April 17, 2001
University Park, Pa. - Before “the Wednesday Program,” working school administrators had a difficult time deciding when and how to work toward their doctor of education (D.Ed.) degrees in Educational Administration. The College of Education doctoral program carries with it a full-time residency requirement that was difficult to fulfill for those with full-time jobs, families and responsibilities.        

In 1994, after a series of focus groups, retreats, and information gathering from similar programs around the country, the College of Education introduced the Wednesday Program. It operates all day on Wednesdays during the fall and spring semesters every other year.  Participants, also called “cohort members,” obtain permission from their school districts to pursue their professional development one day each week for the duration of the school year.

“The program has a lot of advantages for our clientele,” commented William Boyd, distinguished professor of educational administration, one of the faculty members who founded the Wednesday Program.  “It enables busy school administrators to pursue doctorates without interruption to their careers or income.”

“Most of our students are fully employed as teachers and administrators in a school district and don’t have the financial means or the opportunity to take a full year or a summer and a semester off to complete the residency program,” added Dr. William Hartman, another program founder and professor of educational administration.  “The Wednesday program allows them to have the required commitment to their studies while still being able to work.”

Though it is preferred that students enroll in the Wednesday program after they have taken several of the program’s required courses, people take the Wednesday program at varying times during their doctoral programs.  Full-time doctoral students are strongly encouraged to participate in the Wednesday Program as well.  Cohort members, who number roughly twelve per session, are almost exclusively from Pennsylvania while other doctoral students are from other states and countries.

“Most of the issues they [Pennsylvania students] wrestle with are common to the issues in other states and other western democracies,” said Boyd.  Full-time doctoral students “add perspective” to class discussions.

The Wednesday Program is organized into three seminars: a policy seminar, a research seminar and a decision-making seminar.  The policy-making seminar, which includes visits to Harrisburg and Washington, D.C., analyzes the effectiveness of educational policies and examines policy-making at the local, state and national levels.  The research seminar provides an overview of research methods to eventually facilitate movement of cohort members toward a dissertation topic and dissertation proposal.  The decision-making seminar focuses on identifying and analyzing problems of practice with the goal of enhancing skills in problem-solving, teamwork and leadership.

The Wednesday program tries to link its work to solving problems and developing practices for improving American education.  The cohort experience allows participants to share experiences and network with colleagues as an added benefit to the academic experience.

“What we’ve seen with all the groups is a sort of cohort mentality,” Hartman explained. “The students do a lot of interacting and networking, so it has become more than just an academic experience.  They’ll probably be working with these people throughout their careers; the Wednesday program experience provides an opportunity for them to exchange ideas and learn from other points of view.”

Students have echoed this sentiment.  Andrea Hollnagel, head of school at the Grier School, a private school for girls located near Tyrone, Pa., has been teaching for 31 years. 

“My school board gave me the permission to be gone every Wednesday, and it’s perfect because it takes you away from school for a day and gives you new surroundings,” she stated, touting the benefit of interacting with her colleagues in the program.  “I want to pick up the best practices… from people who work in other school settings.  I can take everybody’s best ideas and do it! 

“This is a great opportunity for me,” she added.

John Kurelja, middle school principal in the Central Columbia School District, looked at several other programs before settling on Penn State. “I came here because it’s the best program in the state as far as educational administration goes,” he said.  Plus, he added, “this was the only program that offered the possibility of not having to take a sabbatical.  With my family and responsibilities my only options were to go through a correspondence program or to be part of a program like this one.”

“The reaction we’ve gotten from superintendents and school boards has been very positive,” Hartman explained when asked whether employers were supportive of giving their administrators a day off each week.

Korelja added that school districts derive benefits from allowing administrators time to participate in the Wednesday Program. “The information we bring back in terms of what goes on at the state level is very important.  They [the school boards and superintendents] don’t have the day-to-day connection to the State Capitol and the Pennsylvania Department of Education that we have,” he said. “We all owe a lot to our districts who view the benefits as long-term, not only for the administrator in the program but for the school districts as well in terms of prestige and a constant flow of pertinent information.”

“It makes for a very busy life for these administrators,” Boyd asserted, noting how challenging it is for students to balance their academic and professional workloads.  “Taking a day off each week means that a large pile awaits the students upon returning to work on Thursdays.”

“It’s a rigorous, yet very positive program,” concluded Hartman, adding that the program is evaluated carefully each session.  “School districts can keep administrators on the job—they don’t lose them for a year.  It works well for everyone.”

For more information on the Wednesday Program, visit the Educational Administration Web site at http://www.ed.psu.edu/edadm/doctoral.asp.

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For more information, contact Susan Burlingame, College of Education, at (814) 863-6234 or e-mail sjb17@psu.edu.