Home > Programs & Degrees > SSPEP > Administration and Policy Analysis (APA)
Concentration
Description
Concentration
Faculty
Specialization Descriptions
- Administration and Policy Analysis (PhD)
- Higher Education (PhD)
- Organization Studies (PhD)
- Joint Degree Program with Graduate School of Business (MBA-MA)
- Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies (POLS) (MA)
- Joint Degree Program with Stanford Law School (JD/MA in POLS)
: Program Website
Partnership with New Leaders for New Schools
Recent
Graduates: Job Placement
Concentration Description (SSPEP/APA)
Administration and Policy Analysis aims to produce leaders who will influence
the nature of educational organizations. It prepares scholars,
administrators, and policy analysts for these roles by developing
the characteristics of educational leaders: the knowledge
base to understand the societal and economic forces affecting
complex organizations; the ability to question, analyze, and
develop creative solutions to policy and operating problems;
and the determination to make decisions in the face of conflict
and ambiguity
Variations occur in choices of institutional focus (higher
education, elementary or secondary schools, state or federal
agencies); intended role (research, policy analysis, or administration);
and disciplinary approach (sociology, economics, political
science, etc.).
Concentration Faculty
(SSPEP/APA)
Specialization
Descriptions (SSPEP/APA)
Administration
and Policy Analysis (APA)
Degrees Offered: PhD
All doctoral students take a core set of courses in social
science, policy and resource allocation.
The PhD is a research degree intended for those who aspire to become professors of administration, higher education,
or policy analysis, or who want to devote themselves principally
to research and scholarship concerning educational institutions. In addition to taking the core sequence, each PhD student
must develop and demonstrate a high level of professional
competence in the following three broad areas: scholarly study
in a discipline relevant to educational administration, statistics, and institutional context.
Higher Education
Degrees Offered: PhD
The doctoral program in higher education is designed for those
who plan to be faculty members, university or college administrators,
public policy analysts, as well as institutional researchers.
The program's core curriculum is unique in that it draws upon
several social sciences (e.g. sociology, political science)
for theoretical frameworks and research methods.
Higher education students also gain insight into the connections
with K-12 education through the diverse courses offered in
administration and policy analysis at the School of Education.
Higher Education course offerings include: Theories of Organizational
Change; History of Higher Education; Governance and Management
of Higher Education; Curricular Change and Academic Planning
Issues; Multicultural Issues in Higher Education; Gender Issues
in Higher Education; The Study of College Impact; and Field
Research in Higher Education. Opportunities to conduct research
and interact with national higher education scholars are available
through the Stanford Institute for Higher Education Research
(SIHER) and the National Center for Postsecondary Improvement
(NCPI).
Please click here for additional
Doctoral Program in Higher Education program information.
Organization Studies
Degrees Offered: PhD
The School of Education has notable strength in the area of organization studies, particularly in terms of research on schools, universities, nonprofit and governmental organizations, as well as more crescive associations, such as community or advocacy groups, and grass-roots associations. The concentrations in organization studies includes a minimum of 20 units selected from a menu of courses that cover organization theory; social change and political processes and organizations; groups and teams; intitutional norms and social networks.
Joint
Degree Program with Graduate School of Business
Degrees Offered: MBA/MA
In this program, the student simultaneously pursues a Master's
degree in Business Administration at the Graduate School of
Business and a Master's degree in Education at the School
of Education. The goal of the program is to enable students
to apply their management skills to the field of education.
Students in the Joint Degree Program have a wide variety of
interests in education, including
teaching and learning, the application of technology to education,
education policy and education management.
Applicants should indicate their interest in the Joint Degree
program at the time they apply to the Graduate School of Business (http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/academics/joint_degrees.html). Joint degree applicants who are accepted into the MBA program
will receive further information about how to have their application
files forwarded to SUSE for consideration for the Master's
degree in education.
Program Requirements are available in the Joint Degree section in
the Master's Degree Handbook.
Nereyda Salinas is director of the Joint Degree program.
