I made a promise to myself after I earned my master's at Rider that if Rider ever offered a doctoral program in educational leadership I would be the first to enroll. Rider has an excellent reputation in preparing educational leaders.
Harness Your Drive to Make an Impact
Develop critical problem-solving skills to positively influence the course of educational practice in classrooms, communities and beyond with Rider’s Doctor of Educational Leadership.
Our cohort program also promotes peer-to-peer learning, networking and the development of close mentoring relationships between faculty and students.
Career Outlook
286k
Projected employment by 2028 (principals)
720
Average annual openings for elementary and secondary administrators in New Jersey
Program Format
A defining element of this innovative doctoral program is its cohort model of 10 to 12 students. This design creates a highly supportive and interactive learning environment that promotes peer-to-peer learning and networking, as well as close mentoring relationships between faculty and students.
Program Features
- Flexibly designed around the schedules of working professional educators
- Asynchronous online classes throughout each semester
- Three on-campus Saturday sessions (9 a.m. – 4 p.m.) each fall and spring semester
- 8-day summer residencies in July (2 consecutive weeks, Monday through Thursday)


Curriculum Requirements
Our 36-month, 51-credit Ed.D. program involves two years of coursework and a year of dissertation research and analysis. Program coursework will relate to issues facing your own school, district or college, giving you practical knowledge and insights that can be applied immediately to real-world settings.
Demonstrate Dynamic Leadership
Rider’s Ed.D. program transforms skilled professionals into strong decision-makers and impactful leaders. Through the required coursework, you’ll develop a greater understanding and sense of context for today’s major educational challenges.
You will be able to make confident decisions about:
- Educational reform
- Instructional leadership
- Educational accountability and assessment
- Research methods and data analysis
- Social context of education
- Politics and governance
- Teachers and teaching
- Resource allocation and deployment
Standards-Based Studies
The Ed.D. curriculum is built around the National Policy Board for Educational Administration’s student-centric 2015 Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (formerly known as the ISLLC Standards).
Prepared for and by educational leaders, the standards focus on 10 high-impact areas that drive and measure excellence in professional practice:
1. Mission, Vision and Core Values
2. Ethics and Professional Norms
3. Equity and Cultural Responsiveness
4. Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment
5. Community of Care and Support for Students
6. Professional Capacity of School Personnel
7. Professional Community for Teachers and Staff
8. Meaningful Engagement of Families and Community
9. Operations and Management
10. School Improvement
Rider University is also a member of the prestigious Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED), a consortium of over 100 colleges and schools of education which have committed resources to work together to undertake a critical examination of the doctorate in education (EdD) through dialog, experimentation, critical feedback and evaluation.
Contact
Ed.D. Program Director; Associate Professor
Graduate Education, Leadership and Counseling
Bierenbaum Fisher Hall 202K
lgoduto [at] rider.edu
609-895-5471
