Preliminary Administrative Services Program Standards

Preliminary Administrative Services Credential (PASC) Program Standard 5: Role of Schooling in a Democratic Society

PASC Program Standard 5 is met as follows:

Our program recognizes the crucial role that schools play in preparing K-12 students to actively engage in democratic society. As such, we provide each candidate with multiple opportunities to critically examine democratic education principles and responsibilities of citizenship, and prepare them to understand the role of schools in promoting civic responsibility. Our program also places a strong emphasis on preparing candidates to identify and critically analyze the variety of ideas and forces in society that contribute to a democratic society, and to understand how historical and philosophical influences, policy decisions, and educational practices impact schooling. The ASC program prepares administrators to establish and maintain a culture of civility through promoting constructive problem-solving, conflict resolution strategies, and application of ethical behaviors.  

The required ASC course, EDUT 6303: Field Experience Educational Leadership, examines concepts of education as an ethical and moral enterprise and of the role of educational leadership in modern society and provides students with opportunities to examine their own values, beliefs, and attitudes in relation to their leadership responsibilities and practice.  Emphasis is given to the exercise of leadership in the service of the school community. The course presents various ethical frameworks and perspectives on ethics, including the importance of ethical principles in decision-making. Upon successful completion of this course, ASC candidates will be able to: 1) Craft and communicate a personal philosophy of “good” schools; 2) Explain how a variety of theorists have examined ethical and moral questions in education; 3) Evaluate various conceptions of community, equity, diversity, and democracy as well as the implications of these conceptions for developing and implementing practice and policy and 4) Demonstrate the ability to argue for policies or programs that make schools “good.”

This course considers the following essential questions:

1. What is a good society, a good school?

2. How have various educational thinkers framed and analyzed ethical and moral questions in education?

3. How do practices and policies in education reflect multiple, and sometimes competing, societal values and how does this affect schools?

4. What are my own values and what role do I play in creating and implementing value-laden practices and policies?

This course aligns with program goals to prepare administrators to establish and maintain a culture of civility through promoting constructive problem-solving, conflict resolution strategies, and application of ethical behaviors. The Mills College at Northeastern ASC candidates are equipped to develop and nurture public support, family participation, and community engagement. Our program's focus on democratic education, an analysis of schooling, and understanding of distributed leadership, asset-based approaches, and developing strategic thinking about community stakeholders and participation through assignments such as developing an instructional plan of action that foregrounds diversity, equity, access, and inclusion successfully prepares candidates for democratic leadership roles in educational settings.  

More specifically, this course on moral and ethical leadership aligns with ASC program goals in which emerging school leaders can:

• Identify their philosophical orientation and have a moral/ethical grounding

• Implement curricular change through creating learning environments where teachers and students thrive

• Organize teams to develop new curricular approaches

• Identify and organize high-quality professional development and can create plans for implementation

• Implement change through improving teaching and learning

Further, this course aligns with broad ASC program goals, which support emerging school administrations in building sociopolitical and sociocultural relationships in which emerging school leaders can:

• Engage in participatory planning

• Identify issues and approaches in evaluation

• Evaluate and design program improvement

• Evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of policies and programs

• Demonstrate their knowledge of the political nature of education

• Work effectively with constituent groups

• Manage program development in the context of competing interests

• Exhibit the ability to operationalize concepts of legal processes and organizational resources

• Work effectively with diverse populations

The Mills College at Northeastern’s ASC program goals are that upon successful completion of the program, graduates are equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to lead schools in promoting a democratic society and preparing K-12 students for participation in civic life and civil society.

Continue to Program Standard 6: Preparing Candidates to Master the Administrator Performance Expectations (CAPE)

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