Program in Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies (POLS)
Degrees Offered: MA, JD/MA
POLS Master's Program website
POLS Master's Program Overview
 American educational institutions exist within increasingly
complex and entrepreneurial environments. Growing recognition
that the traditional educational system has failed to meet
the needs of a diverse population together with public demands
for educational choice, quality, and accountability have stimulated
a nationwide quest for better schools and learning opportunities
for all children. These forces have given rise to a complex
web of federal, state, and local policy initiatives as well
as a variety of non-traditional educational organizations,
many of which are aimed specifically at meeting the needs
of under-served communities. It is within this complex and
dynamic environment that educational leaders must now operate,
and they do so from an expanding array of roles, ranging from
educational entrepreneur to policy administrator to community-based
organizer.
Drawing upon an interdisciplinary knowledge base, the Program
in Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies (POLS) emphasizes
the organizational and policy context of education – and the knowledge and skills leaders need to be effective
in such a complex environment. The goal of the program is
to prepare students to act as successful participants, leaders,
and change agents in a range of educating institutions, including
traditional, charter, and private schools, non-profit organizations,
businesses, colleges and universities, and public sector agencies.
The program builds on the expertise of the School of Education’s
faculty in the core areas of policy, organization, and leadership
studies as well as other relevant domains, such as cultural
diversity and language acquisition, learning theory, youth
development, and school design.
In addition, the design of the program enables students to
benefit from the resources and course offerings of the University.
POLS is a nine-month program designed to be a rigorous and
flexible curriculum framed around a set of core courses that
can be tailored to suit students’ professional interests
and institutional foci. For example, some students may choose
to focus on higher educational administration or policy implementation
while others may shape their programs of study to focus on
educational entrepreneurship or leadership in non-traditional
schools. Critical concepts embedded within the domains of
policy, organization, and leadership will be subsumed throughout
the core and elective courses of the POLS program in order
to provide an integrative framework for thinking about and
performing policy making and leadership tasks in complex educational
organizations and systems.
Students in the program are typically:
- Recent graduates who would like to develop their knowledge
in the area of policy development, implementation, and analysis,
and who are interested in working in district, state, or federal
bodies involved in education or education policy;
- Students who have worked or plan to work in an educationally-oriented
business, non-profit, social service, or community-based organization,
and who want to develop a background in education and their capacity to act as effective leaders and agents of change
in any of these contexts;
- Educational entrepreneurs who want to start a charter
school or occupy leadership roles in a traditional or non-traditional
school or school system;
- Holder of a bachelor’s degree who wishes to enter
the field of higher education administration, who wishe to
learn more about the field of higher education and to develop
their skills as effective organizational analysts and participants.
Curriculum
The POLS program emphasizes the policy and organizational context of education and educational leadership. The curriculum
treats cultural diversity as a central condition, challenge,
and opportunity of all educational institutions. The curriculum
consists of a set of core course requirements that build a
foundational knowledge base and elective offerings that give
students the flexibility to tailor their program to match
their substantive and institutional interests. Students have the option to specialize in Higher Education or the Education of Linguistic Minorities (ELM) through the strands of the program.
Required Courses
Students take required core courses inHhistory of Education, Policy Analysis and Organizational Behavior in addition to a number of courses in four thematic clusters:
- Teaching and Learning
- Organizations and Leadership
- Policy Systems
- Inquiry and Assessment
POLS students are also required to participate in a core integrating seminar.
Elective Courses
Electives are chosen from a menu of possibilities within the School of Education. Students can elect to take a limited
number of courses outside of the School and will be guided to courses relevant to their intended area of specialization.
For MA program requirements, please see the Master's Degree Handhook.
Nereyda Salinas is the director of the POLS Master’s program.
| New! Interested in becoming an urban public school principal? A new program combines the Stanford Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies (POLS) Master’s degree with the administrative credential program developed by New Leaders for New Schools (New Leaders). |
Building on our shared vision and beliefs, New Leaders and Stanford’s School of Education have developed an innovative partnership. Together, they offer a program that combines a top-rate educational Master’s experience at Stanford with the rigorous curriculum, ongoing support, and a preliminary administrative credential for urban school leadership from New Leaders.
