Please contact Dr. Tom Frankman, Associate Dean of Academic Services at tom.frankman@williamwoods.edu or 573-592-1166 if you have any questions.

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This message explains the route available for students in William Woods University’s Educational Specialist (Ed.S.) program, Administration track, who wish to earn Missouri certification as an Elementary Principal or Secondary Principal.  The process for doing this through William Woods changed during Summer 2008.

There are three courses needed in addition to the Specialist - Administration program of study to meet requirements for Missouri special education director certification. Those courses at William Woods are:

EDU 537 - Special Education Administration

EDU 538 - Leadership and Management of Instructional Curricula in Special Education Programs

EDU 591 - Special Education Field Experience

This group of courses is referred to as "directorship courses" elsewhere on this page.  You also need to pass the state's School Leaders Licensure Assessment (SLLA) examination and hold teaching certification at the initial level or higher for the university to recommend you to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for certification.

Each of the directorship courses is three credits.  The administration and curriculum courses are six weeks long and are offered online.  They must be completed before beginning the field experience course, which is 10 weeks long.

A list of upcoming sections of directorship courses is available here. You may take the administration and curriculum courses in either order.  If you see sections that you wish to enroll in, please e-mail Dr. Tom Frankman, Associate Dean of Graduate Adult Studies, at tom.frankman@williamwoods.edu so that the registration can be processed. 

You are required to take EDU 591 and to begin logging hours for your directorship field experience after finishing the field experience course in your specialist program (EDU 697) and after finishing the directorship administration (EDU 537) and curriculum (EDU 538) courses.

The primary reason for this timing of the directorship field experience is that you will be meeting the state’s other directorship certification requirements through the rest of the specialist program’s courses, the administration course and the curriculum course.  The field experience is designed to be the conclusion of that certification sequence.  We encourage you to take the SLLA exam after your field experience so that you will have addressed all of the competencies before you take the examination.

The offices of the Registrar and of the Dean of Education coordinate to schedule sections of EDU 591.  Sections of this course do not start in June or July because of the general lack of adequate field experience opportunities available during those months.

If you wish to register for directorship courses, please send an email to Tom Frankman (tom.frankman@williamwoods.edu) and identify the location and dates of the course sections that you are interested in. He will process your request for the Registrar's office.

There are factors involving your graduation date and financial aid regulations that you may need to consider if you take the directorship courses.  If you choose to graduate with your EdS cohort, any directorship courses you took after then would likely not be eligible for federal financial aid.  This is because the three courses would not be considered part of a degree program, a designation necessary for federal financial aid eligibility. 

Michelle Payne, our financial aid coordinator, can provide additional information concerning financial aid.  She may be reached at mpayne1@williamwoods.edu or at 573-592-4215.

William Woods also offers coursework needed for certification as an Elementary (K-8) or Secondary (7-12) principal. A review of those requirements may be found here.