SF State will be one of the first seven campuses in the California State University (CSU) system to offer educational doctorate programs focusing on training for leadership positions in K through 12 schools and community colleges.

Beginning in 2007, the program will be the first doctorate of education (Ed.D) that CSU campuses will be able to offer without participating in a joint program with either the University of California system or a private university.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law in September that removed restrictions on the CSU and allowed campuses to offer doctorate programs for the first time since the CSU system was created in 1961.

“This initial list of CSU campuses positions us well to begin to address the regional need for education doctorates in the state,” said CSU Chancellor Charles Reed in a statement.

In addition to SF State, Fresno, Fullerton, Long Beach, Sacramento, San Bernardino and San Diego campuses will begin the doctorate program in the fall of 2007, with six more campuses to follow the next year, according to Clara Potes-Fellow, CSU director of media relations.

“The purpose of this program is to prepare working professionals for high level administrative positions (principals, superintendents) in K-12 and community colleges,” Potes-Fellow said.

According to Potes-Fellow, there are a large number of education administrators that want to get the Ed.D in order to be eligible for higher positions. One of the benefits of offering the degree without the joint program with UC is that there will be more program offerings on CSU campuses.

SF State has offered a Joint Doctoral Program of Special Education in conjunction with UC Berkeley since 1964.

“Our Joint Doctoral Program was the first one approved by the sate of California after the state legislature passed a bill allowing CSU campuses to link with UC campuses to form Joint Doctoral Programs in areas of need,” said Nicholas Certo, professor and chair of the Department of Education.

SF State also began a Joint Doctoral Program in educational leadership with UC Berkeley two years ago, according to Certo.

According to William Morris of the SF State Office of Public Affairs and Public Relations, sinse the educational doctorate is offered almost exclusively by the more expensive private universities, many Californians may have been unable to pursue higher education due financial barriers.

The logistics of how the new program will be implemented at SF State are still very much in the beginning stages of planning, Morris said.

UC and CSU announced on Feb. 23 that an agreement had been made to grant CSU’s request with the specification that CSU doctorates would be primarily focused on K-12 education and community college administration.

The new law changes the way higher education is organized. The original plan, created by the State Board of Education and the University of California Board of Regents, was adopted by the California State Legislature and titled California’s Master Plan on Higher Education.

The system was tiered so the UC system, which charges a higher tuition fee and has stricter admissions standards, had sole responsibility over expensive academic research and was the only system able to award Master’s and Doctoral diplomas.

The second tier, the CSU, would admit the top third of California’s high school graduates and award Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. The community colleges’ responsibility would be to accept all students that applied and the opportunity to transfer to a university later.

According to the statement released by both systems, the agreement for the new plan “builds on the mutual strengths of CSU and UC campuses while remaining consistent with the basic tenets of the Master Plan for Higher Education.”

In addition to making the Ed.D more accessible to more students, campuses will be stronger at fulfilling their educational mission, Potes-Fellow said.