Doctor of Education Field Experience Requirements

The two field experiences help candidates transfer and make connections between theory and knowledge and real-world leadership practices. Field Experience accomplishes the following:

• Helps the candidate develop leadership skills and behaviors through the engagement in meaningful real-life leadership activities
• Assists the candidate in transferring leadership knowledge and theory into leadership skills, behaviors and activities that enhance learning communities
• Provides service to the host educational community

During Field Experience I and II, the candidate is expected to assist in significant and varied leadership responsibilities under the supervision of a University supervisor and an educational field mentor, who is cooperatively chosen by the candidate, the University advisor, and the educational employment agency. The University supervising administrator and employment mentor work cooperatively with the candidate to select a series of meaningful field experience activities and projects from the suggested activities associated with the program objectives. Opportunities are provided for reflection and discussion with other candidates. Through a combination of coursework and field experiences, the candidate begins to develop leadership performance behaviors that are associated with program objectives and standards.

The candidate must enroll in two separate field experiences, Field Experience I and Field Experience II. Each of the two field experiences consist of a minimum of 60 clock hours at the educational site. Field experience activities should relate to program objectives or performance indicators or both. Time is distributed across the six program standards. A candidate is expected to address all six program objectives during the two field experiences; however, the candidate must address a minimum of four program objectives/standards in each of the two field experiences. Candidates are expected to work with diverse school and community issues on at least one of the field experience activities.

The candidate is required to maintain a log of each field experience activity and associate each activity with one of the six program objectives. The candidate may log participation in local, state and national activities. Up to six hours of professional work can be credited to each of the two field experience time requirements.

At the end of each field experience, a candidate must include, as part of the electronic portfolio, the following:

• Description of each activity, stating what responsibilities were assumed, where and when the experience occurred and under what conditions
• Reflections on what was done, what was learned and what may be done differently

Placement in Field Experience I (FE I) and Field Experience II (FE II) is subject to the requirements and expectations stated in this section. FE I placement is approved by the lead faculty advisor, subject to the candidate’s meeting the field experience requirements stated below.

Placement in FE II must be approved by the Graduate Education Committee, subject to the candidate’s meeting the requirements stated below.

Criteria for placement in field experiences include the following:

• Each candidate must successfully complete all program coursework requirements (up to the point of placement in FE I or FE II) with a cumulative program GPA of at least3.5 (on a 4.0 scale) with no grade below a B.
• Each candidate must maintain a Professional Skills mean score of at least 4.0 (on a 5.0 scale).
• Prior to placement in FE II, a candidate must successfully complete Field Experience I (receiving mean scores of at least 3.5 from the FE I mentor and University supervisor) and score proficient or above on submitted FE I artifacts and reflections.

Program Progress Requirements

Before placement in Field Experience II, the candidate will do the following:

• Maintain a Professional Skills score of at least 4.0 (on a 5.0 scale)
• Maintain a GPA of at least 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale), with no grade below a B
• Successfully complete the building leadership licensure assessment (licensure candidates only who obtained building leadership licensure after 9/1/2003)