Academics & Courses
Content Testing
Effective September 1, 2015, candidates applying for any initial endorsement(s) to be placed on a Nebraska certificate must provide evidence they have passed the required Praxis II test for endorsement. Students seeking an endorsement as a superintendent must pass the Superintendent Assessment test.
Program Design
The Education Specialist program includes 27 hours of in-class work with a seminar approach. In addition to the in-class seminar work, Ed.S. participants will complete at least 6 hours of internship experiences approved in advance as part of their Leadership and Learning Plan. (The program totals 33 credit hours.)
Required Coursework
Students complete coursework as a cadre over a two categories. One in which all of the candidates complete coursework as a group or cadre scheduled to take place over a three-year period. The second category is the internship required of all candidates, but can be completed at various times.
Cadre Core Courses
ESD 705 Issues in Leadership - 3 hrs.
ESD 710 School Districts as Organizations - 3 hrs.
ESD 715 School-Community Communications - 3 hrs.
ESD 725 Politics and Policy Leadership - 3 hrs.
ESD 820 Leading and Responding to Change - 3 hrs.
ESD 830 Human Resource Leadership - 3 hrs.
ESD 850 Finance, Resource Management, Board Relations - 3 hrs.
ESD 910 Ethics of Leadership - 3 hrs
ESD 920 Leadership Internship - 3 hrs.
ESD 930 Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Design - 3 hrs.
ESD 940 Leadership Internship II - 3 hrs.
Time Limitations
In the Education Specialist Program, students are expected to complete the degree with their cadre, or within a maximum of five years since beginning graduate study at Doane University. If a student withdraws from the cadre experience, they may be required to wait one year and resume classes with the next cadre.
The Director will determine if a student can rejoin the program if the time away from the program extends beyond one year. If the course material is no longer relevant, the student must then retake appropriate graduate courses as part of the program of study. If a student stays out three years or more the coursework must be repeated.
