Progressive Leadership for Labor in Education (M.Ed./C.A.S.)
Program Description:
The Progressive Leadership for Labor in Education (PLLE) program is a new degree program which is rooted in a strong belief that teachers’ unions are critical to educational reform and to the professionalizing of teaching. The program provides candidates with the theory, knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary to become the next generation of education union leaders as voices for quality education, powerful teaching, good schools and principled relationships. The M.Ed./C.A.S. program will focus on four core curricular areas: leadership, labor, systems, and teaching and learning. Candidates will engage, simultaneously, in coursework and site-based internships that allow for in-depth practice and application of core area concepts.
PLLE provides a solid academic and practical foundation so that graduates are able to implement principles of progressive unionism in their schools, districts, and regions. Teachers, teacher leaders, building representatives, district union presidents and officers, educational reformers and change agents, aspiring union leaders, building principals and school district administrators (particularly human resources or finance directors) are encouraged to apply.
How You Will Learn:
The program will be conducted in a cohort model—20 progressive leaders moving through two-year program together. The “blended” model will combine face-to-face weekend meetings (approximately every four to six weeks throughout the program) with regular online sessions. The program coursework will be integrated with a program-long internship, a structured experience that will allow program candidates to practice new leadership strategies at the local level.
Admission Criteria:
An application for the program can be accessed online at www.nl.edu/ applyonline. Applicants will also be asked to answer three additional questions regarding their interest in the program. These questions and additional information can be requested from Ted Purinton, Chair, Educational Leadership Department at ted.purinton@nl.edu.
Where You Can Take the Program:
Since we expect significant interest in the program from beyond the Chicagoland area and outside of Illinois, the face-to-face weekend meetings (every four to six weeks) will take place at one of NLU’s Chicagoland campuses, easily accessible by auto or air. The cohort will meet “
online” in asynchronous and synchronous modes using NLU’s Blackboard courseware.
