Foundations of Educational Leadership

Masters of Science in Education

EDU 524

Breyer State University
Instructor: Janice DeCicco Fipp, Ed.D

SYLLABUS

COURSE OVERVIEW: Welcome to Foundations of Educational Leadership, a masters level course in the curriculum for the degree, Masters of Science in Education. I am eager to instruct you in this course. The content will prove to provide a great deal of direction for you in your career as an educational leader.

The Foundations of Educational Leadership is an exciting course that provides an in-depth examination of organizational theories for educational administrators. These theories are discussed chronologically, as they emerged and were influential during the past 200 years. Our principal focus will be on modern theories. Specific topics relevant to organizational behavior such as motivation, decision making, and leadership are discussed within the broad theoretical contexts from which they originated.

You will learn a good deal of valuable information, but most importantly, we will discuss the practical application of the course content. The assignments will assist you in interacting with the course content.

TIME FRAME: This is a five-semester hour course. You are allotted ten weeks to successfully complete all of the requirements for the course. The first day of week one will begin the day you register for the course, or the day you notify me that your textbook has arrived and you are ready to begin. Please be cognizant of the time frame. It is rare that extensions of time are permitted, unless there is good justification. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be awarded five semester hours of credit.

TEXTBOOK: The following is the required textbook for this course.

Leadership in Education: Organizational Theory for the Practitioner
By: Russ Marion 2002 Merrill Prentice Hall ISBN 0-13-016744-4.

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EXAMINATIONS: There are two examinations for this course, a mid-term exam and a final exam.

The mid-term covers the material in the text from Part One and Part Two (Chapters 1 to 7) Pages 1 to 162.
The final exam covers the material in the text from Part Three
(Chapters 8 through 14) Pages 163 to 360.

The mid-term exam must be taken at the end of the 5th week of the course.
The final examination must be taken by the end of the 10th week in the course.

Both exams are programmed and are located in the classroom for this course. The examinations are “open book” objective tests followed by two essay questions per exam. You will have one day to complete your exam once you access it from the classroom.
To access the exams, you must send me an email and request to have access to the exam. I will then program in your access. You will receive an email from me stating that you are now authorized to access your exam. To access, you go into the classroom, click on testing and click on the exam you are taking.
You will need your USER ID and PASSWORD to access the exam.
The exam will then appear on your screen. Once you access the exam, you have 24 hours to submit your answers. The program provides me with the date and time that you first accessed the exam.
The program also notifies me of the date and time you submit your answers. When you are ready to submit the answers, go into the classroom and ‘click’ in your responses and then ‘click’ to submit.
Shortly, you will receive the exam in your email box with you computed score. You will also know what questions, if any, that you missed, and what the correct answers is. Simultaneously, I will score the essay questions. I also receive a copy of your exam and your score.

GRADING: The grading scale for this course is as follows:

90-100%    = A
80-89%      = B
70-79%      = C
Below 70% = Fail

COMMUNICATION: Although, the course requires that you complete a good amount of reading on your own, I encourage you to communicate with me. I am available as a teacher, a coach, and a mentor to assist you in meeting your goals for this course.
Primarily, communication is through email. Our classroom for this course has a “chat” room. I am very willing to meet with you one-on-one in the chat with you at your request. From time to time, depending on how many students are enrolled at a particular time, we will have some scheduled group chats. You will receive more detailed information at the time such sessions are scheduled.
Please keep my email address handy so that you may contact me. If at any time during this course you change your email address, please be sure to notify me right away.

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS: The written assignments for this course will be reactions to readings or observations. These should be completed in a Word Document and sent to me at my email address provided above. Although this is a Masters Level Education course and mastery of the course content is our focus, as in an English composition course, I will give you feedback on your writing. As a future educational leader, you will be a role model in how you conduct yourself, how you communicate in your speech and in your writing as well as how you lead others.

Do not be concerned if you receive feedback with recommendations or corrections on sentence structure, grammar or usage, follow my lead and you will become more confident and successful within your current position and in preparation for any future career path you choose.

READING ASSIGNMENTS: This textbook, as in most texts concerning the education profession, is full of a great deal of content in every paragraph, every page, and every chapter. The best way to be successful in mastering the content in each chapter is to use any of the study skills methods taught in many high schools and colleges today. An example of how to read and learn from nonfiction text, such as ours:

1). Preview the Entire Textbook
a). LOOK AT THE TITLE OF THE TEXT
Bring to mind any prior knowledge you may have on this topic and also begin generating questions identifying what you would like to learn about this topic.
b). LOOK AT THE TABLE OF CONTENTS
Read through the table on contents and read the title of each chapter.
c). LOOK THROUGH THE INDEX
To, again, bring to mind prior knowledge and generate questions.
d). READ THE PREFACE/INTRODUCTION OF THE TEXT

2). Preview the Chapter
When assigned to read a particular chapter, look for chapter content objectives first.
Next, look for headings and subheadings. These will assist you in outlining the chapter if you wish.
Review and read all questions or activities at the end of the chapter prior to begin reading.

3). Reading the Chapter
Take each heading statement, turn it into a question and read to find the answer. The answer to the question will be the most important information. This is the beginning of distinguishing main ideas from the supporting details.
Note taking and outlining today take the form of graphic organizers. These could be webs, charts, or any diagram that clearly distinguishes the main idea from supporting details.

FOR SPECIFIC ASSIGNMENTS, PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK “ASSIGNMENTS”.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

1). Demonstrate understanding of major theories of formal organizations and how they have evolved.
2). Demonstrate understanding of how organizational theories inform practical leadership behavior.
3). Demonstrate knowledge of a variety of approaches to motivate teachers and other staff members.
4). Demonstrate an understanding of strategies for implementing change in an educational organization.
5). Demonstrate understanding of how to organize for effective communication.
6). Demonstrate effective decision-making skills.
7). Demonstrate effective leadership and management skills.
8). Evaluate your own leadership skills and formulate personal improvement plans.
9). Demonstrate the ability to evaluate organizational activities and formulate appropriate leadership activities based upon that evaluation.
10). Demonstrate the ability to apply a number of solutions to the solving of organizational challenges.

ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR: I, Janice DeCicco Fipp, Ed.D. currently teach graduate level courses within the Masters of Science Program in Education at Breyer State University. I hold a teaching certificate in elementary education, a masters degree in supervision and curriculum development and a doctorate in educational leadership. In my 32 year career in education, I have served as an elementary school teacher, a curriculum coordinator, a director of special services, a college professor, and most recently, as a school administrator for the past 14 years. I have also had the great pleasure of having served as the director of employee training and development for a large casino hotel. I received the Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA) designation from the American Hotel Motel Association in 1987. In 1989, I was given the national recognition and honor of being named The Outstanding Educator from the American Hotel Motel Association. Currently, I am principal of a 560 student elementary school and I love it. Each day brings new challenges and great rewards. I find students of all ages eager for knowledge and eager to find the secret to becoming lifelong learners. The daily challenges and pleasures regarding students, staff, parents, boards of education, state development mandates and laws keep the profession exciting and worth the effort! My goal is to share a great deal with you, so you may move forward within your career.

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