Educational Leadership Research Colloquium & Dissertations

Doctoral Research

The Russell Sage College program leading to the doctorate in Educational Leadership requires each doctoral candidate to develop as a researcher, both individually and as a member of a research team. As members of a collaborative research team, the candidates conceptualize and conduct a research that critically and comprehensively examines a problem of practice (POP), makes a contribution to the field and to the specific district or organization(s) involved, addresses the Sage conceptual framework, and advances professional knowledge and skill.

Doctoral research problems are selected by the program faculty in consultation with the leadership of the partnership educational organizations, executive coaches and the Director of Research.

The doctoral research experience serves two important and related purposes:

Each candidate develops and demonstrates a set of research skills appropriate for the awarding of an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership.
Field leaders gain valuable information and insight about a current problem of practice through the efforts of the individual Russell Sage College doctoral candidate research and benefit from a more comprehensive study presented by the doctoral research team.

Doctoral candidates are given the opportunity to express interest in one or more of the selected research problems of practice prior to the identification of doctoral research teams.

Once assigned to a doctoral research problem, team members collaboratively develop a plan for the overall research effort. In that plan the specific research to be conducted by each team member is explicitly identified. After the successful individual defenses occur, research teams present their research at a colloquium of faculty, executive coaches and invited school district and state policy leaders. Subsequent publication and presentations are also encouraged.

The annual Research Colloquium is the culminating activity in the Ed.D. program. In this way, the Russell Sage College doctoral candidates fulfill the individual and team research requirements for the Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and contribute in a significant way to the field as well as the more general literature on educational leadership. The Research Colloquium supports the Sage model of school district-university cooperation in leadership development and research.

Cohort I

Impact of changing demographics on school systems.

Issues impacting the current and future pool of system leaders.

Stanley Maziejka, Future system leadership: A quantitative investigation of the role of the New York State principal as the strategic pathway to the school superintendency.
Michael Mugits, The interim superintendent: Impact on school districts during the selection and assimilation of the successor superintendent.
Paul Padalino, Superintendent job satisfaction in New York State.
Casey Parker, Obstacles to black men as public school superintendents in New York State.
Kitty Summers, Career pathways and perceptions of experiences that influenced the attainment of the superintendency.

Leadership succession and how it impacts the organizational health of a school system.

Impact of accountability measures, including but not limited to student assessment, on educational organizations.

Tom Baumgartner, Socio-economic status and teacher perceptions regarding the New York State ELA Exam.
Angelina Bergin, The influence of federal accountability designation on the morale of teachers in public middle schools in New York.
Demian Singleton, Value-added versus status: Comparative case studies of the utilization of student achievement data by public school systems.
Andrew Taylor, Impact of access, ability and attitude on teacher and administrator use of data for comprehensive planning.

Changing power and/or authority dynamics within educational organizations particularly as those dynamics influence and are influenced by system leaders.

Catherine Allain, The role of the superintendent in a rural professional learning community.
Mary Theresa Streck, Distributed leadership and shared decision making: Leadership practices that promote collaboration.
Robin Young, The relationship between school climate and reciprocal trust in high schools.

Cohort II

Emerging Initiatives for Leadership Development

Leading in a Time of Scarce Resources

Technology Leadership

Leadership and School Climate

Peter DeWitt, A case study of school leaders who safeguard sexually diverse students.
Mark Stratton, The impact of new high school principals on school climate.

Cohort III

System-level Instructional Leadership

Alternative Approaches to Education

Leadership Development Initiatives

System- level Leadership and School Climate

Cohort IV

The Evolving Role of the Superintendent in the First Decade of the 21st Century

Sarah Stack Feinberg, The role of the superintendent in redefining schools for students to be successful in the 21stc Century.
Elizabeth Pustolka-Wood, The role of increased accountability on the use of instructional leadership time by New York State superintendents.
Richard DeMallie, The implementation of smartphones and tablet technologies into the classroom by selected New York State public school leaders.
Gary Furman, The impact of fiscal limitations for superintendents’ role and responsibilities for curriculum, instruction and assessment.

System Leaders’ Administrative Practices and Their Effect on School Climate and Morale

The Effect of Changing Demographics on School Systems

Cohort V

System Level Leadership and Change Initiatives/Process

Race to the Top and Alternative Approaches to Education