September 7, 2007

Education program draws I.E. faculty, administrators
Carolyn G. Schatz, Staff Writer

For the first time in its 40-year history, Cal State San Bernardino will offer a doctoral degree program beginning this fall.

The program, specializing in educational leadership, is intended to bolster the region's academic prowess by offering area educators and school administrators an opportunity for advanced studies.

"It's very exciting," said Cal State San Bernardino President Al Karnig. "It augurs enormously well for various schools in our region that have faced very great challenges historically. There are a great number of under-represented students in our school system."

Cal State San Bernardino is one of seven Cal State campuses offering the program this year.

But unlike those of other campuses, which have had affiliations with the University of California system, Cal State San Bernardino's program will be entirely new.

The Ed.D. program, which allows each campus to address specific issues and problems in its region, could have a huge impact in San Bernardino County, Karnig said.

"This initiative has real promise in its focus on local schools in collaboration with local school leaders," Karnig said.

Area educators need a stronger skill set to address ethnic and socioeconomic challenges in local schools, he added.

Canyon Middle School Principal Eric Vreeman, 35, of Yucaipa will be among the first group of doctoral candidates.

Vreeman said he hopes to learn new ways to improve the education of struggling students and those who fall through the cracks.

"The Ed.D. has a more practical application for working professionals," Vreeman said.

Doctoral candidates will study the educational needs of schools in the rapidly growing Inland Empire and the geographically diverse areas of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, administrators said.

"This is an interesting region," said program director Deborah Stine. "Educational leaders need more applied research and background to meet some of the challenges of education in the Inland Valley."

The candidates coming in have an idea already of the issues they want to address, Stine said.

"They are already leaders in their field," she said.

Members of Cal State San Bernardino's first group of doctoral candidates come from San Bernardino, Rialto, Colton, Redlands, Highland, Grand Terrace, Yucaipa, Crestline, Ontario and Hesperia.

They include elementary, middle and high school teachers, as well as a principal, vice principal, community college department chair and university administrator.

Cal State San Bernardino's program differs from a traditional Ph.D. program in that it is compressed into a three-year schedule, including summers, rather than five to seven years.

Geared toward working administrators, classes will be held one night a week and Saturday mornings.

The fee of $11,070 in 2007-08 and $11,844 in 2008-09 is comparable to the UC doctoral fee.

"With its long and successful history in training teachers and administrators, CSU can now offer the Ed.D. to educators," said state Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, who authored the landmark legislation in 2005 allowing the Cal State system to start offering doctorates for the first time.

"This will provide educational professionals access to affordable, high-quality doctoral programs in California without requiring them to go out of state or to private institutions," Scott said.

Since its founding in 1961, the Cal State system had not been allowed, under the state master plan for higher education, to offer a doctorate degree. That job was left to the University of California.

Other universities adding the doctoral program this fall are Fresno State, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach, Sacramento State, San Diego State and San Francisco State.

The input of community education leaders is integral to the program's success, Stine said, and one of its key partners has been San Bernardino County Superintendent Herb Fischer.

Fischer, who has a Ph.D. from UC Riverside, said he was thrilled by the prospect of the Ed.D. program leading to improved student achievement in the region's public schools.

"The main issue in this county is how to have our students be successful at all levels in their academic work," Fischer said. "We have to have success for all of our students."

The majority of public-school K-12 administrators don't have doctorates, Stine said.

"There hasn't typically been a push for a doctorate," she said. "To be a superintendent, you don't need a credential. To go back (to school), you have to have a real reason. And in this region, doctoral candidates see a reason to know more and to apply it."

This year's crop of Ed.D. candidates all have shown their resolve to advance the education of local students, she said.

"There is an excitement and a sense of strength all over campus about this program," Stine said.

The program is so new that Cal State San Bernardino's College of Education building is still under construction, with completion set for April.

Now that the Cal State system has been liberated to offer independent doctorates, the university may, in the future, expand to offer doctorates in nursing and audiology, Cal State Chancellor Charles Reed, said.

To meet this dramatic need for trained professionals, "it's almost inevitable," Karnig said.