Tier I Educational Leadership Certificate

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The purpose of the Tier I Educational Leadership Certificate at Georgia State University is to prepare graduates to be effective school and/or system leaders who positively impact student achievement. Throughout the program, students work on meaningful projects in a focused manner that is designed to help them develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that are required to lead school and district improvement efforts. The program fulfills the requirements of the Tier 1 Performance-Based Educational Leadership certification for the State of Georgia.

Program Academic Regulations

Students must earn a “B” or higher in all courses in the certificate. A student who receives a course grade below a “B” may take that course a second time. If the student does not meet the grade requirement for the course a second time, the student is not eligible to continue in the program. Students also must maintain a GPA of 3.0 in their program courses.

Evaluation of students’ performance is continuous and involves consideration of the students’ academic performance as well as their work in applied practice and internship classes. A student may be dropped from a course, the program, or both if the welfare of the student’s clientele or prospective clientele or the functioning of a school or agency is, in the judgment of the EPS faculty, in jeopardy as a result of the student’s behavior.

Students in this program are expected to follow the latest version of the Georgia and national Leadership Standards.

Along with course requirements, students are expected to meet other program requirements that include the following:

• Performance-based portfolio and log of 300 leadership internship activity hours
• Reflection journal
• Successful completion of the Georgia Ethics Assessment
• Successful completion of the Georgia Assessment for the Certification of Educators (GACE) Leadership Exam
• Development of a professional relationship with a leadership mentor at a school or the district