October 10, 2007

More Inland universities offering doctorates in education

By ELAINE REGUS
The Press-Enterprise

Several Inland-area universities are now offering doctorates in education to train teachers, principals and district administrators to be leaders at a time when educators are under increasing pressure to ensure that every student is successful.

San Bernardino and Fullerton are among seven California State University campuses that initiated education doctorate programs this fall.

The degree is the first doctorate available on a Cal State campus under legislation signed last year by Gov. Schwarzenegger. Until now, Cal State universities could offer only bachelor's and master's degrees and some limited doctorates in partnership with private universities or the University of California.

The University of Redlands started offering a doctoral degree in leadership for educational justice last school year that has attracted 38 students from throughout the Inland area.

Bob Denham, dean of the Redlands School of Education, said that while the program's overarching emphasis is on leadership instruction, it also focuses on equity issues relating to poverty, race and gender.

La Sierra University, in Riverside, has offered an educational doctorate for 25 years. It has four specializations, including educational psychology. UC Riverside offers a PhD in education that focuses on research, but the school does not have an education doctorate, which focuses more on practical applications.

The need for educational leadership is especially acute in the Inland area, where many schools are struggling to raise the achievement level of students to meet the requirements of federal No Child Left Behind legislation.

Every child is expected to be proficient in core subjects such as English and math as measured by their performance on a series of standardized tests by 2014.

"There have been so many reform efforts in the last decade alone that traditional school leadership just doesn't exist anymore," said Julie White, assistant executive director of the Association of California School Administrators.

Principals and superintendents today are not only expected to provide instructional leadership, they also need to be able to help teachers and others interpret test-score data, White said.

The gap in achievement among minorities and low-income groups also is an enormous challenge, along with the growing numbers of students who do not speak English, who live in poverty and who lack adequate health and dental care.

"Schools are now faced with more of those societal issues than ever before," White said.

Herb Fischer, San Bernardino County superintendent of schools, who served on an advisory committee for Cal State San Bernardino's education doctorate program, said there is a need for higher quality and better trained administrators.

Fischer said that in the 8½ years he has been county schools superintendent, he has worked with 85 superintendents in 33 districts. Some districts have had as many as four superintendents during that time. There are a lot of pressures on superintendents today, especially in light of No Child Left Behind, he said.

Deborah Stine, director of the education doctorate program at Cal State San Bernardino, said her program is designed to train leaders at all levels of education, not just superintendents.

Currently, twelve students ranging from teachers to assistant superintendents are enrolled in the program.

One of them, Sane Mataitusi, principal of Riley Elementary in San Bernardino, said he has no desire to be a superintendent.

"I want to be a principal because I can get into the community more easily as a principal. At the district office, you're totally removed," said Mataitusi, who is fluent in Samoan and Spanish.

Mataitusi said he enrolled in the program because he is interested in researching the educational needs of Pacific Islander students, especially those who, like him, are from Samoa.

Mataitusi said he believes the number of Pacific Islanders in the Inland area is increasing -- along with the dropout rates among their students.

"I want to do some research to look at what are good strategies and the needs of the population and what the school system can do to support them so they are successful," Mataitusi said.

Louise Adler, chairwoman of the Educational Leadership Department at Cal State Fullerton, said the program is designed to be completed in three years. Classes are held in the evenings, on Saturdays and over the summer.

Adler said while the school is committed to having students earn their degrees in three years, about half the students who start education doctorate programs finish the coursework but never complete their dissertation.

Ed Boyatt, dean of the School of Education at La Sierra University, said the goal may be unrealistic.

"The reality is a working professional is not going to complete a dissertation in three years," Boyatt said.