Dr. John McConnell III
Chair, Department of Educational Specialties
Associate Professor
Location: Claxton Building, Room 304A
Phone: 931-221-7757
Email: mcconnellj@apsu.edu
Dr. Laura Barnett
Assistant Professor
Graduate Coordinator
Phone: (931) 221-7752
Location: Claxton 208
Email: barnettl@apsu.edu
This performance-based curriculum for prospective school administrators is based on the standards set by the Tennessee Instructional Leadership Standards (TILS). This 30-hour program is designed to prepare candidates for administrative positions in K-12 schools. The M.A.Ed. in Educational Leadership Studies is an online program and designed to be taken as a cohort. Students will complete an internship through field-based experiences that are embedded as assignments within courses. After completing the program and passing the required state exams, students will be eligible for licensure as a Tennessee school administrator.
Listed below are the required application materials and the associated scores (if necessary) for each.
Admission Requirements
All applicants must submit the following items to the College of Graduate Studies:
- Application for admission
- Application Fee: $45 domestic or $55 international
- Official transcripts from all colleges attended
- Verification of lawful presence in the United States (i.e. driver license or other approved document)
- Undergraduate GPA of 3.0 and either (a) GRE with scores of 143 verbal and 140 quantitative or (b) Miller’s Analogies Test (MAT) score of 385
- Military documents (if applicable)
- A valid teaching license
- A letter of support from your principal who will agree to mentor you and provide opportunities to complete job-embedded assignments
- A letter of recommendation from a recent supervisor/practicing administrator
- Three years of current summative teacher evaluations*
- A one-page (double-spaced) philosophy of education
Once your application is complete, you will be asked to participate in a program entrance assignment.
*Once you have been accepted, you must submit the TN Department of Education Experience Verification Form within the first semester as evidence of 3 full years of classroom teaching.
For more information about the application process, please visit apsu.edu/grad-studies
Some University Programs have additional requirements and information included in the Program Handbook. Program Handbooks, which are incorporated into herein by reference, are available by selecting the following link: Educational Leadership.