September 7, 2007

CSUF begins doctoral program
Educators seeking Ph.D.s will learn leadership skills.
By MARLA JO FISHER
The Orange County Register

FULLERTON – Cal State Fullerton is among seven campuses in the California State University system to begin offering doctorates this year, nearly 50 years after the state's higher education master plan banned CSU from offering such degrees.

Two years ago, the Legislature overruled the master plan and granted CSU the right to offer doctorates in education, to cope with what has been described as a severe shortage of opportunities for school administrators to improve their leadership skills.

"This is going to turn out leaders who will make a difference," state Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, who sponsored the 2005 bill, SB 724, to permit the 23-campus CSU system to offer the educational doctoral degree, said during a news conference Thursday morning.

Scott, a former president of Cypress College, said it was "very apparent that leadership is the key to successful education."

The move was opposed by the University of California, which since 1960 had been the only public university system in the state authorized to grant doctoral degrees. In the state's master plan, CSU is to grant bachelor and master degrees oriented toward the practical world of work, while UC is the research-oriented university.

Fullerton and Cal State Long Beach are among the first seven CSU campuses to launch the program, which will allow school officials to earn doctorates in educational leadership in three years, while keeping their full-time jobs.

In the future, CSU Chancellor Charles Reed said CSU officials might seek approval to offer doctorates in nursing and audiology, the science of hearing.

Jaymi Abusham, vice principal at Marshall Elementary School in Anaheim, is among 18 students enrolled for the first year of the program at Fullerton.

"I want to expand my knowledge and apply it to my job on a daily basis," Abusham said. "There's a great deal of research and assessment out there we can use to improve our practice, and I want to be able to lead our teachers in high-quality instruction."

Like the other students, she will attend the program year-round for the next three years. The first two years will be classroom instruction. During the third year she will write her dissertation.

Students learn how to analyze test scores and do their own research. They study leadership skills, such as how to persuade school employees to improve their methods.

Abusham expects to spend about $40,000 over three years to earn the degree. The program, which costs more than other CSU degrees, is expected to be self-supporting, Reed said.

Statewide, 148 students are enrolled at seven campuses. Sixty percent of them are women. More campuses will roll out programs in coming years.

Before the CSU program was approved, a joint project was created in 2003 between CSU and University of California. However that program proved too small to meet the demand, CSU officials said.

To date, Cal State Fullerton's partnership with UCI has only three students, with one more close to completion, said Louise Adler, director of the CSUF program and chairwoman of Fullerton's Department of Educational Leadership.

"UC tried doing this, but the most students they ever admitted from Fullerton was five per year," Adler said. "I had a room of 120 people, standing room only, to learn about the program, and when they heard the UC rep say they would only take five applicants, people started standing up and walking out."

Until recently, people seeking an educational doctorate had to attend the University of Southern California or the University of La Verne, both higher-priced private schools, Adler said.

The CSU program is geared toward practical day-to-day use on the job, as opposed to a UC plan to create a doctorate in education that focus on research, Adler said.

While Fullerton is launching its program specializing in elementary and high school administration, officials are also developing a program to serve community college employees.

Doctoral students attend classes year-round and are expected to put in a lot of hard work and ultimately write a dissertation.

At Fullerton, this year's students are coming straight from work to attend courses Monday afternoons, eating dinner at their desks and staying until 10 p.m. Study groups meet independently.

Other campuses offer Friday and weekend classes designed to permit students to work full time.

"We don't want to put anyone in the hospital, but we want them to be stressed," Adler said.

Before earning their degrees, students will be put in a room with a computer, given a test of real-life school scenarios, and asked to solve problems that "actually happen in public schools," Adler said.

"We will say, 'How can you solve real-world problems using the information you've learned?' " Adler said. "That will be their qualifying exam."

CSU Educational Doctorate degree:

326: number of people statewide who applied for the first 2007-2008 year

148: number of students enrolled

18: number of students enrolled at CSUF out of 45 applicants

$36,000: expected cost for three-year program

7: number of campuses offering the degree this year