Gain interdisciplinary expertise in core courses and deeper, context-specific learning in one of four concentrations: educational psychology, higher education administration, K–12 leadership, and leading instructional change.
Courses
Rigorous coursework that shapes future leaders.
Build a solid foundation for a career in educational leadership with unique coursework that prepares you to lead in schools, colleges, universities and beyond.
Foundations of Urban Education
EDUE 700 | 3 Units
Foundations of Urban Education
EDUE 700 | 3 Units
Foundations of Leadership
EDUE 701 | 3 Units
Foundations of Leadership
EDUE 701 | 3 Units
Foundations in Learning
EDUE 702 | 3 Units
Foundations in Learning
EDUE 702 | 3 Units
Administration in Higher Education
EDUE 707 | 3 Units
Administration in Higher Education
EDUE 707 | 3 Units
Program Outcomes
95% of alumni said their USC Rossier education prepared them to be more effective in their career.
89% of alumni said their studies at USC Rossier prepared them well for future employment.
90% of alumni said their studies at USC Rossier prepared them to understand research.
Get help funding your degree.
Applicants are automatically considered for merit-based scholarships of up to $10,000 — there’s no need for a separate application. Scholarship availability may be limited and awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, so applying sooner rather than later is in your best interest. Recipients are selected based on academic achievement, commitment to the USC Rossier mission, and other factors. All scholarships are awarded upon admission.
How a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership prepares you to drive change
Get in Touch
Program Contact
Jessica Romero
Assistant Director, Office of Admission and Scholarships
Faculty
Meet some of our experts.
Ruth H. Chung
Professor of Clinical Education, Educational Psychology, and Marriage and Family Therapy
Meet Professor Chung
“My time at USC was invaluable, I enjoyed the program and the world-class faculty that assisted me in honing my skills as a practitioner-scholar.”
Tonantzin Oseguera, EdD ’13
VP for Student Affairs, California State University – Fullerton
Events
Start your application.
Lead change in ways that will improve academic opportunities and outcomes for all students.