School districts and state educational boards need the right leaders who can implement change in educational institutions for their improvement and to enhance student achievement. Leaders holding high positions can advance their knowledge if they pursue further studies such as a Doctor of Education (EdD) focusing on Instructional Leadership.

Northcentral University, an accredited institution, offers this doctoral degree program through an online format. It ensures quality education for all its learners through a faculty-mentored approach in its degree programs. For the Institutional Leadership specialization, courses include educational research methodology, the culture of learning, statistics in educational research, practices in school organization, supervision and leadership in schools, research design, qualitative methods and curriculum supervision. In addition, students will learn about the ways to become leaders in their roles as advocate and decision maker as well as community advocate.

Through the curriculum supervision course, learners will be taught about the theories of curriculum and instructional supervision and the design of instructional systems. They will learn to develop the right skills and knowledge to help them design and manage curricula resources.

The supervision and leadership aspects, on the other hand, will train students on the ways to sustain reflection, build competence, implement effective supervision and promote positive change. Topics covered here are on administration, supervision, research, strategies to promote growth and differentiated supervision models.

The research process is also a vital part of this doctoral program. This course will teach students the ways to develop a research topic, define a problem, describe the purpose of the study and come up with research questions.