A Comparative Study of “Educational Leadership & Administration” MA Programs in USA and Turkey

Abstract

What are the distinct and similar subject areas in Educational Administration Master of Arts Programs in USA and Turkey? To find the answer to this problem, The problem was searched by decomposing into the following sub-problems: 1. Which subject areas have the highest course credit in USA and Turkey MA programs ? 2. What is the relationship between USA and Turkey MA programs according to their common subject areas’ total course credits ? Survey method was applied in this study. In USA/California State and Turkey, all MA programs whose names are Educational Management/Administration or Educational Leadership were scanned through university web sites and faculty e-mails. As a result of this process, It was determined that there are 34 programs in Turkey and 26 programs in USA/California State among all 132 Turkish and 129 American universities. The most frequent key words included in MA programs’ syllabuses were determined and subject areas corresponding to these key words were brought out. At least three times repeating key words in syllabuses were weighted in respect of their course counts and total course credits and tabulated separately in countries. Frequency analyze of key words, course counts and total course credits, plus Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was applied for data analysis. It was determined that American MA programs have included 94 key words and 53 subject areas. On the other hand, Turkish ones have included 111 key words with at least 4 repetition, and 55 subject areas covering these keywords. By searching these findings in terms of their frequencies and course credits related to key words, It was brought out that: • In Turkey, MA programs are weighed mostly with Introduction to Educational Management and Educational Supervision subject areas by course credits. • In USA, MA programs are weighed mostly with Leadership and Curriculum Development/Assessment subject areas by course credits. As a conclusion of this study, the different subject areas taught in USA and Turkey, plus the medium correlation of common subject areas according to their course credits between two countries were brought out. These findings were interpreted with the dissimilarity of two education system and management practices.