Professional Education

Each year, the Harvard Graduate School of Education offers a wide variety of professional development opportunities for PreK–12 educators and administrators working within higher education.

Professional development at HGSE engages participants with in-depth learning on key issues that make a difference in the lives of students, in the work of institutions, and in the practice of educators. A balance of synthesized research and experiential learning is designed to stretch your thinking and encourage discussion of common challenges. All of our programs will not only let you recharge and connect with like-minded individuals who face issues similar to yours, they will show you how to apply what you learn directly to your work for years to come. Join Our Community of Learners:

Pre-K-12

Designed specifically for PreK–12 leaders and aspiring leaders to address complex issues such as improving teaching and learning, maximizing financial resources, and leading systemic change.

The Principals' Center

Opportunities for principals and school leaders — at every stage of their career — to meet in a stimulating and supportive setting to examine key school improvement issues.

Harvard Institutes for Higher Education

Vibrant portfolio of leadership development programs designed for higher education administrators — from directors and department heads to university presidents.

WIDE World

WIDE World is a unique online professional development program based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. WIDE World works closely with schools to foster dramatic improvements in instructional culture by providing research-based, job-embedded and highly effective online professional development programs for teachers and school leaders.

Change Leadership Group

The Change Leadership Group is a knowledge-development and capacity-building organization focused on effective strategies for school and district improvement. CLG has collaborated directly with top leadership teams of school districts, helping them develop capacities to address systemic obstacles to student performance.

Project Zero

Project Zero's mission is to understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts, as well as humanistic and scientific disciplines, at the individual and institutional levels.

Office of School Partnerships

In addition to providing professional development experiences with local area schools, the Office of School Partnerships administers the Conant Professional Development Fund, which supports educators from the Boston and Cambridge Public School districts in attending professional education programs at HGSE.

Admissions & Financial Aid

Impact the World

A passion for education.

A commitment to making the world a better place.

A desire to help solve challenges facing education.

A dedication to learn, to lead.

To impact the world.

Some call it idealism.

We don't.

At the Harvard Graduate School of Education, you'll learn what it takes to turn your ideas into concrete examples of what can happen when someone is committed to making a positive impact in the world.

Who Goes to HGSE?

Maybe you just earned your bachelor's degree in history. Maybe you have been an educator for 25 years. Maybe you are a business owner looking for a new career. Or maybe you manage a nonprofit organization and want to become more effective. One thing is clear: your passion for impacting the world has led you to take the next step.

HGSE offers a rigorous educational experience. Our master's programs pack the intensity of other schools' two-year programs into one year. You will learn not only from expert faculty members, but from your peers — people who come from around the United States and the world, from every imaginable life experience — who, like you, are attracted to HGSE's reputation for excellence and have a desire to make a difference. While you challenge one another through lively debates, you also will encourage each other in small study groups. Your classes will offer you a supportive environment in which to gain knowledge and confidence.

By pursuing your master's or doctoral studies at HGSE, you will benefit from the wealth of intellectual resources that can only be found at Harvard University, both on campus and at the university's numerous affiliated institutions and partner organizations across the world.

You will emerge with a powerful degree that will open doors to numerous meaningful career opportunities — within the world of education and beyond.

Academic Programs

Doctor of Education

The Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree prepares leaders to understand research, policy, and practice, and the relationships among them. Drawing upon resources from across the University, we prepare students to assume roles as university faculty members, senior-level educational leaders, policy makers, and researchers.

Doctor of Education Leadership

The Doctor of Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.) degree integrates the fields of education, business, and public policy in visionary ways, offering students access to the vast intellectual and professional resources of HGSE, the Harvard Business School, the Harvard Kennedy School, and the other schools at Harvard. The Ed.L.D. Program is designed to prepare graduates for a variety of system-level leadership responsibilities in organizations such as: school systems, state departments of education, U.S. Department of Education, national policy organizations, national nonprofits or mission-based for-profits, and foundations/funders.

Master of Education

The Ed.M. is designed to be a yearlong intensive program for students who wish to study a particular field in education, acquire a general theoretical background for understanding past and future field experiences, or develop skills for use in professional work in education. Our program offerings include:

• Arts in Education
• Education Policy and Management
• Higher Education
• Human Development and Psychology
• International Education Policy
• Language and Literacy
• Learning and Teaching
• Mind, Brain, and Education
• Risk and Prevention
• School Leadership
• Special Studies
• Teacher Education Program
• Technology, Innovation, and Education

News & Events

Long Appointed to National Board of Education Sciences

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced yesterday the appointment of Professor Bridget Terry Long as a member of the National Board of Education Sciences. President Barack Obama appointed Long late last week after she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Everyday Heroes: Richard Lambert, Ed.M.'08

Following graduation from the Mind, Brain, and Education Program, there were a lot of jobs Richard Lambert, Ed.M.'08, could have taken in education. However, Lambert, then only 25 and eager to see more of the world, chose to teach English internationally.

20 Headstands: A Year at Harvard

What does standing on your head have to do with Harvard? Everything, according to Jenny Schneider, Ed.M.'10. To commemorate her year at Harvard, the Colorado native embarked on the project, "20 Headstands: A Year at Harvard."