Harvard Offers New Doctorate for School Leaders Who Aim to Shake Up Status Quo

Harvard University today announced a new doctoral program in educational leadership that, in partnership with prominent organizations pushing for change in elementary and secondary schools, will seek to train people capable of bringing about major school reform.

Harvard’s new Doctor of Education Leadership Program will be based at its Graduate School of Education and will involve faculty members of that school as well as Harvard’s business school and John F. Kennedy School of Government. In their third and final year in the program, students will enter a yearlong residency with a partner organization such as Teach for America, the National Center on Education and the Economy, or one of the nation’s largest urban school districts.

The program’s mission will be to train top officials of school districts, government agencies, nonprofit groups, and private organizations who will be equipped to shake up the status quo in elementary and secondary education.

“Our goal is not to develop leaders for the system as it currently exists; rather, we aim to develop people who will lead system transformation,” Kathleen McCartney, dean of the Graduate School of Education, said in written statement.

The Wallace Foundation has provided Harvard a $10-million grant for the program, enabling the university to operate it tuition-free and to offer its students a cost-of-living stipend. An initial cohort of 25 students is expected to enroll in the program in the fall of 2010.