University News
Ed Leadership Doctoral Students to Defend Disserations
November 6, 2008
MACOMB, IL -- Two Western Illinois University educational leadership doctorate students will defend their dissertations this month. In August, the first three students in the program defended their final dissertations, and in October, three more students defended their final doctoral dissertation. The students who successfully defend will graduate Dec. 20, marking the first Ed.D. degrees awarded at Western.
Terri VandeWiele, the director of English, Math and Science/SLC Site coordinator at United Township High School in East Moline (IL), will defend her dissertation, "Organizational, Teacher and Administrative Factors that Impact Ninth Grade Attendance, Discipline, and Student Achievement," at 1 p.m. today (Thursday, Nov. 6) in Horrabin Hall 116 on the WIU-Macomb campus.
Mary Parker, superintendent of the Delavan (IL) Community Unit School District, the assistant will defend her dissertation, "The Present and Future Impact of Tax Caps on Small Rural Illinois School Districts," at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18 in Horrabin Hall 60.
The first cohort of WIU doctoral degree students started with a class of 25 in August 2006, one year after the North Central Association Higher Education Commission, the accrediting agency for colleges and universities, approved Western's Educational Doctorate (Ed.D.) degree in Educational Leadership for elementary and secondary school administrators in the greater western Illinois region.
The doctoral program coursework consists of 43 semester hours over a three-year time frame. The second cohort began in June 2007, while the third cohort began this June. As part of the program, each student works with a specific low-performing school/district in Western's service region as part of the program's partnership with public education.
Additional information on the Ed.D. in educational leadership can be obtained from the department of educational leadership website at wiu.edu/edleadership or by calling the department at (309) 298-1070.
Posted By: Darcie Shinberger (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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