Purdue offering stand-alone hybrid graduate program leading to Indiana school superintendent’s license WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — School administrators at the principal or assistant principal level and others interested in becoming licensed to serve as a school superintendent in Indiana have a new option for making that leap. Purdue University is promoting a new version of its Educational Specialist graduate degree program, a step beyond a master’s in education that qualifies individuals for licensure as a K-12 superintendent in the state. Individuals can now earn the Educational Specialist degree alone as a terminal degree or earn it in concert with earning a doctorate. Or, if they start the Educational Specialist program and then decide to pursue a doctorate, they can use 30 credits from the Educational Specialist degree toward their doctorate. The credits must be earned at Purdue’s West Lafayette campus to apply to a doctorate.