Public School Leadership (Post Master’s Certificate)

Program Admission Requirements:

Applicants must:

• have completed a Master’s degree in Education or a related field from an accredited institution.
• hold or be eligible to hold a North Carolina A teaching license or a comparable license for another state.
• have completed at least 3 years of successful full-time teaching or equivalent experience in public schools. Pre-school teachers may include private sector experience.
• document satisfactory scores on the General Test of the Graduate Record Examinations (Verbal = 400 and above; Math = 380 and above; Total = 800; Writing = 4) or the Miller’s Analogy Test (30th percentile or above) or a doctoral degree from an accredited university in an educationally-related field.
• submit three letters of recommendation from employers or former instructors who are in a position to judge the applicant’s aptitude for graduate study and potential as a school leader. One recommendation must be from the current immediate supervisor.
• have completed (or take) graduate courses in research, curriculum, educational foundations and advanced psychology as part of their master’s degree program. These courses, if taken in the master’s degree, must be approved at admission by completion of “Transfer of Credit from another University” form.

Note: Acceptance into the program does not constitute admission to candidacy, which is determined at the end of EDL 601.

Program Description:

The certificate in Public School Leadership is a 24 hour post-master’s graduate certificate program leading to licensure in the state of North Carolina as a school principal (Principal Add-On License). This cohort based program engages students in core courses in a proscribed order, which generally consists of a course load ranging from 5 to 7 hours. The year long internship aligns directly with courses and consists of 2 semester hours across three semesters. Internships are competency based and involve many aspects of a principal’s responsibilities. A student who cannot complete the required EDL hours in a given semester will be required to petition the faculty to change to a different cohort. The program requires completion of the certificate within 6 years of admission. Certificate and licensure requirements are coordinated throughout the program but are independently granted. Certificate completion does not guarantee licensure recommendation.