Departments by Area 3 columns

The educational leadership program advances the development and practice of effective educational leadership.

This program addresses educational leaders’ professional needs and supports their long-term career goals in leading schools, school districts and other education agencies in a complex, highly competitive global environment.

We provide senior-level administrators with the following:

• Knowledge and skills necessary to deal effectively with the complex issues facing education today
• Methods of inquiry necessary to analyze educational problems
• Leadership skills necessary to direct the development and implementation of programs to address those problems and to disseminate the results in various professional and public forums
• Knowledge and applied skills rarely provided in traditional advanced degree programs in educational leadership in an alternative format that meets the needs of senior-level administrators.
• Select concentration in:
  • Advanced Leadership
  • Higher Education Administration
  • Tier II

The online Tier I Educational Leadership Certificate program is for those with an education-related master’s degree who are passionate about leading and ready to take the next step towards becoming an entry-level leader in a school or school district such as an assistant principal. The courses introduce students to educational leadership theory and practice. Students participate in 300 hours of varied leadership experiences supported by a school or district mentor in addition to completing advanced coursework. Upon completion of the program, students will receive a program certificate from the Board of Regents and will be eligible to apply to the Professional Standards Commission for a Tier I Educational Leadership add-on certificate.

Our Voices, Our Stories, Our Faculty

• Graduate highlight on Amanda Lynch
• Five questions with Kareem Dunlap
• Recent graduate’s children’s book
• The Educational Leadership Unit is composed of eight faculty members with practitioner and academic expertise.

The Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies allows students to examine the philosophy and practice of education and to develop skills in both the methodology and the study of educational practice. Students will prepare to become policymakers and examiners of policy and the effects of policy on education.

There are four concentrations you can choose within this degree program:

Concentration in Educational Leadership

This concentration has three strands (leadership and administration, leadership and policy or leadership and urban education) that emphasize organizational leadership, policy development, supervision and management. The leadership concentration will be designed to meet the students’ unique career objectives including teaching and research in academia, leading schools, school districts and other education agencies. For those students seeking to obtain a Tier II certification, they must apply to the leadership and administration strand.

(Note: Applicants who receive favorable admission to the Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies with a concentration in Educational Leadership can apply to the Tier II certification should they qualify; to qualify, an applicant must be employed in a K-12 system to be able to complete the required hours of clinical leadership experiences for the Tier II certification, satisfy the Georgia Ethics Assessment for Educational Leadership, and finally submit a letter of recommendation from their immediate supervisor)

Concentration in Higher Education

The concentration in Higher Education will prepare students for careers in higher education as academics, researchers, policymakers and practitioners. Through an interdisciplinary study of theory, research and content, graduates will be able to understand, analyze and impact higher education in complex ways. Students who pursue the concentration in higher education will explore and challenge a range of perspectives in order to develop an in-depth understanding of higher education; including but not limited to its educational and intellectual core, its institutional and organizational structures, its social, cultural and civic context, as well as its contemporary role as an enterprise.

Concentration in Research, Measurement and Statistics

This concentration prepares graduates to investigate research methodologies, to conduct research related to schools, and to conduct and critique research in educational practice, policy and administration. Students develop knowledge and skills in qualitative and quantitative research and evaluation methods.

Concentration in Social Foundations of Education

Social foundations is a broadly conceived field of educational study that derives its character from a number of academic disciplines and interdisciplinary studies. At Georgia State University, the disciplines involved in social foundations inquiry are history, philosophy, sociology, anthropology and political science; the interdisciplinary field is cultural studies. The purpose of social foundations study is to bring the intellectual resources derived from these areas to bear in developing interpretive, normative and critical perspectives of educational theory, policy and practices, both inside and outside of schools.

For more information about the concentrations, please visit:

• Educational Leadership 
• Higher Education
• Research, Measurement and Statistics
• Social Foundations of Education

The online M.S. in educational research prepares you to conduct research, evaluate programs and policies and translate current research into practical language. Our graduates are working in research units housed in educational agencies at the state and local level, non-profits and private employers who value internal research capacity.

• Statistics
• Measurement
• Program evaluation
• Survey research
• Computer applications
• Policy research

If you have an interest in applying skills in statistics and research methodology to address educational problems in today’s world, our program will help you advance.

The educational research master’s program prepares students to conduct research and evaluate programs in kindergarten through 12th grade schools, colleges and universities, and other settings (for example: government, healthcare and public health).

You’ll gain a comprehensive understanding of research methods as they are applied to the study of education.

Coursework is available in the following areas: statistics, measurement, program evaluation, survey research, computer applications, qualitative research, institutional research, and policy research.

Graduates of this program find employment in research units housed in educational agencies (for example: local education agencies, state boards of education), non-profits, and private employers who seek to improve their research capacity. Master of Science in Educational Research graduates are also well prepared to seek admission to Ph.D. studies in various disciplines.

This is the only fully-online master’s program in Higher Education Administration offered by a research-intensive (R1) university in the state.

Georgia State University is an enterprising urban public research institution. Faculty in our program are breaking new ground in how we understand diversity and equity in higher education, minority-serving institutions, higher education policy and student success.

This program provides the skills to be successful in careers in higher education administration:

• Knowledge of institutional landscape of higher education, governance and issues faced by colleges and universities, especially institutional types in Georgia such as minority-serving institutions and community colleges.
• Understanding of how colleges and universities shape – and are shaped by – race, gender and class
• Understanding of social and academic integration and how to design support services based on these principals
• Ability to apply higher education theory and concepts in a real-world setting

If you’re enrolled in a doctoral program at Georgia State, you’re eligible to study for a graduate certificate in Qualitative Research in Education. The program is for those interested in conducting research or gaining expertise in qualitative research.

To earn the certificate, you must complete a minimum of eight 3-credit-hour doctoral-level qualitative research methods courses with a collective GPA of 3.5 or higher in those courses, with no grade lower than a B in any course to be counted toward the certificate.

If you’re enrolled in a doctoral program at Georgia State, you’re eligible to study for a graduate certificate in Quantitative Research in Education. The program is for those interested in conducting research or gaining expertise in quantitative research.

To earn the certificate, you must complete a minimum of eight 3-credit-hour doctoral-level quantitative research methods courses with a collective GPA of 3.5 or higher in those courses, with no grade lower than a B in any course to be counted toward the certificate.

The Tier I Educational Leadership M.Ed. program is designed around a set of academic and site-based experiences that provide knowledge and skills for candidates seeking a stronger understanding of the dynamics of educational leadership.

This self-select program leads to Tier I leadership certification in Georgia. This allows an individual to serve as an assistant principal or/in district-level leadership positions that do not supervise principals.

The program design gives students a comprehensive understanding of beginning leadership concepts and activities. Students develop the dispositions required to lead school and district improvement efforts by focusing on linking theory, research and practice to positively affect student outcomes.

If a student has a masters already and they wish to receive Tier I certification they can visit our Educational Leadership, Tier I Certificate page.

Education programs leading to professional licensure or certification (nursing, education, social work, counseling, accounting, allied health professions, etc.) may require additional approval from separate licensing boards, depending on the state. Students who live or plan to live outside Georgia and are considering a professional program should contact the appropriate board in their state of residency prior to beginning a course of study. To help students find the best-known contact information for the appropriate state licensing board and for a list of Georgia State program contacts, visit the Student Consumer Information website.