Florida Modified for Educational Leadership

This course centers on the intersection of curriculum, instruction, and assessment strategies in improving learner outcomes through data-informed decision-making. Specific emphasis is placed on collecting and analyzing different data types, aligning instructional and assessment practices, leveraging high-impact instructional strategies, leading professional learning, and auditing curriculum to ensure relevance to learners.

This course focuses on examining the role of the principal as school leader and linking leadership skills to positive student outcomes. Topics include the principal’s responsibilities related to creating and living a shared mission and vision, establishing a positive school climate and culture, maintaining a safe and supportive environment, and demonstrating a high standard of professional ethics.

This course provides a foundation for the principal's role in developing relationships among stakeholders in the school community, including students, families, school personnel, and the community at large, for the express goals of supporting student learning in an equitable environment. By examining research findings and best practices, students will explore family engagement, mutually beneficial community relationships, student advocacy, and communication strategies.

This course focuses on equity as a guiding factor in the effectiveness of school leadership and instructional outcomes. Specific emphasis is placed on how to support teachers in using evidence-based instructional design models to assess and instruct students with varied learning needs, including students at the elementary, middle, and secondary levels; students from varied demographic and socioeconomic groups; and, students participating in needs-based programs such as special education, bilingual/ESL, gifted and talented, and career and technical education.

This course provides students with resource management strategies to identify the organizational needs of a school, leverage the unique strengths and talents of competent teachers, and build the instructional and leadership capacity of teams. Students also learn how to develop and implement assessment and evaluation strategies to document teacher performance and to guide decisions relevant to professional development and employment termination options.

This course prepares students to promote and influence change in their schools with a goal of improving instruction and school and student outcomes. Students explore research on school improvement strategies, structures, and processes, analyze leadership decisions and behaviors, and examine the implications of research, technology, and commonly used practices for managing organizational change. Students also use existing research and literature to uncover underlying assumptions about school reform efforts, to improve the accuracy of problem identification, issues of human and social capital, the need for professional learning, and the challenges of overcoming bureaucratic and cultural norms.

This course identifies local, state, and federal sources for school funding and provides students with familiarity with state funding formulas and local budget guidelines. An emphasis is also placed on ensuring that aspiring leaders develop competencies essential to the allocation of resources toward teaching, learning, and school improvement priorities rather than simply monitoring facilities and accounts. Students will also have the opportunity to explore non-traditional funding sources such as grants, foundations, and community partnerships.

This course focuses on legal and ethical dimensions of school leadership with an emphasis on resolving conflicts in the school community. Students analyze legal cases and ethical dilemmas relating to the role and responsibilities of the leader tasked with creating and maintaining an educational environment that protects and nurtures fairness, tolerance, and respect, particularly balancing the needs of special populations, families, and underserved students.

This course is designed to allow students the opportunity to engage in a variety of field experiences to enrich their professional growth, skills, knowledge, and attributes as school leaders. In the course, students will apply academic learning to practice in the field and display occurrences through a series of projects.

This course prepares educational leaders to implement school-wide initiatives to improve a comprehensive range of literacy skills, including digital literacy.? Specific principles and theories of reading instruction are evaluated in relation to current practice by examining the scientific research underlying different models of reading instruction.? Special attention is given to enhancing the skills of teachers as they address the needs of various populations, including learners at different grade levels, gifted and talented students, English language learners, and students with special needs, including dyslexia.

This course enables students to become informed consumers of educational research and to develop skills that prepare them to carry out action research in their schools and classrooms. An emphasis is placed on providing students with knowledge that they can apply in determining whether particular research findings are relevant to their leadership and instructional practices and to distinguish between trustworthy and non-trustworthy research. Throughout the course, students identify the elements that scientifically-based research and action research share. Emphasis is placed on how research can become a vital and relevant tool for teachers and school leaders.