WHAT: Interested candidates must apply to both New Leaders and the POLS program at Stanford’s School of Education by the first deadline of each respective program. If a candidate is admitted into BOTH programs, New Leaders will grant early admission to the residency program starting in 2009. Prior to matriculating into the joint program, candidates will sign a formal contract with New Leaders, committing to start the residency the following year. Accepted candidates will enter the Stanford POLS program in the fall of 2008 and begin New Leaders Summer Foundations and Residency in the summer of 2009.
WHO: This partnership ONLY exists for New Leaders New Schools California’s Bay Area, New York City, and Washington, DC program sites. Candidates applying to other New Leaders for New Schools program sites are NOT eligible for early admission for future years
WHEN: In order to participate in this program, participants must complete their New Leaders for New Schools application by the priority deadline: OCTOBER 25, 2007. Applicants applying to the final deadline will not be eligible to participate in this partnership. IF INVITED TO A FIRST ROUND INTERVIEW, YOU MUST LET THE INTERVIEWER KNOW THAT YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING IN THE PARTNERSHIP.
IMPORTANT DATES: http://www.nlns.org/NLWeb/resources/NLNS_Partnership_Stanford_Univ_Policy.pdf
For more information, contact Margot Lowenstein, Manager of National Partnerships (mlowenstein@nlns.org, 646.792.1054) or Nereyda Salinas, Director of Leadership Degree Programs at Stanford’s School of Education (nereyda.salinas@stanford.edu) or visit www.nlns.org and suse-pols.stanford.edu.
JD/ MA in POLS
The School of Law and the School of Education conduct a joint program leading to a J.D. degree from the Law School combined with an M.A. degree from the Education School in Policy, Organization & Leadership Studies ("POLS"). Law students interested in pursuing an M.A. in the POLS program must apply to the School of Education for admission to the POLS program either (i) concurrently with applying to the Law School; or (ii) after being admitted to the Law School, but no later than the earlier of: (a) the end of the second year of law school; or (b) the School's admission deadline for the POLS program starting the year following that second year of law school. In addition to being admitted separately to the Law School and the POLS program, students must secure permission from both academic units to pursue degrees in those units as part of a joint degree program.
JD/MA students begin their course of study in the School of Law. Faculty advisors from each academic unit will participate in the planning and supervising of the student's joint program.
A number of courses taken in either the Law School or the School of Education may count towards the JD and the MA.
For additional information please contact the JD/MA Program Advisor, Professor William Koski, at bkoski@stanford.edu.
Recent Graduates: Job Placement (SSPEP/APA)
Doctoral graduates frequently become university faculty, as
educational researchers or scientists. Some do research in
for-profit or non-profit research firms, and in the companies
or consulting firms in the corporate sector. They may also
take administrative or policy making roles in colleges and
universities, manage research projects, or be school officials
in K-12 settings. Some take program officer or executive roles
in community or private foundations. A few have practices
as independent consultants.
Master's students most frequently become research analysts
or assistants in education research settings, while some take
on administrative or student services jobs in higher education
or non-profits. Approximately 10 percent go on to doctoral
programs immediately after completing the MA degree.
Master's Graduates
Research Analyst
SRI International
Research Associate
West Ed
Policy Analyst
CA School Board Association
Developer
Web TV Works
Director of Counseling
Pacific Educational Group
Educational Researcher
George Lucas Educational Foundation
Research Associate
Inverness Evaluation
Admissions and Recruitment Officer
Stanford University, Department of Chemistry
Doctoral Graduates
Assistant Professor, Education
University of Wisconsin
Research Associate
University of Chicago
Dean
Turtle Mountain Community College
Director of Student Programs
Georgetown University
Social Scientist
Social Policy Research Associate
Associate Director
Pew Forum on Education Reform
Director of Academic Programs
University of California, Merced
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