ACQUIRING TITLES College of Education's P-20 doctorate program trains students to be administrators at all levels I n January of 2007, Harding began its P-20 leadership program, the only program of its kind in the country. The P-20 program was built for people already working in education and looking for a program that would certify them to administrate all levels of instruction, from preschool to higher education such as undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs. After completing the program, participants received a doctorate in Educational Leadership. The program required participants to have a master's degree and to be within six hours of obtaining a districtlevel license in leadership. This foundation adhered to the typical standards for state educational programs; however, the P-20 degree was not a common achievement. Dean of the College of Education Tony Finley expressed how rare the degree actually was. While many schools provided doctoral level degrees in educational administration, Harding's program uniquely combined the paths of primary, secondary and higher education. According to Professor of Education Michael Brooks, other schools typically made students choose between P-12 and higher education administration. Harding stood out from the crowd as a Christian university, but the P-20 program also distinguished Harding as an outstanding institution of higher education, according to Finley. He said administrators of the program emphasized the leadership aspect of the P-20 program; they wanted to bring people into the program so that they could educate future leaders. Program requirements included 39 hours of class work, a dissertation, and written and oral comprehensive exams. By 2012, Harding had 16 graduates from the P-20 doctorate program and expected four more by the end of the 20132014 school year. Associate Professor of Education Bruce Bryant began the program in 2007 and completed the P-20 program in December 2009, after barely more than two years, though the average P-20 student took between three and four years to acquire the degree. He was able to shed light on the difficulty of the curriculum. "It's very demanding," Bryant said. "The course schedule now is very heavy in statistics because you're preparing for your dissertation, and those classes meet five Saturdays within a semester. So the typical person that is a candidate for this program is a person who is a teacher, principal or superintendent, who also showed up for their day job working 40-50 hours in a given week." Such an expansive graduate program expected a lot out of its participants, even while most of them worked full-time jobs as administrators. The P-20 students worked hard to meet the many state standards required of them. "Education is the most scrutinized area, as far as accreditation," Finley said. Brooks said that the real goal of the program was to serve its students and guide them through this process of intense scrutiny. It had a high success rate compared to most graduate programs in education. Often, students who already had secure jobs would burn out before following through with their studies. The P-20 program tried to reverse that trend, "It gives them every opportunity," Brooks said. "There are so many that enter a doctorate program, and I don't know if it's half that complete it. If you enter our doctorate program, we're going to see that we do everything that we can to help get you out." Shane Schock 39 HOURS 20 graduates 11 courses 18-24 months spent writing dissertation
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