USP students seek an education at the doctoral level in order to exemplify for children and the adults who serve them in school systems the value of learning at high standards. They also pursue learning in order to test what they think they know and can do and add to what they know and can do in order to prepare themselves to meet the challenges of leading for learning when they return to practice in urban communities. The Power of the Internship. After coursework and prior to undertaking the dissertation, USP students serve for six months as full-time interns to urban superintendents. A major component of the experience involves the intern's shadowing and debriefing with the mentor in order to gain exposure to and knowledge of the fullest possible spectrum of the thinking and actions of the superintendent.
All interns undertake at least one major project.
They work toward meaningful change. The Change Projects are evidence of the way in which the internship enables students to move back and forth between learning about leadership and engaging in leadership work, with the learning and the leadership informing each other, so as to increase the effectiveness of both. As a result, it is during the internship when students are able to see the significant ways in which their past professional experience, their Harvard coursework, and their future superintendencies intersect in powerful ways in the service of children. The Power of Research. In their pursuit of education to the high standard of the doctorate of education, USP students develop and hone their analytical knowledge and skills with respect to surveying extant research and best practices, framing important questions to study in order to push the envelope on what is known about educational practices and policies, designing a clear and well-reasoned plan to conduct research, collecting data purposefully and comprehensively, analyzing the data both for the fine details and the main patterns and themes, and making meaning of the findings for informing practice and research.