Educational Leadership, Online EdD

New England College’s Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership is designed in the cohort model to help you become an expert in your area of interest in a collaborative, supportive team environment with other working professionals. The 100% online Educational Leadership track is designed for leaders in primary, secondary, and higher education who want to create equitable educational organizations.

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Info Session

Please join EdD Program Director Gavin Henning and Graduate Admission Counselors Bliss Clemmer and Amanda Harrington for our upcoming, virtual information session where we will be discussing our fully online and hybrid options for the Doctor of Education Program, conveniently scheduled for Monday March 20 @5PM Eastern Time.

Please click here to register in advance for this meeting.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

During this session, we will provide an overview of the Hybrid and Online EdD programs and the application process. We will share how our EdD programs will help you address and solve the issues affecting education today and in the future. You will learn how we have designed our programs to be manageable for the working professional. The program overview will be followed by an opportunity to ask questions.

For more information about our programs, please click the links below:

If you have any questions, please reach out to Senior Admissions Counselor Bliss Clemmer at bclemmer@nec.edu.

Overview

When you join our community, you will be part of a program that prepares educators to take leadership roles in improving educational systems and advancing student learning and success. You will start working on your dissertation in the first course of this three-year program so that your research can be applied immediately in your work environment.

Through our three-year online cohort-based structure, you will engage with students, faculty, and other members of the education community in collaborative inquiry into issues that span our education systems. This unique combination of deep understanding, expanded vision, and diverse professional networks positions you for innovative, entrepreneurial leadership in a complex and changing world, offering you the opportunity to become an expert in an area about which you are passionate.

In this program, you will be able to

Articulate a personal philosophy of professional practice, and a vision for educational organizations, which is responsive to societal challenges of complexity, diversity, and social justice
Identify and address critical and contemporary issues in educational policy and practice
Demonstrate knowledge of administrative, leadership, and management practices and structures found in diverse institutions of education
Assess teaching and learning and create strategies to improve professional practice and student learning
Use data to inform evidence-based decision-making regarding educational issues, enhance professional practice, and promote organizational change and reform
Demonstrate skills to work effectively with others, be an advocate for members of the learning community, and lead organizational change and reform
Demonstrate information and research literacy incorporating of a broad range of education resources and scholarship
Design and conduct independent and collaborative research
Demonstrate effective and inclusive written and oral communication skills

Tuition Waivers

Tuition waivers are possible for previous coursework. You may submit transcripts for preliminary review.

Certifications

New England College offers the opportunity to apply doctoral coursework toward New Hampshire principal and/or superintendent certification. Additional courses beyond doctoral coursework are required.

Events

Stay tuned for more infosessions.

Application Requirements

Click here

Faculty

Dr. Debra Nitschke-Shaw
Senior Professor, Education
Office: Henniker Campus
Phone: 603.428.2322
Email: dnitschke@nec.edu

Expertise and Awards
NEC Tenure
- Senior Professor of Education, 2016 to present
  Professor of Education, 2000–2016
- Associate Professor of Education, 1997–2000
- Assistant Professor of Education, 1991–1997
- Instructor in Education, 1985–1991
Awards
- Campus Compact Faculty Service Award, April 2007
  Ehrlich Award, one of 10 finalists, 2002
- New England College Alumni Award, 2000
- New England College Teacher of the Year, 1999
- Campus Compact for New Hampshire Faculty Service-Learning Award, 1998
Educational Background
PhD in Human Development, Special Education, Fielding Graduate University
MA in Human Development, Fielding Graduate University
Specialist in the Assessment of Intellectual Functioning (SAIF) Certification, Rivier College
MEd in Special Education: Developmental Disabilities and Learning Disabilities, Keene State College
BA in Elementary Education and General Special Education, New England College

