Two-Summers Master's Program

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Invest your summers in an intensive and impactful educational experience that prepares you for a lifetime of leadership.

The Klingenstein Center's Two-Summers Master's Degree Program is a five-semester graduate program that allows you to maintain your current employment in your independent or international school while earning your degree. Modeled on executive professional learning programs, you'll attend five weeks of intensive, all-day classes in each of your two summers at Teachers College, Columbia University. During the school year you will work individually on a projects strengthening your independent learning muscles and putting into practice what you have learned the previous summer.

As part of a diverse cohort of aspiring leaders you'll engage in classes, case-studies, affinity group work, and peer-coaching and mentoring in a supportive community.

Each summer, you'll explore meaningful coursework with renowned faculty, as you examine the practice of leadership through an interdisciplinary approach that centers social-emotional learning, the science of learning, and diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice, and belonging. The carefully-curated core curriculum examines key aspects of independent and international school leadership such as change leadership, systems thinking, organizational psychology, research methods and data-informed decision-making, ethics in education, non-profit finance, school marketing and communications, education law, educational technology, and mind brain education.

During the year between the two summers, you'll conduct applied research to address a problem of practice in your current school as your practicum project. Supported by a small group of your classmates, a Klingenstein alum mentor, and a Teachers College faculty member, you'll employ the theories you've learned, learn about a new aspect of your school, and give back to your school community while completing this coursework.

You'll engage in a transformational journey as you synthesize what you've learned in your courses, through interview school leaders, in conversations with your cohort and with alumni, and through ongoing guided reflection about your own leadership and philosophies. You'll capture this in your Capstone, a learning e-portfolio that is both a tangible artifact of your learning and a guide for your future practice.

As you graduate, you'll have built new capacities for leadership and gained new connection to a worldwide network of Klingenstein Center alumni who are dedicated to making a positive impact on the world through education.