How does the Doctorate of Education prepare you for leadership?

“Part of the Ed.D. is that it is a terminal degree – the highest degree you can receive in your field, but it also prepares you to be a researcher. You’re learning how to use statistics and data and how to gather data. You have to do a dissertation at the end, and part of that is to evaluate research and to evaluate your own programs. You are learning to make decisions based on data, and using that data to drive future direction – someone with an Ed.D. knows how to understand future change, adapt and change curriculum and programs to meet those needs.” 

How do educational leaders develop vision?

“We live in a very instant society where everything is reactive. In the field of education, you are dealing with people’s lives – you cant just make decisions reactively. You have to make decisions on things that have been tried in the past that have worked, and we have to keep in the mind the needs of our learners, because our learners are always changing. Being that visionary means you have to be up to date with what’s happening.” 

What is the achievement gap, and why does it matter in education today?

“More of our young people are going on to college, but not all of our high school graduates are going college-ready in regards to their reading and math skills. In high school, there’s a wide gap of achievement between students of minority groups and majority groups. Here in Texas, we have more females that are graduating from high school and less males. Understanding the achievement gap is all about how we make sure every child in the U.S. gets a good education and knows how to read and write.”