Research Interests
- Teacher Education
- Service-learning and community service
- Teacher leadership
- Working with students with diverse needs
- Qualitative research
- Evaluation of effective teaching
Bio
Debra came to New England College as a student in 1971 and graduated in 1975. At that time, NEC did not have a certification in special education. She worked with the Director of Teacher Education and the New Hampshire State Department of Education to create the special education licensure program and get it approved by the Bureau of Credentialing in the State of New Hampshire. After graduation, she taught students with special needs at the Dame School in Concord, New Hampshire, and later taught kindergarten at the same school and at the Henniker Community School. Throughout her tenure teaching special education and kindergarten students, she hosted a number of student-teachers and taught as an adjunct faculty member at NEC. In 1985, she became a full-time Instructor at NEC, teaching courses in special education, reading, assessment, language arts, and curriculum and instruction. She supervised many students in the field as her passion is to help individuals become the best teachers they can be

She has held many positions at NEC, including Director of Academic Advising; Interim Director of Academic Advising and the Support Center; Director of the Project Pericles Grant; Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Faculty; Chair of Knowledge, Growth, and Action Collegium; Director of Teacher Education; Director of Graduate Programs in Education; Director of Teacher Certification and Field Placement; and Associate Dean of Education. She, along with Dr. Carlton Fitzgerald and Dr. Bill Preble, helped create NEC’s doctoral program. Debra’s passion is working with individuals who want to help students be successful in all they do. She is also passionate about helping doctoral students develop their dissertations; her focus is on qualitative research. She thoroughly enjoys helping doctoral candidates create their research questions, develop their research methodologies, collect data that helps them answer their questions, and complete their dissertations. She is the dissertation chair for many NEC doctoral students.

She has been a consultant for Campus Compact of New Hampshire in the work they did regarding partnership development and the integration of service-learning into higher education and K–12. She has received a number of grants to support that work. In addition, throughout the United States and in New Hampshire, she presented at national conferences and provided professional development helping educators in kindergarten through higher education develop courses that include service-learning as a pedagogy. She is committeed to helping others see the power service has and how individuals can meet academic goals through service to others.
Dr. Gavin Henning
Professor, Higher Education; Director of MS in Higher Education Administration and Doctorate of Education Programs
Office: CEI 205, Henniker Campus
Phone: 603.428.2444
Email: ghenning@nec.edu
Professional website: gavinhenning.com

Expertise and Memberships

Awards
2023 George D. Kuh Outstanding Contribution to Literature and/or Research Award from NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

Expertise
- National expert on assessment in higher education, specialty in student affairs assessment
- Past president of ACPA-College Student Educators International
- Past president of the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education
- Founding president of Student Affairs Assessment Leaders, an international grassroots professional association for individuals practicing student affairs assessment
Published Books
- The Impact of Sense of Belonging in College: Implications for Student Persistence, Retention, and Success (2022), one of the 25 bestsellers for the publisher that year
- Reframing Assessment to Center Equity: Theories, Models, and Practices (2022), also a top 25 book for the publisher in 2022
- Design Thinking Assessment in Student Affairs: A Primer (2021)
- Student Affairs Assessment: Theory to Practice (2016)
- Coordinating Student Affairs Divisional Assessment: A Practical Guide (2015)
Educational Background
PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of New Hampshire
MA in Sociology, University of New Hampshire
MA in College and University Administration, Michigan State University
BA in Psychology and Sociology, Michigan State University

Research Interests
- Assessment
- Equity-centered assessment
- Sense of belonging
- Retention/persistence
Bio
Gavin is a college student educator with a reputation as an organizer, collaborator, and catalyst for educational change. His professional mission is to generate applied scholarship, bridge theory to practice, create systems and processes, and teach higher education professionals to foster college student learning and success. He has advanced this mission during his 20+ years in higher education in positions including professor, assessment practitioner, and student affairs educator. In his current positions at NEC, Gavin helps prepare the next generation of professionals to improve educational organizations. Gavin frequently consults and presents regionally, nationally, and internationally on the topic of assessment. His scholarship includes over 100 peer-reviewed presentations and over 90 invited presentations and keynotes regarding assessment. In addition, he has published articles and books on assessment including Student Affairs Assessment: Theory and Practice with Darby Roberts that serves as the foundational text for assessment courses in many higher education graduate programs. He has been recognized for his contributions to student affairs and higher education by receiving ACPA’s Annuit Coeptis award and Diamond Honoree awards.