Specialist Certificate

A master's degree is the minimum prerequisite for admission to the Specialist Certificate. Minimum requirement is 27 credits including completion of the Specialist Applied Research Project.

A co-operative relationship for the Specialist certificate exists with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction for students with a reading supervision emphasis. Applicants must meet the departmental requirements:

• Completion of a master's degree with a grade point average of 3.5 or above (4.0 scale). The master's degree may be in any field of study.
• Written statement of professional objectives and educational experience.
• Applicants not meeting the grade point minimum may be admitted upon submission of additional data to be specified by Department chair.

Credits and course requirements depend upon the applicant's degree field. For an applicant with a master's degree in Educational Administration and Supervision or Adult Education, the minimum credit requirement is 27 graduate credits. For an applicant with a master's degree earned in a field other than Educational Administration and Supervision or Adult Education, the minimum credit requirement is 30 graduate credits. Additional course work may be required for administrative certification.

Specialist Certification/Licensure as a Superintendent
A. Common Core: (18 credits)

AD LDSP 802	District Leadership for Learning	3
AD LDSP 812	School Personnel Supervision and Administration	3
AD LDSP 832	Educational Politics and Policymaking	3
AD LDSP 842	Program Planning and Evaluation in Education	3
AD LDSP 862	School Finance	3
AD LDSP 970	Policy Issues in Urban Education	3
AD LDSP 882	Practicum in the School Superintendency	3
AD LDSP 892	Specialist Applied Field Study Project	3
	Elective	3

B. Selecting Electives: A master’s degree and licensure as a school principal are pre-requisites to licensure as a superintendent. Students seeking a specialist certificate must complete 27 post master’s credits including all the course work listed above. Students who have completed post master’s courses and are pursuing superintendent licensure may be able to use prior course work to substitute for the elective or required courses. All electives must be approved by an advisor.

Students who are seeking a Ph. D. degree may complete course requirements for superintendent licensure as part of the Ph. D. program. The first seven courses listed above must be included in the program. See additional information in the Ph. D program section.

C. Portfolio Review Upon completion of coursework required for licensure, all applicants must complete and submit for review an electronic portfolio detailing their competencies of the UWM core guiding principles and the UWM-WI state standards for administrators. Electronic portfolios are offered through an outside service for a nominal fee. Portfolios will evaluated by the advisor and one other member of the educational administration faculty at the end of the candidate’s program.


For more information, please contact: Professor Floyd Beachum, Department of Administrative Leadership, 414-229-6607, fbeachum@uwm.edu