Minors: Charter School Education Leadership

The minor in Charter School Education Leadership will meet the needs of leaders and corporations who are pursuing an emerging alternative to traditional public education, such as Imagine and the Edison Schools, and the D.C. Charter School Association.

EDD 8761: Charter Schools and Democracy: Parental Choice
This course is designed to provide educational leaders in charter schools an understanding of the history of public and independent education in the United States: specifically pertaining to parental choice.  Charter schools grew out of the demand for better choices for families regardless of income. Quality charter schools have become a lightning rod for school choice proponents and opponents, but these schools have also become a permanent part of the educational landscape.

EDD 8760: Governance in Charter Schools
This course is designed to provide educational leaders in charter schools an understanding with the knowledge and skills necessary to work effectively with a charter school board, local school board and other groups that are critical to the success of a school district as well as the legal framework of charter school education at the national, state, and local levels. A study of the impact of, and relationship between, constitutional law, statutory law, administrative law, and judicial law that influence the operation of quality charter schools will be a major focus of the course.

EDD 8753: Facility Operations Management
This course includes topics on physical plant planning management, budgeting for capital outlay, accountability for capital resources, maintenance of physical plant, and safety and crisis management. Effective and efficient facility management contributes to the educational environment in which instructional programs are delivered. Topics include developing facility plans, funding sources related to construction and the bond process, preventive school maintenance, environmental assessment and resource management. Students will obtain knowledge of the critical role of physical environment toward the support of instruction and effective administration within the largest single investment for a school district.

EDD 8754: Maintenance and Operation of Ancillary Services in School Systems
This course is designed to introduce the student to several support areas of education: technology, risk management, food service, transportation, security and human resources.  The scope of responsibilities of these areas will be discussed along with the potential fiscal impact on the educational program.  Funding sources, expenditures, and recent trends will be examined and discussed.

EDD 8112: Assessment Centered Curriculum Design
This practical course departs from traditional curricular design by focusing on purposeful task analysis: Given a task to be accomplished, how do we get there? Professionals will be challenged to design curriculum only after operationalizing their goals or standards in terms of assessment evidence. It begins with the question: What would we accept as evidence that students have attained the desired understandings and proficiencies? - before proceeding to plan teaching and learning experiences. This course moves very quickly from the theoretical into the preparation of a field study product.