The program includes three summers, each consisting of ten weeks of study, and two complete academic years of course work followed by a period during which the candidate advances to candidacy and undertakes the dissertation. The three years of study are to be completed at UC Irvine and at CSU campuses, with the ten-week periods of summer study at UC Irvine. Classes during the academic year will be held in the late afternoons and evenings, and occasionally on weekends, to accommodate the schedules of working professionals. Videoconferencing may be used to provide candidates with exposure to faculty from the five participating campuses and to reduce problems of travel and distance related to interacting with multiple faculty in a regional graduate program.

All candidates are required to be enrolled at UC Irvine and at CSU campuses for a minimum of three quarters or semester equivalents. That is, every candidate in the program will be formally in residence (i.e., enrolled in the equivalent of at least one 4-unit course) at UC Irvine as well as at a CSU campus for no less than three quarters.

The courses offered throughout the program are expected to be taken by individuals who also hold full-time positions. Their full-time employment is viewed as an asset and as providing important opportunities to apply theoretical and empirical material covered in their coursework. The program of study distributed over twelve months will facilitate (a) integration of graduate studies and practice, (b) periods of intensive study among candidates, and (c) opportunities to work with faculty from UCI and CSU.

Each candidate in the program is required to demonstrate the integration of theory, research, and practice. This will occur through three mechanisms. First, each candidate will be required to successfully complete a minimum of two quarters of field research or qualitative research methods courses focused on the study of educational practice. Second, many courses in the program will include a required inquiry-oriented field study. Candidates will be expected to undertake field-based, analytic projects that are consistent with the objectives of the particular course. Third, candidates in the program will typically select a practice-based research topic for their dissertation. In the conduct of the dissertation-i.e., in planning, in data collection and analysis, and in preparing the final dissertation-candidates will be expected to integrate theoretical and conceptual frameworks with significant questions of school practice. This approach to integrating theory, research, and practice is intended to prepare candidates for the study of local educational issues during the program and thereafter.

The core curriculum includes study in two major areas. The first area, leadership of educational reform, includes five core courses, four emphasis area electives, and a pro-seminar that address issues in leadership, reform, and diversity. The second area of study focuses on research methodologies for examining educational issues and their applications to improving practice. Candidates will take five core courses, two elective courses relevant to their area of emphasis, and a pre-dissertation seminar in which they become familiar with a range of qualitative and quantitative methodologies and develop expertise in particular methods for examining educational issues, practices, and policies. They will develop competencies that prepare them to apply research and evaluation skills to the examination and analysis of educational practices in diverse settings.

Candidates will apply their research competencies as they complete a culminating dissertation that will be a rigorous, research-based study. In candidates' dissertations, they will apply knowledge and research skills acquired in the program to examine a significant topic pertaining to K-12, community college, or other higher education practice or policy. CSUF, CSULB, CSULA, CPP, and UCI faculty will assist candidates in developing dissertations that are scholarly works that also contribute to the schools, community colleges, or other institutions in which they work, and have the potential to bring about important educational reforms in the region.