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School of Education at UW Tacoma Land Acknowledgment
The School of Education community here at UW Tacoma acknowledges that we learn, live, reflect, and teach on the ancestral lands of the Coast Salish people. As our campus is specifically situated on the traditional homeland of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, we will make intentional efforts to create inclusive and respectful partnerships that honor Indigenous cultures, histories, identities, and sociopolitical realities.
The Ed.D. Program is moving to annual admissions, starting with our next cohort! Applications for summer 2026 are due on January 6, 2026. Applications open in Fall 2025 and information sessions begin in August, 2025. Check back for updates on the 2027 and 2028 cohorts.
Educational learning systems continue to be shaped and impacted by historic and ongoing contexts, including shifting governmental priorities, local pressures, technological innovations, globalism, and often rigid structures not designed for the complicated, tense, violent times we live within. While the federal government removes institutional commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion goals, the continuation of drastic inequities remains the norm, and students reflect these disparities in every imaginable way. Community and educational leaders have long tasked ourselves with disrupting and dismantling these disparities while also nurturing spaces for timely, relevant, and contextualized learning.
Efforts to cultivate learning systems (schools, colleges, communities, prisons, professional development) that help youth, families, adults, and the communities around us requires systems-level approaches. Towards the goal of preparing leaders to transform educational approaches and systems, UWT's Doctoral Program (EdD) in Educational Leadership aims to cultivate leaders who incorporate transformative approaches to imagine and build sustainable, adaptive, and responsive educational structures and systems.
The Doctoral Program (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership welcomes educators, leaders, community members, advocates and those committed to systemic and societal transformation to strengthen commitment, approaches, and communities through theory, praxis, and reflection with the Ed.D. practice doctorate degree.
Program Design
This is a three-year, 123-credit cohort-based program. For those who wish to earn the P-12 Superintendent or Program Administrator Certificate, six additional credits are required in order to meet all state competencies; therefore, 129 credits will be required. Courses are offered two full days, Fridays and Saturdays (for education/community-focused leadership) or Saturday and Sundays (for tribal/indigenous-focused leadership), approximately once per month, 12 months out of the year (four quarters). Students will participate electronically in critical discussions and community connected work throughout the month, in addition to monthly class sessions. On the tab labeled 'Courses' a drop-down menu appears. Select 'Course Scheduling' to review the face-to-face class calendar for the current cohort. On the tab labeled 'Muckleshoot Cohort' a drop-down menu appears. Select 'Course Schedule' to review the face-to-face class calendar for the current cohort.
Ed.D. Values and Student Learning Goals
The Ed.D. program aims to prepare and strengthen educator and community leadership through community grounded approaches, ancestral knowledge, relational learning, disrupting and dismantling systemic oppression and foster healing. Learn more by visiting our Ed.D. Values and Student Learning Goals page.
Interdisciplinary Learning
The Ed.D. program is designed for interdisciplinary learning in the field of educational, community, and Tribal/Indigenous leadership. Students work collaboratively in leadership-focused courses on systemic change, anti-racism, and instructional leadership. Students can benefit from cross-disciplinary, cross-profession scholarly discussions, and choose discipline-specific study areas.
