Partners in Leadership: Training the Next Generation of Executive Leaders

Abstract

Like other states, South Carolina has experienced a shortage of educators at all organizational levels within its school districts. Given this dynamic and the relatively limited opportunities for practitioners to earn advanced degrees, several South Carolina institutions of higher education banded together to form a consortium that would provide additional opportunities for educators to earn the degree of Educational Specialist (EdS) with the potential to seamlessly complete doctoral studies. This consortium partnership resulted in a new doctoral program and new EdS programs, all based on the principles of the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED). The synergy that unfolded between institutions resulted in inter-institutional planning, the co-teaching of classes, shared professional development, and collaborative grant writing. This manuscript, which specifically focuses on the partnership between Clemson University and Winthrop University, provides an overview of the goals of the partnership as well as program themes and outcomes