Master of Arts in Educational Leadership

This program prepares students for leadership positions in a wide range of public and private educational institutions, including early childhood programs, K–12 schools, community colleges, and higher education institutions, as well as afterschool and nontraditional educational settings. It emphasizes topics such as school-community relations, race and ethnicity, organizational development, and ethical and moral concerns. In addition, the program prepares students to take leadership roles in policy and advocacy settings.

Program Goals

• Develop a thoughtful, reflective model of leadership in which candidates use a variety of research tools; apply inquiry methods and change theory to strategic planning, implementation, and assessment; and collaborate with constituencies, in order to create optimal conditions for teaching and learning.
• Foster a collaborative model of leadership that values inclusiveness, collaboration, information testing and sharing, diversity of representation, consensus building, conflict resolution, as well as more traditional conceptions of leadership.
• Develop a leadership model grounded in knowledge of teaching and learning, administrative guidance in curriculum development, use of change theories and strategies in meeting the legal, ethical, social and fiscal demands that leaders will inevitably confront.

Distinctive Features

• Individualized content: Students consult closely with their advisors to develop a program of study in line with their professional interests.
• Reflective leadership: A coherent vision of leadership begins with reflection about the students' own beliefs, attitudes, and prejudices, and the role that these play in their decisions. By working with a culturally and ethnically diverse group engaged in the same process, we create a collaboratively shared mission or vision of how things could be.
• Evening courses: Classes meet on weekday evenings to accommodate the schedules of working professionals.

Course Work

Students in our program select from an array of courses, all of which are grounded in a coherent vision of educational leadership. Individual course work reflects a student's particular interests and culminates with the creation of a professional portfolio capstone project. Students enrolled in the MA in Educational Leadership Program may concurrently pursue an administrative services credential. See the Requirements page for a list of courses required for this program; see the Course Descriptions page for paragraph-length descriptions of individual courses.

Graduates from this program attain positions in many kinds of educational settings in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Many are K–12 school administrators, but others serve as community college program directors, nonprofit organization managers, heads of independent schools, directors of diversity programs, directors of admissions, and directors of museum education.

Minimum of 40 semester course credits

Students may complete the master's degree alone or in conjunction with the administrative services credential. The master's degree program may serve as preparation for the EdD program, but completion of this program is no guarantee of admission to the doctoral program at Mills.

Degree Requirements

A total of 40 semester course credits and a portfolio are required to earn the master of arts degree in educational leadership. Student may transfer in up to 8 credits from relevant prior graduate work. Students select courses from among the Educational Leadership Program offerings listed below. The faculty advisor works with the student to develop the sequence of courses. Credits earned toward the preliminary administrative services credential may also be applied to the MA, and MA course work may be applied toward the doctorate.